lml

Glad to read you are finding ways to work through the craves. They go away

Nope

Thanks Doreen. I found the book in pdf format online and haven't been able to put it down. I agree with johnny. It has changed my view of smoking and quitting smoking.

For me, it seems things have settled down this week and are back to a good balance. Been a wild and crazy couple of weeks. It is a good thing I can laugh at myself. This week, I get a thought of going and having a cigarette about 4 or 5 times a day. It usually happens in one of two situations. One scenario I am intensely engrossed in something I am doing and then accomplish or figure out how to accomplish it. I feel a great sense of accomplishment and am "proud" of myself. And the into my brain pops the though " time for a smoke...you deserve it". So I just tell myself...NOPE! You got things backwards gurl. What you really deserve is NOT to have one. Got And I laugh at myself and how absurd that thought was. Another scenario is if I am working in something and hit a roadblock - just can't Figure it out. Thought comes in...ahhh but going and having a cigarette ALWAYS helped you figure things out before. So I just tell myself - NOPE, smoking not an option anymore. Come on...you know that is stupid. Go for a nice walk, clear your thoughts and see things from a different perspective and you will figure it out. It wasn't the cigarette that helped, it was getting away from it all that helped you figure things out. So I go for a nice walk figure it out. But it is not a crave or urge. It is just a thought that pops in quickly, but then vanishes quickly. I understand why week 1 is called hell week, week 2 is called heck week and week 3 is called tricky week. I don't miss smoking. I dont want to smoke. I like not smoking. When i see my smoking buds smoking, i dont think anything of it. When i smell a cigarette, the only thing i worry/wonder about is if the second hand puff will delay my nicotine receptors from going back to normal. I wonder... But i do hope that they too will soon begin to see...

-2 Hi there jillar

0 Great, thank you for asking fluffy. All well with you?

2

Guns eat rifles

Am in need

2

2

Thank you both!

Hi Kate, You sound good, positive and strong. Whatever it takes is right! Heh. I can so relate. Many times, if I am walking down a street and see my reflection in the window, I take a second look because that older woman looks familiar.... Keep going, one step, one day at a time.

Nope

That is a lot you have handled courageously jo. Glade it is something that can be cured and treated. And no thoughts of smoking...bravo.

beautiful lovable egotists

Hi reciprocity, Thanks for the interesting thoughts. Perhaps at this time it may not seem possible because we haven't found a way. Yet, as goes the way with things with evolution of man, so many things are impossible until we figure it out. I did not mean to imply that it was impossible, just that scientists haven't figured it out...YET. I have already experienced fewer and fewer thoughts throughout the day. Like maybe 4 or 5 times a day. Initially, I would think about it ALL DAY long...lol. So in my case, in a matter of 3 weeks it has gone from thinking of having a cigarette non-stop all day long to several times a day. I would imagine and expect that eventually it goes to 4 or 5 times a week, then 4 or 5 times a month, then maybe a year. I read a book (now I will have to go find it again :)) several years ago, that had a theory/belief that you can control what is in your subconcious. The theory believes that there is a state one goes into before they fall asleep...the state between wakefulness and sleep. And if you repeat things to your mind several times before you fall sleep, during the sleep the messages will be transmitted to the subconcious. Added: Of course - it is called the Power of your Subconcious Mind. "Whatever we plant in our subconcious mind and nourish with repitition will one day become a reality". "The mind is everything. What you think, you become" -Buddha-

Congrats!

Congrats!

Congrats!

Is it difficult to quit smoking or is it easy peas? I have read opinions on both sides. Some say it is the most difficult addiction to overcome. Some say it is easy peasy. For me, so far the answer is YES! I had heard for years that quitting smoking is more difficult than heroin or cocaine (but I wasn’t a nicotine addict and nicotine wasn’t addictive…hmmm) I remember hearing this years ago. So of course, my mind was programmed to believe it was going to be extremely difficult. I remember quitting Cold Turkey when I was pregnant many years ago, and I slept for 5 days because I was non-functional. Now I wonder how much of that was quitting smoking or how much as stopping my 4 cups of coffee a day. Before I quit smoking, I was fearful of the withdrawal and doubted that I was going to be able to quit. Fear and doubt - how did they become part of me? I think the mind is the most important/difficult battle – at least it was for me. I had programmed my mind (or let it be programmed -but either way I am fully responsible) that smoking cigarettes was glamorous, cool, relaxing, a big reward for a task/job accomplished; the wonderful and beautiful attributes I had given to my smoking addiction. And before I could really fully want to get rid of this addiction and banish smoking from my life, I had to reprogram my mind. Before I could reprogram my mind, I had to see and face the lies of wonder and beauty I had associated with smoking. Then I could commence with replacing those lies with the truth of what smoking was doing to me. I had to see all the negative things that I did because of my addiction and how much control smoking had over me. This was difficult at first; but once it started to unravel and with help of those who had gone this path before me, it went quickly. At that point, I was at peace with myself. A calmness came over. I want no more cigarettes or nicotine in my life. In my mind, there is not one good thing left associated with smoking; yet there are many wonderful things associated with not smoking in my mind. It wasn’t painful, but it wasn’t easy. Many things in life that are good for you are not easy and requires effort. But with this reprogramming of my mind regarding cigarettes done, it is much easier to dismiss the thought of having one, when it arises. When the “want” to smoke unconsciously arises and I bring it into my consciousness it is puzzling to me because Why in the world would I want to smoke a cigarette, now that I know how awful it is and all the wonderful things I would give up if I had just a puff? Our minds are something else. For me, I think there were craves the first several days being off nicotine but they weren’t physically painful. Bothersome yes, but not what I feared. I was stronger than the craves. Why had I doubted myself? I am missing the Dopamine effect, but am hoping that will return to normal (whatever that may be) in a month or so. I am researching a supplement L-tyrosine and may try taking it. I can see that a deep daily NOPE moment will be critical for the rest of my life, to my remaining free. While I have reprogrammed my conscious thoughts, smoking became a subconscious activity that I did without thinking. So I do think if I do not daily instill NOPE into my subconsciousness, I will relapse. I do not know (yet) how to get smoking out of my subconciousness - time may help some, but I don't know a way of erasing / deleting it as if it never existed (yet). I would say that for me, quitting smoking is not as difficult as I feared, but it requires more effort and more change. And change is not always easy. ? So YES!

Naughty cats enjoy

Yes or unstoppable.

Having wig entitles rewards occassionally GREAT

Nope!