Stop Smoking NOW!!

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The following articles © Copyright Fred Kelley of QuitSmoking.com. Visit the web site at http://www.quitsmoking.com
for great information and products designed to help you quit smoking. This ebook is brought to you
by Marsha Thomlinson, Quitster Moderator
 

Chapter 1: The Life?? of Smoking
Chapter 2: That Smoking Feeling
Chapter 3: Smoking Myths
Chapter 4: Victims of Misinformation
Chapter 5: The Psychology of Belief
Chapter 6: The Power of Feelings
Chapter 7: The Illusion of Willpower
Chapter 8: Commonly Asked Questions
Chapter 9: This Is Going To Be the Most Important Decision of Your Life
Chapter 10: The Joy of Non-Smoking
 

Chapter 1
The Life?? of Smoking

Why is it so difficult to stop smoking?
I bet you have asked yourself this question again and again. Every smoker has. We know it is bad for us; we KNOW it is KILLING us and yet..... we continue to do it. And to make things worse......every time, we try to stop, we seem to WANT it more and more. Even all the health scares don't affect us.

From new statistics, we now know that over 50% of all regular smokers will die from smoking-related diseases. And when you look even closer at the truth of the matter, it is even more incredible...... Everyday, we are in fact using our own money to systematically destroy our own body - to turn our health living cells into dying cancerous-ridden ones - and we are so persistent in doing it - every day, every hour we are on the job. When we look at it this way, we all know that smoking is 'surely the stupidest thing in the world'. And yet we all continue to do it.

I continued to smoke even though I knew all the above - in fact I even watched my grandfather die of smoking-related cancer, but I still kept smoking for years afterwards. THE PARADOX In fact, in a strange way, such incidents probably make it harder to give up. I was a teenager when my grandfather died....17 to be exact. I had only been smoking a little while when I heard my parents say that he knew he was dying from cancer but still he wouldn't give up smoking. Although I wasn't aware of it at the time, I drew two very damaging conclusions from my grandfather's decision. One, I concluded -- that either cigarette must indeed be very enjoyable: Why one someone keep doing it even though it was killing him? (I did not know of the addictive nature of the drug - nicotine at that stage. I was only 11) Or else: It must be impossible to give up smoking once you start. Otherwise, surely he would have stopped?

The Puzzle
 The truth is.....most of us will not admit to the real reason why we will not stop smoking. Some of us say it is because of the withdrawal symptoms we will have to face if we give up. We dread them because of the terrible scary stories we have heard from people who have tried to give up. Or from our own memories, when we tried to quit and failed.T his fear is also re-enforced by our culture which bombards us with images and beliefs which seem to to emphasize one sole message: When you give up, you'll face terrible withdrawal pains. Your body will scream for mercy - for nicotine. You will be miserable, angry - even violent until you beat this nicotine monster. RUBBISH! RUBBISH ! IF you only get one thing from this course, please realize this: All the above horror stories are false. The actual PHYSICAL withdrawal symptoms from nicotine are so MILD most people will not even notice them! And for those that do, it will be less than the slight discomfort you would feel from a light head cold! Yes, you will FEEL something when you stop smoking, but the feelings of emptiness, frustration and anxiety that you WILL feel when you give up smoking do not come from the nicotine addiction, but from the mental conditioning that you have associated with smoking. THEY ARE CAUSED BY YOUR REACTION TO THE FACT THAT WE CAN'T SMOKE. This is such an important point. There is no PHYSICAL pain when you give up smoking. You will experience no physical agony when you decide to stop. When you fully understand this you will look forward to that day that you will smoke that final cigarette and become a non-smoker for life. Can you accept this truth ? Don't worry at this stage if you can't - we will be devoting all Lesson 3 to this vital aspect of giving up.

At this point, just accept it as a working but very exciting possibility! Drop all your old thinking -open your mind to new exciting possibilities So if it's not fear of withdrawal symptoms, what then really keeps us hooked to smoking ?Some of us believe that it is enjoyable ? Others believe that it gives a person confidence and a sense of courage. Another great myth is the belief that smoking relieves boredom. This is absolutely nonsense as boredom is a state of mind and must be dealt with from that level. Weight Gain .....and smoking Any increasingly disturbing trend is the belief that smoking can be used as a slimming aid. This is based on the belief that if you give up smoking you are BOUND to gain weight. This is not true. If you adapt this new psychology of non-smoking, you need not fear gaining weight. Yes, it may have happened in the past when people tried to give up smoking through Will-Power ALONE. To give up smoking, these people were told to use all their willpower and try to take their mind off their 'desire to smoke and 'do' something else- ANYTHING. They were told to eat snacks or nibble this or that - ANYTHING to keep them busy and their minds off smoking. Why did they want to eat? Because the 'feeling' or the 'hunger' for a cigarette is very similar to the 'feeling' you get when you are hungry. And so, in the past. people ATE in the mistaken BELIEF that by eating, they could satisfy this feeling for a cigarette and that it would help them keep their minds off smoking. But of course, it didn't work and the MORE the feeling to smoke came back........ the MORE they ate in the mistaken belief it could help them. That is the historical origin of this belief.

