El Bandito

Marti - Diving back in here.. I think you may just have taught me something... Your Mum. You feel sad, you feel emotional because you are watching your Mum, who is demonstrably dying because of smoking related illness, smoking. I might be wrong here - but isn't that how we SHOULD feel? I think smoking robbed me of a lot more than I might actually have thought about before....

Hi Laura Sorry that you smoked. It is none of my business - but it had nothing to do with your son - or your argument with him. Your inner junkie might tell you that there is a connection - there isn't. Your inner junkie might even have set the argument up, or escalated it in order to convince you to smoke (my inner junkie is a sneaky little bar steward!) You will argue with people again. You will get stressed again. You will get hurt again. These things will happen whether you stick a fag in your mouth or not. There is absolutely no shame in relapse. It happens. You don't like it and I don't like it. You have come on here, 'fessed up. Respect to you for doing that. Read, watch - commit to not smoking again. Laura - you can absolutely do this. You have proven that to yourself already. Get right back on the train and QUIT. We are all here for you :friends:

TGIF! Smoking sucks. Just for today - I am going NOT ONE PUFF EVER Who will join me?

Awww Holski. That's a pain in the butt. Still. That's done. Welcome Aboard the Quit Train! (pssst...you might want to read about a system called SOS. Saved a few quits) The real question is - have you learned something? Have you cracked "it does nothing for you"? What's the plan with that?

Great work Petra! Congratulations!

Marti... Nah, you're just weird. He-He! Only kidding. Completely normal I think. We both completely altered our body chemistry. We both taught our bodies to cope with and even demand poison. Then one day we stopped. The emotions do settle a bit - but for me EVERYTHING is more vivid. Taste, smell, emotions. It is as if smoking was a huge dirty blanket that I had over my head and lived through..now its gone. That is great. You are doing brilliantly...and it gets better.

Go Doreen! Congratulations!

4 days....wow... and then Fay becomes ........... what did we agree? B)

Nancy A true Lady Congratulations and Thanks for everything that you do... (I think that is what I said ;) )

see you soon Jimmy - Tiff is on it.

MQ. Great work! congratulations - and thanks ;)

Thanks to all nurses!

Triggers: Reminders From Your Executive Assistant Original post : Kattatonic Gold/ Freedom member. "It's all in your head" has developed a really bad rap in our culture. What's up with that? The power of the brain is remarkable. We should marvel and be impressed. Has anyone told you that since physical withdrawal is over... get a grip... or get over it... or something like that? What about patience with yourself? You've been informed that it's psychological after 2 weeks . Do you think the impulse to smoke should stop now, now, now? Do you think impulses after you have quit for a while indicate you are weak? Quite the contrary, actually. Your brain is working as designed. Okay, listen up. Your brain is amazing. Every time you do anything, one function your brain performs is to try to save you time and prevent you from repeating past mistakes. So quickly and subconsciously, your brain scans the memory banks for similar circumstances whenever you do anything. When it finds comparable history, it compares that with what you are doing now and alerts you to differences, just like an efficient little assistant. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yesterday I pulled on my day pack, went out the front door and turned left to walk up the street. Suddenly I am hit with a trigger. Why? Because I haven't turned left off my front stoop since before I quit. I quit in the winter and I have either gone out the back door to my car, or turned right to walk to the subway. Turning left means I am going to bother to walk to the grocery, which I haven't done since I quit. The part of my brain that tries to save me time, let's call him the Executive Assistant (the EA), recalled past left turns from the stoop. He went down a checklist. What did she need / what did she use on previous excursions like this? Wallet? Check. Keys? Check. Bags? Check. Smokes? NOPE. "Ah, ah, ah, excuse me!" I could imagine him running up behind me yesterday as I set out and picked up pace. "You've forgotten your cigarettes! You're going to need your cigarettes when you get to the café!" (I treat myself to a special coffee when I bother to walk to the market.) Remember all those times you forgot your cigarettes and kicked yourself? It was such an inconvenience when you were an active using addict. Back then, your reaction went something like this: "Memo to self. Don't forget the cigarettes!" What I'm calling the 'EA' function in your brain monitors these memos. He got the memos and he's acting on them. He got thousands of memos like that! The poor guy is just trying to do his job. So I thanked my EA for trying to save me frustration, reminded him that I no longer smoke and that he should refer to the new Never Take Another Puff memo. After my coffee up the street, I paused to listen to the Let's-Smoke trigger, a little different and a more uncomfortable than the Forgot-Your-Cigarettes trigger. There he was again, but this time trying to get me to actually smoke! What a guy! His reasoning? "You've eaten, walked and coffeed, you're about to shop... you are going to want a smoke before you know it and you'd always rather smoke here than while walking home. Always! Always!" This guy is no dummy. I did in fact send him that memo many, many times. For heavens sake, I smoked for 25 years. The filing cabinets are full of those old memos. How to teach an old dog new tricks? Well the EA in our brains can and does learn new routines all the time. We may learn slower as we age but we do still learn and adapt, especially if we do it consciously. We have to note new memos to ourselves, sometimes several times and we have to be kind to ourselves... or our ‘EAs’. The kinder and calmer you are, the more chance you have of him 'getting it' each time. So what to do in the café? I said to my EA, "Thanks! I appreciate the reminder but you have to look at the newer One = All memo again. I am not going to smoke today or ever. Please remember that coffee time is no longer smoke time." He will get it; I know he will. It will just take a while and a walk through all my various scenarios. He is really very, very good. He learned so well the first time -- I have to give him time to learn the new mandate. Thanks for reading my ramblings. You are doing it,! It is doable! It does get better and it is worth it... wait! Make that, YOU are worth it. Yes, you are.The factor that really shows the addiction is not how hard or how easy it is to quit. What really shows the addiction is how universally easy it is to go back. One puff and the quit can go out the window.UCanQuit

The Exec assistant again! I post this one and read it all the time as it made such sense to me...i'll dig it out again. Good post Jonny.

Evelyn pledged this morning. All OK in the sunny Netherlands Evelyn?

:o Slander I tell you! If you stay downwind they can't hear a thing.... ;)

Was a NOPE from me...then came "The Wipe" B) :o :ph34r:

Lucky Bar Steward! :wacko: OK - seriously? 1. My Fitness Pal. Takes a week or so to get used to - but you can literally track everything that you eat - and sync across all devices. Look me up ;) 2. Fitbit. Little bracelet - measures your steps. Look me up ;) 3. MFP will measure your intake. Fitbit will report your burn to MFP. You set your target and MFP will tell you your allowance for the day. So - as an example, a big work day, I am allowed a lettuce leaf and can sniff a piece of toast - as I am on my arse all day. On a golf day - I am likely to cover 8/9 miles on foot. My calorie allowance includes a small child. :o Therefore - I need more golf, less work. Purely for my health... :rolleyes:

Well Done DJ - and Mr DJ. And a belated Happy Anniversary!

Brilliant work DJ! Those were serious triggers - and you beat them. Your quit will be stronger for it. well done you

Thursday the 8th of May...and today, I am not going to Take One Puff Ever.....just for today. No smoking today.

Congratulations RWW!

Marti... You know the answer. More sex. Mr Marti, cheques and cash acceptable... Otherwise, eat less, move more. Oh..and Allen Carr did a book....

What was noticeable was the way that Ronnie felt that he had given his best, stayed with it, but lost. So, he had set more realistic expectations and was more reconciled. There was no doubt that he was more stable, and not as edgy....but he also lost...