babs609

we love you back! Missed you!

whenever I would struggle I would remember 1 thing. Non smokers have issues. Non smokers have problems. Non smokers have emotions. How do they deal with it? Same way I would have to deal with it. When we quit smoking we think anything new...anything different than we felt or acted before we quit was a result of quitting smoking...when the fact really is....it was because we smoked in the first place. If you never smoked in your whole life....you would have already had healthy tools in your tool box to deal with life's issues. When we are smokers...that toolbox is pretty lame... We had a smoke and a lighter. Now that you stopped killing yourself...You tossed them...and are developing new skills in their place. It gets better! I promise!

Oh hell no. NOPE!

TEW. You will be ok. Everyone is different. Every struggle is different Some find it easy peasy. Some find it difficult. Some have mental breakdowns. Some just seem to float by. But one thing that is true for everyone. For EVERYONE. SMOKING IS NOT THE ANSWER. It never was Sounds like by your description--you covered pain with smoking. isn't it wonderful now that you can actually feel the emotions?? Now all you have to do is learn to sit with those emotions without running away. Just sit with it. Emotions don't kill us. It's actually not the emotion itself that makes us suffer. It's the thoughts behind the emotions. The story we tell ourselves. Daily meditation really helped me to learn how to stay present---even when it's not comfortable for me to do so. You are doing fantastic. Stay on your course. It will All come together for you. Keep protecting that precious quit. Like your life depends on it. Because it does. It really does. Xoxoxo

Massive congratulations Karl!

this actually made me laugh out loud

nope!!

I quit once back in 2004 Thought I had it licked.... Lasted 3 months. I had no support I let the junkie talk back in within 1 week, I smoked a cigarette took me 8 years to quit again man...do I regret that if I had a Quit Train back in 2004....I could be celebrating my 11th year I am grateful to celebrate 3 years of course......but Damn Jess...don't let it happen to you...time flies....and before you know it...it will be 8 years for you. What's it gonna be Jess??? A relapse that you learned from and finally found your sticky quit?? Or a relapse of deep, deep regret? That's your crossroad...right here...right now. Left?.........or Right??? You choose.....and like we told our kids...and now our grandbabies..."make good choices" :) Hope you read this girl. We all love ya!!

Today I love......not wishing my life away by worrying about when and where my next smoke will be. I am present. :)

I Miss bakon!!!

This technique always helped me in the early months of my quit...and I still use it to this day. Pema Chödrön teaches us a simple technique we can use anytime we need a break from our habitual patterns.Our habits are strong, so a certain discipline is required to step outside our cocoon and receive the magic of our surroundings. Pause practice—taking three conscious breaths at any moment when we notice that we are stuck—is a simple but powerful practice that each of us can do at any given moment. Pause practice can transform each day of your life. It creates an open doorway to the sacredness of the place in which you find yourself. The vastness, stillness, and magic of the place will dawn upon you, if you let your mind relax and drop for just a few breaths the story line you are working so hard to maintain. If you pause just long enough, you can reconnect with exactly where you are, with the immediacy of your experience. When you are waking up in the morning and you aren’t even out of bed yet, even if you are running late, you could just look out and drop the story line and take three conscious breaths. Just be where you are! When you are washing up, or making your coffee or tea, or brushing your teeth, just create a gap in your discursive mind. Take three conscious breaths. Just pause. Let it be a contrast to being all caught up. Let it be like popping a bubble. Let it be just a moment in time, and then go on. Maybe you are on your way to whatever you need to do for the day. You are in your car, or on the bus, or standing in line. But you can still create that gap by taking three conscious breaths and being right there with the immediacy of your experience, right there with whatever you are seeing, with whatever you are doing, with whatever you are feeling. http://www.lionsroar.com/waking-up-to-your-world/#

2 months is huge! Always celebrate each milestone. Well done!

Today I love....getting through cardio class without feeling like I'm gonna die. It's still tough physically...buy my breathing and endurance is awesome. Feels like I never smoked.

I'm scared to death about the Sharks but I love swimming in the ocean so much I do it anyway. If you see me at the beach I am rarely out of the water. I'm a Pisces. :)

Healthy pink gums How about you? What is it today specifically, that you love about being a non smoker? Try to narrow it down to just 1 thing today. You can always post again tomorrow. :) Go!

NOPE!!

Evelyn....Don't ever be sorry for posting an SOS. You didn't smoke you are a super hero woo hoo!

Hi Joe!! Just got back from the outer banks 2 weeks ago...love it there! We used to vacation there every year...but haven't been for the past 10 years so it was so nice to go back. And yes....I did swim with the sharks...LOL my daughter being a joker drew in the shark..lol