I am always amazed by how many people are still convinced that weight gain is an absolute by-product of giving up smoking as if you can't have one without the other. When you give up, you'll face terrible withdrawal pains. Yes, I accept there was some validity for it in the past. But the CAUSE was not giving up smoking but HOW they went about the process. We are going to deal specifically with this issue throughout the course -- so beware of any tendency to continue to want to smoke out of fear of gaining weight.

An Eye-Opening Experiment
Back to our question! Why is it so difficult to stop smoking and it is enjoyable? Break up a cigarette............ The Experiment Right now, can you take out a cigarette and gently tear it apart. Then.... place the cigarette on the table in front of you. What you will be left with..... are little brown pieces of material (tobacco), a filter and strips of white paper. Dead, inanimate material. For the next few minutes, just spend a little while studying this raw material. Maybe, get a pen and ruffle through it. Really study it. Now ask yourself: 'Do you really believe that by setting that material alit and by inhaling it's smoke that it WILL give you those magical qualities of confidence and courage?' Would you find the ACTUAL physical act of INHALING that smoke ENJOYABLE? Would you stick your head in a fireplace to inhale it's smoke? Try to be honest with yourself as you do this exercise. I know it is difficult, but it is well worth the effort to face the truth. I want you to do another exercise now. I want you to smoke a cigarette. ( Please note if you have already stopped smoking and are just using this course as a refresher to help you remain an non-smoker, this exercise does not apply to you. Do the exercise in your mind ). Now I want you to smoke the cigarette...... in a special way. With COMPLETE AWARENESS of what you are DOING. I want you to start now and with full attention, take six deep pulls and as you do this, just be aware of what you are doing and..... of the smoke going into your lungs. Do not think about anything else. Just focus, concentrate totally on the actual mechanics of smoking MOMENT-BY-MOMENT. Now I want you to tell me.......WHAT GREAT SENSATIONS OR ENJOYMENT are you now experiencing as you do this. Try to describe to me the wonderful experience that we ex-smokers are being deprived of. Strange isn't ! When we do this exercise, we realize that most of the time when we smoke, we are totally UNAWARE of what we are doing. We have to be - because if we smoke and remain FULLY AWARE of the ACTUAL ACT of smoking, we would lose all the enjoyment. We would see through the illusion of enjoyment.

For the next few days, just watch people smoking. After they lit up and take the first pull, 99% of smokers forget they are smoking. They are unaware of what they are doing. They continue smoking blindly......,automatically........ In fact they might as well be not smoking at all..............!!99% of people who smoke everyday are unconscious of what they are doing - after their first puff. This is a very important point, because it reveals an extraordinary truth. The pleasure, those 'warm, relaxing pleasurable' feelings that we experience when we smoke do NOT come from the cigarette. I know that it will take time to convince you of this truth because the two seem so intertwined - so connected. We will explore this more fully in subsequent lessons, but to start to get a glimpse of this truth -- look again at the torn-up cigarette lying on the table. It is a dead, life-less piece of material? Isn't it? Can it jump up and down and attack you? Can it jump up and sing and dance and entertain you ? Can it relax and soothe you later on to-day if you become nervous or tense ? No. Of course not! The truth is......It is YOU who generate the pleasurable-relaxed safe feelings you experience when you smoke and..... it is YOU who have associated them totally with the act of smoking.

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Chapter 2
That Smoking Feeling

Later on in Step 4, you will learn how this process began - and how after you became addicted to smoking, the process became automatic. What this means is that every time you smoke or more importantly, even think of having a cigarette, you unconsciously release these feelings. This, in turn, causes the release of certain chemical secretions in your brain and nervous system which cause you to experience that ' certain feeling' you get when you smoke. THE IMPLICATIONS Can you begin to see the implications of this ? It is YOU by your mental intention to smoke that causes the release of these brain chemicals - not the cigarette. But because you believe it is the cigarette ( not an unreasonable assumption !) you believe you MUST smoke to get those feelings But even more importantly, you believe that if you stop smoking, you will NEVER experience those feelings again. That is what ex-smokers mean when they say 'they long for a cigarette'. What they really mean is they long to experience those certain PLEASURABLE feelings again. If you think about it, that's one of the main reasons why you really smoke - isn't it ? To enjoy that feeling - that sensation ! And what is your greatest fear if you give up? Losing that pleasure, that enjoyment, that need, that security that you believe the cigarette provides.

We smoke because we want to experience those pleasant feelings that we have unconsciously linked to smoking.

