How will you stop smoking?
There are many websites today that promote ways to stop smoking. Some are the same, others are quite different. Today, the government's quitline is receiving a record number of calls. During the period of 2004 to 2010, just under three million calls were made. Just this year, 2011, there have been more than 600,000 calls. There is no doubt that more Americans than ever before are considering ways to give up smoking once and for all. If you want to successfully stop smoking, you must find the right solution for your problem. A nicotine patch is one solution. Smokers should be able to get rid of their desire to smoke if they use the nicotine patch and slowly withdraw from nicotine as they use less and less nicotine in the patch. However, this system does not work well for most smokers (1). As a matter of fact, it's the same as just trying to quit "cold turkey". Thus, the desire to smoke cannot be attributed solely to nicotine dependency. Although nicotine dependence is certainly a part of the syndrome, it cannot be the only factor. Because of this, every smoker who uses the system will have a 100% success rate. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Success rates are significantly below ten percent. 10 % in January. For those who choose to use nicotine gum, it is equally effective. Various amounts of nicotine are infused into the gum, which is used to stop nicotine addiction. Nicotine gum, however, does not work as well as nicotine patches. Hypnosis programs are one of the oldest methods for quitting smoking. In the past, hypnotists have made money from people who believed that hypnosis could help them quit smoking forever. As a clinical hypnotherapist in one of the largest and oldest hypnosis clinics in the US, I can tell you that most hypnotists don't know how to properly use hypnosis to help their patients in the long term. As a result, hypnosis programs for quitting smoking rarely work long-term. A world-renowned hypnotist, Marshall Sylver, was allegedly paid $100,000 by Kerry Packer, who, until his death in 2005, was the wealthiest man in Australia and one of the richest people in the world, to help him quit smoking with hypnosis. We did not accept the request. In Kerry Packer's case, it was not hypnosis that stopped him from smoking. In order to quit smoking, smokers must address what drives their desire to continue consuming cigarettes. For people to stop smoking, hypnosis must be applied correctly. Smokers should not be told that they cannot smoke anymore or that their cigarettes taste like rotten eggs. During hypnosis, the hypnotist concentrates on the past, on the moment when the subject made the decision to become a smoker. It was at this exact moment that smokers, mostly children no older than fourteen and sometimes as young as ten, started hypnotizing themselves into becoming smokers. Every smoker is in a hypnotic state. As a matter of fact, any hypnotist worth their salt will tell you that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. It is presented as a capturing process in the old Dracula movies, but it is actually a leading one. The hypnotist creates a trance in which the subject accepts and internalizes the suggestions made by the hypnotist. Hypnotists do not issue commands, only suggestions that may or may not be followed by the subject. After smoking for ten years or more, most smokers fail to quit. They conclude that this is due to a lack of willpower in overcoming their addiction. We perceive this as a weakness in character. However, that isn't the case. Their commitment to becoming smokers prevents them from simply stopping using tobacco with willpower. As a result of hypnosis, smoking occurs, and this hypnosis must be reversed subconsciously to stop. To successfully stop smoking, an individual must return to the state in which they were before they became smokers. This will enable them to stop craving cigarettes forever. It is true that there are those who smoke who will say, "I am not hypnotized!" But have they actually been hypnotized? What is their own experience of being hypnotized? Please tell me. Someone not in an altered state of consciousness (which takes them out of reality) would choose to take chemically treated poison weed, Intoxicated by chemically treated poisonous paper, During the course of their lives for ten, twenty, thirty years, they breathe the toxic fumes from the fire twenty times a day (twenty cigarettes times ten drags from each cigarette every day) and have no clue that the end result may well be a painful, costly, and prolonged death, and believe they are experiencing something pleasurable and paying dearly for it..? Smokers do not smoke for the taste of their cigarettes. One cannot enjoy the first cigarette after the first inhale, especially after the first inhale. That was my experience. Almost made me throw up. As a ten-year-old, I stopped smoking because I became dizzy. As a new student at my new school, I had become convinced that in order to fit in with three other boys my age, I had to become a smoker as well. During that time, I asked myself one very pertinent question. I thought about my feelings at the time, as well as where I was. After some very short consideration, I answered, "Yes!". Then I proceeded to inhale the cigarette I had just lit, stolen from my parents' stash, and got sick, waited until it passed, then repeated it until I was no longer feeling sick. My new friends were able to smoke like me in no time, blowing smoke rings and "looking cool" after only a few days. My experience as a smoking cessation coach has taught me that most smokers start smoking for three primary reasons. Among them are: Smoking makes me appear more mature and "adult-like," and I smoke. This is true for younger people only. Adults thought I was an idiot for trying to appear older. In order to be like my friends, I will start smoking. At that point, they will be more accepting of me. It was my original expectation that they would have accepted me less if they had rejected my request to become a smoker. Smoking is a sex act. In the movies, I saw James Dean, Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth Taylor, and many other sex symbols smoking and looking "sexy and cool" while doing so. Then, I wished I looked like them and was as attractive as they were. As a matter of fact, John Wayne advertised cigarettes on television. Who was I to disagree with "The Duke"? I had a family full of smokers as well. I am the only one who died of smoking-related cancer, as my mother died as a result of an auto accident at 43. As a young adult in the 1950s, smoking was a requirement to become an adult. Let's take a closer look. I chose to smoke cigarettes to appear older. My sense of maturity correlated with this behavior. In addition to making me closer to my friends, smoking cigarettes helped me gain their acceptance. I felt more comfortable around my friends after smoking cigarettes. I wanted to appear more attractive, so I smoked cigarettes. To me, smoking cigarettes represented my sexuality. In the early stages of forming my self-image, I did all three of these things. I was considering my future behavior, who I am in the world and my values. I have been a smoker throughout my life and I will continue to do so. Over a decade later, when I finally realized that I was doing something foolish, expensive, and frankly anti-social by smoking, I realized I could not simply stop smoking by making that decision. My best efforts failed. Eventually, I gave up. My next question was nearly thirty years old. Even then I thought it was naive. Nevertheless, I decided to investigate it more seriously and look for a solution. Despite my desire to stop smoking for good, how can I still smoke cigarettes when I want them?" Eventually, I did find an answer or rather several answers. It was possible for me to smoke as many cigarettes as I wanted by developing a process for myself. My desire to quit smoking itched me every day, week after week. Therefore, I have no interest whatsoever in lighting up her cigarette, something that no one who has quit cold turkey can truly claim. I have no desire whatsoever to ever light up another cigarette, something that no one who has quit cold turkey says. Because of this, I don't desire to smoke another cigarette, something that a person who has quit cold turkey cannot truly say. Because of this, I don't desire to smoke another cigarette, something that a person who has quit cold turkey cannot truly say. Consequently, I don't want to smoke another cigarette, something that a person who has quit cold turkey cannot truly say. I have successfully de-hypnotized myself from being a smoker. Smoking is a very harmful habit. This is what I discovered along the way. Smoking is not the real problem. What's the problem with smoking? Every smoker has a problem with this. In order to stop smoking permanently, that core issue must be addressed. One must overcome the craving for tobacco. Once that is accomplished, cigarettes no longer present a problem. We cannot change the past, but we can change the way we remember it and how those memories influence our lives today. In order to stop smoking, you do not need to concentrate on the symptom, tobacco use. The underlying cause of smoking, the desire to indulge, needs to be addressed rather than the symptom of smoking alone. When you remove that hypnotic suggestion implanted in your psyche so many years ago, you will never need to smoke again.