But may I make suggestion here? What if you could give up smoking, but still be able to create and enjoy those same pleasurable, safe feelings -without smoking? A NEW POSSIBILITY Lets look again at one of our torn-up cigarette on the table. With your pen, play around with it. Really examine it closely. It's hard to believe, isn't it, that this life-less, nothing-less substance can cause so much trouble in your life? But what is more extraordinary is the awesome powers and qualities that we humans have attributed to it ?We believe it can...... Relieve our boredom Relax us if we are nervous or tense Help us to think and concentrate. And, dangerously, we even believe it can help us stay slim. Not only have we accepted all those false beliefs, but we have even managed to convince ourselves THAT IT IS ACTUALLY ENJOYABLE TO INHALE IT'S LIFE-DESTROYING, FILTHY SMOKE INTO OUR LUNGS. Daily suicide Right now, you're probably feeling frustrated, angry and somewhat foolish at being a smoker. That is not our intention. As smokers, we have all committed the same folly. We have all been in the same boat and made the same foolish mistakes. But the good news is that we don't have to continue on this suicide mission. The simple truth is...... We find it difficult to give up smoking, not because it is enjoyable, or because it helps us to relax, but because WE BELIEVE that it does all these things for us! We also believe that if we attempt to give up, it will involve nothing but pain and suffering. And who wants to face extra pain and agony in their lives? BUT WHAT IF ALL THE ABOVE NEGATIVE BELIEFS ARE NOT TRUE - THAT, IN FACT THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE ?

Allow yourself to consider all possibilities
Who are you kidding? Right now, you're probably saying this cannot be true - that you know hundreds of people, no doubt yourself included, who have giving up smoking and found it terrible. I do not disagree with you. I know hundreds of people who tried to stop smoking and found it the worst experience of their lives. And if you decide to give up smoking and use the old WILLPOWER method of stopping - you may succeed. But you will find it a hard and painful process as all the people in the past did. If you decide to use the old method of brutal willpower alone, you may succeed but you will find it a hard and miserable process.

However, while you are doing that, the rest of us will be taking full advantage of the new developments in the Psychology of Non-smoking and the extraordinary wisdom of Zen and finding the whole process much more tolerable....... even enjoyable. The choice is yours.

The old way or the New Way! THE NEW WAY OR THE OLD WAY. Let me repeat our key point again. You find it difficult to give up smoking because YOU believe it is enjoyable. You believe this absolutely, totally, COMPLETELY. You also believe that smoking can help you in many ways -- and that if you stop smoking, you will lose all these benefits. But the situation is made even worse because you believe that if you do give up, you will have NOTHING at all to look forward to but pain and agony. the belief that it must be hard Is it any wonder that people who have these beliefs, but still ATTEMPT to give up, find the whole experience terrible and painful ....? A SECRET May I let you in on a little secret.... well, it's not a secret at all. Millions around the world have already proved it. All the beliefs about smoking being difficult to give up and that you will face agony if you try ARE NOT TRUE. How can you know for sure ? Easy. We don't want you to take our word for it. You are going to know for sure because you are going to prove it and experience it for yourselves.  As for having to do battle with nicotine's 'terrible withdrawal symptoms' when you give up ............well let's keep the good news (and the new scientific facts ) about cigarette's famous withdrawal pangs for Step Three............

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Chapter 3
Smoking Myths

The truth is... YOU are a nicotine addict. You need your little dose. You smoke cigarettes to get your little dose of nicotine. Fortunately, and this is the good news, despite popular misconception, nicotine IS an easy drug to kick as the physical withdrawal symptoms are so mild. HOW MANY SMOKERS REALLY KNOW THIS ? 

Let me repeat it and I intend to repeat it again and again, without any apologies, throughout this course :One of the great myths of smoking is that you will suffer terrible physical withdrawal symptoms when you stop.

Key Idea
The physical craving for nicotine is so mild you will hardly notice it. In fact, giving up smoking is 99% mental and only 1% physical. And what is that 1% - merely an empty, restless incomplete feeling....the temporary feeling that something is missing. That is all. That is all. That is all you will physically experience when you stop smoking. In fact, the majority of smokers will not be aware of any physical withdrawal symptoms at all when they give up.

Let me emphasize this again: The only thing you will experience when you stop smoking is a slight physical discomfort that is little more than an empty, restless, hungry feeling that will feel quite uncomfortable for the first three days and then will gradually decline into nothingness.

May I ask you this ? If you had a light head cold, would you stop everything and wait in terrible fear for the symptoms of a light head cold to emerge? Of course not. 

It would be an inconvenience but you would ignore it and get on with your business - knowing that it would be gone in a few days. You would not make a big fuss out of it. This is exactly the sort of attitude you must take when you finally stop smoking - because the actual physical discomfort you will experience will be less than that of a head cold. This is such an important point. People who have successfully given up smoking really get angry (and I definitely do!) when we see people, and especially TV shows and films perpetuate this old myth.

Fear of Agony
IF you can overcome this belief and accept the truth - even, at this stage just as a possibility, you will have overcome one of the major hurdles that keeps people smoking. This is what an expert who has successfully treated thousands of smokers said recently: "It amazes me how many people convince themselves that they enjoy smoking - when the truth is that deep down they are terrified of the agony they think they will have to face."   So people either put off giving up:  they pretend that they like smoking or, and this is evident in a lot of cases, they cling to a belief that there really is no cure for people who smoke. These and all other excuses are just a defense we devise to protect ourselves from an agony we believe we must face. If we only knew that the only physical agony we will face is a tiny physical discomfort that will linger for the first few days......... Almost one in five of all  premature deaths are caused by smoking.

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Chapter 4
Victims of Misinformation

Let me add, at this point, that it is not your fault that that you have unconsciously accepted all these false beliefs about smoking. We are all victims of this universal myth - but one by one we must face it and expose it's nothingness. This will not only be for our own personal benefit because everybody who succeeds in giving up smoking and finding the whole process easy makes it 100% easier for all the people who follow them. Again do not blame yourself for your present beliefs about smoking.  Remember, at one stage over 60% of the adult population were addicted to nicotine In fact, in the fifties, people were told by doctors and the tobacco companies that cigarettes did not even pose a risk to health !!  

The Mechanics of Smoking
So exactly what does happen when you smoke ? the act of smoking.......Every puff on your cigarette delivers, via the lungs to the brain a small dose of nicotine that actually acts more rapidly than a dose of heroin an addict may inject into his veins. Because nicotine is a quick-acting drug the levels in the bloodstream drop quickly to about half within a half an hour and a quarter within an hour of finishing a cigarette. As soon as a smoker extinguishes a cigarette the nicotine rapidly begins to leave the bloodstream and the smoker begins to suffer withdrawal symptoms - that restless feeling that says "I want a cigarette".
What does the smoker then do? He has another cigarette of course and within seven seconds, fresh nicotine is supplied and the craving ends ..........but soon starts again .....and again.........and again.............and the chain goes on and it is a chain for life UNLESS we break it. So whenever you feel like a cigarette - and we all know the feeling - that senseless desire to smoke - realize that it is nothing but that 'little monster', nicotine - requesting it's hourly dose of poison. That's all. Not some large, terrifying, all-powerful force that we must fear and obey at all costs. It is just that 'little monster' trying to send a message to the brain - usually every hour - 'I need more poison. Nicotine now please."

The Truth
The truth is simple. You are a nicotine addict. Full stop. The truth is simple. You are a nicotine addict. You smoke to supply your body with nicotine but this is not the end of the world. There is some good news. It is important to remember that although nicotine is one of the world's most powerful drugs because of the speed with which you get hooked, you are never badly hooked. Because it is a quick-acting drug it takes only three weeks for 99% of all the traces of nicotine to leave your body and it's physical withdrawal symptoms are so mild as to be unnoticeable. Isn't this great news? We all know the terrible reality of smoking but at least there is a way out of this misery. We thought we were chained for life to this terrible addiction and we were convinced we would have to suffer terrible withdrawal pangs to escape from it. But now a new simple truth has emerged that people all over the world are discovering for themselves: When you give up smoking there is no physical agony to battle against.

All we will feel is a slight discomfort that will come in the form of a empty restless feeling which will fade away gradually  after we stop. A LINGERING DOUBT. But there is still a doubt in your mind, right now, isn't there ? "OK", you're probably saying, "I understand this whole problem of nicotine addiction and I can accept that I'll probably have no problem in dealing with
any physical withdrawal symptoms I may have to face - in actual fact I'm looking forward to it - but I still have a nagging doubt. There much be more to it than that. If it is so easy to cope with the withdrawal symptoms, why then  do some smokers still find it so difficult? Why do they   go through months of torture and spend the whole of their lives pining for a cigarette? "The answer to that question will complete the final piece of the jigsaw that will solve for us the mystery of our addiction to smoking.................Let me tell you a story. I was a smoker for fifteen years. I really used to look forward (or so I believed ) to a cigarette..... After work   After a meal .....And, of course in the pub. In fact I really, really believed that there was no way -- NO WAY --  I would  EVER be able to enjoy myself in the pub if I couldn't smoke. Even the thought horrified me. For me, this is my most vivid memory. I can honestly say that if a hundred people, no a million people who had already given up smoking had told me that I REALLY could enjoy myself without smoking  - in fact that I would enjoy myself infinitely better, I would not have believed a word. Not a word.

It is amazing how much we genuinely believe all the illusions about smoking. We all genuinely believe that they do something for us - that they are a help, a joy, a comfort, a friend....... And that if they go, we'll  miss them terribly. We should never underestimate the power these beliefs can have on us. In my case, I accepted WITHOUT QUESTION  the assumption that I NEEDED to smoke. I could not even visualize myself, enjoying a night-out without being able to smoke. To-day thousands of people who genuinely and totally believed that they NEEDED to smoke to enjoy certain parts of the day have realized it is a TOTAL ILLUSION.   And yet to-day it is true. I CAN enjoy myself totally without needing to smoke. And I don't tell you this out of pride but hope. Hope that you might consider it possible also for yourself. Remember again.......Thousands of people who genuinely and totally believed that they NEEDED cigarettes to enjoy certain parts of the day have realized that it really is an illusion Won't you let the life-experiences of thousands of people like myself, even persuade you to consider this even as a glorious possibility? Allow yourself to think the unthinkable:  You can FULLY enjoy yourself  without NEEDING to smoke. Today, I genuinely look forward to going out and the thought of wanting to smoke does not even enter my mind, even if EVERYBODY  around me is smoking. However.........let me add to all our readers that we fully understand all your fears and doubts. And I know that, at this stage you will find it hard, if not impossible  to believe all the above claims. I know that you are still not looking forward to the day when you will finally give up for good. There are still many doubts and worries in your mind. The main thing is to be patient. Take your time. Let all this new information about the psychology of non-smoking sink into your mind so that everyday you grasp a deeper and deeper understanding of the principles involved. As you do this, you will find all the illusions which you so dearly believed in falling away of their own accord.

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Chapter 5
The Psychology of Belief

It is the mind that maketh good or evil. That maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor.EDMUND BURKE.

Have you ever watched the TV program - The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna - where people under hypnotism seem to do the most extraordinary things and yet they seem to be fully awake? Have you ever wondered what is happening here? How does the hypnotist get people to act like this ?The POWER OF BELIEFS. Basically it is all very simple. By inducing a deep state of relaxation, the hypnotist has managed to plant a suggestion or a belief in the person's subconscious which that person has fully accepted as true. 'Beliefs' keep us locked into this  terrible prison. That person will then act in accordance with that belief whenever it is suggested to him. The extent of his 'obedience' will depend on the level of relaxation induced in the subject and the extent of his suggestibility to hypnotic influence. So, for example if a subject is told that when he hears a certain tune, or sees a certain object, he will act in a certain way -- that is what he will do. He has been hypnotized so that whenever this stimulus is present, he will react in the prescribed way. A more concrete example: Let us suppose our client has been told that whenever he hears a loud laugh, he will act like a crazy clown and the client's subconscious accepts this suggestion. Our client will  then proceed to behave like this whenever this stimulus is present. From TV, we all know how funny and crazy this can be "Look at that person. Look at what he is doing. He really believes he is a clown." And he is doing all that...... because his subconscious
has accepted the belief that whenever he hears a loud laugh he is a clown.

Although this is only a belief in the client's mind, look how powerful it is in determining and controlling his behavior at certain times. At the end of the show, how does the hypnotist stop him from behaving in this way in the future? He simply tells him to close his eyes, to relax and then he proceeds to remove the belief - the suggestion in the person's mind that when he hears a loud laugh, he will act like a clown. He doesn't start giving out to him or telling him he is crazy or lose his temper with him does he ? No. To change his behavior - how he feels and acts - he simply removes the belief.

Right now, you are probably saying this is all very interesting and all but what has it got to do with my smoking addiction? Everything. We are using the above only as an example to show you the nature and importance of belief, and how it can totally affect how you think and feel about life. Your deepest-beliefs determine how you think, feel and act. Do you know what a belief is? It is simply a strong emotional state of certainty that you hold about people, things or experiences in life. We all hold
beliefs about virtually everything in life - whether we are AWARE of them or not. And it is these beliefs that determine how we react to these things in our life. In fact the more we learn about human behavior, the more we discover the extraordinary power beliefs exert over all aspects of our lives. Do you believe that?

The Power of Beliefs
In fact, beliefs not only determine our psychological states but they can also affect us at a physiological level. A remarkable study was done on schizophrenia a while ago. One case involved a woman with a spilt personality. Normally her blood sugar levels were completely normal. But when she believed she was a diabetic in one of her split personalities, her whole physiology
changed to become that of a diabetic. This change was measured by doctors present. Her belief became her reality. Because she totally believed, without doubt or question , this belief changed her entire physiological state. Although this may sound extraordinary, this case is true and is well documented. In fact, you may have seen numerous hypnotic demonstrations where a person is touched with a piece of ice which is represented to him as a piece of boiling hot metal. A belief is planted in his mind that this piece of ice is in fact a piece of hot metal. If the subject accepts this belief - invariably a blister will develop at the
point of contact. Yes - A real physical blister!

Can you see what is happening here? What counted was not the reality of the situation but the belief - the subject's brain and nervous system believed that the skin was being touched by a hot metal rod and acted accordingly. Even though this was not true - it makes no difference - because by believing it was true, he responded as if it was true.

Beliefs And Smoking
Do you see how this relates to your smoking ? Even though you now know that the physical withdrawal symptoms from nicotine will be so mild as to be unnoticeable - if you still believe the old myths that it will be difficult and that you will have to suffer - then your subconscious mind will produce those symptoms for you and that is what you will experience.

Smoking your life away
It is as if we have all been unconsciously hypnotized by society and we are only now beginning to wake up. The fault does not lie in the cigarette or in the fact that you are no longer supplying your body with nicotine. The fault lies in the false brainwashing you have blindly accepted about giving up smoking. 

The Myth Of Pleasure Smoking and TV
This belief is strong. The belief that you need to smoke to be happy. To survive. Tobacco companies, for example have spent literally billions of pounds in very clever, subtle subliminal advertising linking pleasurable states of mind to the act of smoking and you too have contributed to this false belief (Step 4).The initial pleasure came from the relief of satisfying your body's urge for nicotine but you unconsciously accentuated that pleasure and associated it - in fact you made it dependent upon the act of smoking. Even though smoking is not pleasurable the BELIEF that it is KEEPS  us smoking. To enjoy giving up smoking, you must start to question and weaken this belief and then your desire and need to smoke will go. 

An Exercise
To reinforce this vital truth in your mind, I want you to repeat an important exercise we did in a previous lesson. I want you to smoke another cigarette but this time I want you to pay FULL ATTENTION to what you are doing. Relax your mind now and slowly go through the ritual of smoking - the pure physical act of smoking a cigarette. Now lit up, take six deep slow puffs from the cigarette -- all the time being FULLY AWARE of what you are doing. Concentrate FULLY on the smoke going into your lungs.Don't just do this exercise mentally in your head - actually smoke that cigarette now - IN THE WAY PRESCRIBED. [this exercise does not apply if you have already stopped smoking. Instead use your imagination] Don't let any emotions or feelings arise - just CONCENTRATE on the ACTUAL MECHANICS  of what you do everyday, when you smoke. Now describe the marvelous sensations that you are receiving. Tell us about the wonderful experience that the rest of us are being deprived of -- RIGHT NOW as you smoke with FULL AWARENESS. What feelings do you have........... when you smoke while you remain fully AWARE and CONSCIOUS of what you are doing. Probably none at all! In fact, you begin to realize that to enjoy smoking, you have to actually forget what you are actually doing!! We now know the reason for this.  The pleasure does not come from the cigarette but from the pleasurable sensations we ourselves unconsciously transfer to it.    This is the great puzzle facing smokers. We know, at least intellectually that we will not suffer any great physical pain when we stop. We also know, again intellectually that when we look at it objectively - smoking per se is really not enjoyable or pleasurable. But we still find it difficult to give up. Why is this ? Because we have not yet given up the BELIEF that smoking is pleasurable and that if we stop, we will be  missing out or being deprived of something. This is the core belief:    We believe we NEED to smoke to be happy. To survive. To just get by. 

The Illusion Of Willpower
That is why people who use will-power alone to stop find it so HARD. They try to stop smoking, but because they still genuinely believe that smoking is enjoyable and in some strange way essential to their happiness, they feel they are making a sacrifice. They  feel they are depriving themselves of this 'pleasure'. Although this is an illusion, it is a powerful illusion and it is why people
who use willpower alone sooner or later find themselves back smoking.

Remember our past example. It could be at a party or at a bad moment during the day or during a particular stressful occasion. And because they still believe the old lie that smoking can magically produce pleasurable feelings in them, after a little battle (their desire to feel better always overcomes the desire not to smoke) they succumb to the old addiction..........and it takes only ONE CIGARETTE to start the whole chain off again. To smoke or not to smoke? Some students, at this stage still believe that this is not an extremely important part of the course. "OK", they reason ,"it may play a part but still the main thing is to stop and to do everything in my will to stop." Although it is important that we want to stop smoking and we use our self-discipline not to smoke another cigarette when we finally decide to stop, it is vitally important that you understand this part of the course.

The Power Of a Placebo
Most of you are probably aware of the placebo effect in medical science. People who are told a drug will have a certain effect on them will, in most cases experience that effect even if they are given a pill with no active properties. Again most of us will find this hard to believe - yet it is a recognized scientific reality in modern medicine. Measuring the 'placebo effect' in medicine
Again, most of us will find this hard to believe - yet it is a recognized scientific reality in modern medicine. Norman Cousins, the famous American researcher has even gone as far as to say: 'Drugs are not always necessary. Belief in recovery is. "Listen to what Dr. Andrew Weil, who has conducted a number of important studies in this field has concluded: "The experience of drug users correspond almost exactly to their expectations. You can lead a person given a dose of amphetamine to feel sedated or a person given a barbiturate to feel stimulated. The 'magic' of drugs resides within the mind of the user, not in the drugs. "In other words, the power lies not alone in the drug but to a large extent in what the person really believes the drug will do for him. In essence, if you genuinely believe that giving up smoking can be easy and you can do it - you will. Likewise, if you listen to society's out-of-date and ill-informed opinion about smoking and genuinely believe that it will be extremely difficult and
tedious -then you will make things difficult for yourself.

As Emile Coue, the famous French physician once said: "Always think of what you have to do as easy and it will become so".
In fact, many centuries ago Virgil, the famous philosopher was obviously aware of this fundamental law of psychology when he simply said: 'They can because they believe they can'.

Changing Beliefs
So now that we are beginning to catch a glimpse of how important our deepest-held beliefs are in determining our experiences, how can we go about changing them. The first thing to realize is that beliefs are not immutable laws or facts engraved in stone. If you have negative belief system about a person, addiction or experience, you can change it as easily as you can, say, change your clothing. It is important to realize that beliefs systems are no more immutable than the length of your hair, your affection for a particular kind of music or your choice of car, for example.  It is as easy to change a belief as it is to change your clothing.  Many people believe that it will take a long time to change their old deeply-held beliefs but this too is....... only a belief. The important thing is to get it clear in your mind that if you don't like your beliefs - you can change them - and change them easily. 

An Exercise
This is a simple exercise for uncovering what you really believe about smoking. Sit with a stack of several sheets of paper. Choose a quiet room with no distractions. Now place the tip of your pen on the first sheet of paper and promise that you will not lift your pen for five minutes. Begin to write the sentence 'I need to smoke because....................... and finish it anyway you want. Not lifting your pen, write the same sentence again, 'I need to smoke because..................' and again let any ending that comes to mind be put on the paper   As you are doing this, take slow measured breaths in and out without pausing in between. This is called sometimes called circular breathing, in which inhale and exhale are connected. Since ancient times this deliberate sort of   breathing has been considered a way to bypass the inhibitions of the conscious mind. As you perform the circular breathing, in and out without pausing, keep finishing the sentence, 'I need to smoke because........' over and over again without lifting pen from paper. Once you liberate yourself to write down what you really believe about why you need to smoke you may find it difficult to stop. If you are doing this exercise freely, letting your thoughts simply unravel without trying to control them or judge them you will find many unanticipated ideas and unconscious beliefs rising to the surface. Let all emerge, but always return to your breathing and don't lift pen from paper until you are done. One word of caution: if you begin to feel too uncomfortable, stop. At the end of the exercise it is also a good idea to lie down and rest, allowing yourself to regain your normal equilibrium. Try to perform this exercise for the following beliefs that are linked to smoking. Or if you prefer, pick the ones that you feel most resistance to.
1. It is very hard to give up smoking.
2. You will suffer terribly when you stop.
3. You will need tons of willpower to succeed.
4.When you stop you will feel terrible - and there is nothing you can do about this - but just suffer and hope it goes away
5.Very few people can successfully give up smoking. Most people will eventually fail.
6. Giving up will be a terrible sacrifice. Life will never be the same or as enjoyable again.
7.You will never ever again be really able to enjoy your lunch breaks or social occasions.
8.It is just not possible to give up smoking and enjoy it.

Please take your time. Go through each belief. Sense - feel - how much power each belief has for you. Be patient. Most of us have no idea how deeply embedded these beliefs are. The first step towards changing a belief is to becoming AWARE of it. Do not criticize or judge yourself for having these beliefs. Please be patient and honest with yourself. Admit to yourself what you really believe no matter how bad or discouraging it may seem to be, at first.

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Chapter 6
The Power of Feelings

Instead of resisting any feeling, the best way to dispel it is to enter it fully, embrace it, and see through your resistance.

Deepak Chopra
We all have feelings.  In fact, feelings are the very essence of life itself. If I were to hit you with my fist now, you'd probably  FEEL angry. Or if I were to laugh at you or say that  I didn't like you, you'd probably FEEL sad or embarrassed. May I ask you a question ?What happens if it is a bad day and you don't feel well; maybe you feel fed-up and bored ? You'll probably get up and DO something - won't you? you? Why ? To feel better, of course - to change how you FEEL. For example, a lot of people if they feel depressed like to go shopping and buy new clothes. Others may perform  a sport. Others may eat. Or go to the pub.  ANYTHING that will make them feel better. ANYTHING that will help them to change their mood. If you feel bored or fed-up what do you do ? Go to the pub ? Watch TV ? Ring a friend ? To change how we FEEL, most of us will get up and try to  'DO' something.There is a widespread, almost universal belief that if you have a feeling you don't like -- the ONLY way to change it is to take your mind off it and force yourself to 'do' something else.

Isn't that right? If we FEEL bored we will get up - go to the pub or watch TV. If we FEEL angry we will either shout at somebody, have a row or punch them! If we FEEL tense we will either walk up or down a room; tap our fingers nervously on the  table; take a tablet or try to force ourselves to listen to some relaxing music.

We hope that by D-O-I-N-G  these things - (all of which are fine and valid - we are not being critical here) -- we will change HOW we FEEL.We take it for granted that to change how we feel, we must get away from them (our unpleasant feelings) and do something - ANYTHING -- and.......in time, we hope we will feel different.We believe that certain feelings are 'bad' and 'wrong' and we MUST get away from them as soon as possible.

An Easy Way to Change Your Feelings?

But is there an easier and more fulfilling way to change how you feel-May we suggest a new way ? Why not just sit down and feel the feeling ?"What ! ", I can hear you say, "Don't do anything - just allow the feeling to be. No. No. No. I couldn't do that. It's bad. Dangerous. Not possible. I don't want to have to feel and experience  those feelings and sensations." This is a very important point, because it reveals another core belief that most of us are totally unaware that we possess. 

We are all terrified to feel. In fact, most of us will do anything -- ANYTHING -- to escape from having to face unpleasant feelings and sensations. We all believe that CERTAIN feelings and sensations are bad (like the feeling we get when we can't smoke) and we spend our life RUNNING AWAY from these feelings. Or refusing to face them in the mistaken belief that we can't bear the pain. We are all terrified to sit and face unpleasant  feelings and sensations.   And yet if we could just learn to sit down and face these feelings/sensations and sit with them in the moment , like a scientist without trying to change them, escape from them or resist them in any way - just to allow them to be without judgment - an incredible change would occur.

The feelings which you thought you did not like  would loose their 'heaviness' and their 'pain' and you would feel and experience them as they really are - Pure energy, pure harmony.   A great new discovery awaits you.   You would FEEL a tremendous difference. I bet you find this, right now very difficult to accept. That is fine. It is a new concept for most of us and, yet this simple concept is the KEY to making giving up smoking a truly enjoyable experience. Do you know what is REALLY putting you off giving up smoking ? You are TERRIFIED of the feelings you will have to face, if and when you give up.You are afraid you won't be able to handle them.

When you give up smoking the 'feeling' itself is not bad. The pain comes from worrying about and trying to resist or push this feeling away because you believe it is 'bad' or 'unbearable'.  This is one of the most important concepts in this course.
When you give up smoking, again and again you will get that strong feeling which simply translates itself as : 'I want a cigarette.'This is a real and tangible feeling. We all know it. It is OK. It is valid. But this time, when you give up smoking you are going to do the unthinkable:you are going to welcome these feelings, these sensations in your body, no matter how often they come.You are not going to RUNAWAY from them or try and take your mind off them. You are NOT going to cross your fingers and hope and pray that they will go away.You are NOT going to.......Fight them     Suppress them    Fear them    Or resist them in any way.     

You are NOT going to substitute something else for the cigarette like extra food. You are simply going to allow the cravings to be and stay with them as they present themselves IN THE MOMENT  and simply observe them - like a scientist observing an experiment. Yes, you are going to simply observe them - like a scientist observing an experiment, objectively, impartially as if these feelings were happening to someone else. And it is this simple non-judgmental observation - this simple 'non-doing' that will transforms all your old heavy painful feelings into their essence - pure energy. At this stage, let me tell you the story of one of our students - Penny - and how she dealt with this concept - in her own words. It may give you a better idea of what we are talking about. I couldn't accept this idea at first and it took me a while to understand it's 'mad' simplicity. I didn't really want to
give up smoking because I really believed I couldn't cope without it. I had tried before and failed. Sometimes I would last out for a few days, but soon I would let my mind think up new excuses to start again. 

For example, I would remember that I had a wedding or a big party to attend and so I would decide that I would smoke up until then - but after that I would definitely give up - no doubt about it. But, of course it happened again and again.  And every time, I tried to stop I would hope and pray that this craving I had to smoke would just disappear - vanish. Be gone. But of course I couldn't get away from it and when I couldn't smoke it got worse until eventually I would give in  and smoke.And then I attended one of your classes on smoking and discovered this strange new concept. You suggested to us ( which, at first I didn't believe ) that the craving - this very real  feeling we all have to smoke - ISN'T BAD IN ITSELF. It is just a feeling, a sensation in the body. The pain, the difficulty comes NOT from the feeling but from our terrible fear and resistance to it.

From my belief that this craving is bad and we must, through any means possible get rid of it. We are all so conditioned (brainwashed ) into believing that this feeling - this craving  is so unpleasant, so horrible  that we are frightened when we
experience it.  We then immediately WANT to resist it, to try to change it or nervously try to focus our attention onto something else and hope it will go away. But in the classes you insisted: The pain is not in the feeling, but in our resistance to the feeling. I still thought : '"This can't be right - surely. But what the hell - what have I got to lose from trying it out ?"So that first day, every time I felt a desire to smoke - which was often - I simply made a note of it in my notebook and noted:"This is simply my body demanding it's little dose of nicotine. However, this time I will not smoke and instead of running away from whatever feelings or
sensations that arise with it,  I will now adopt a different approach to these feelings - these cravings.......""I will say to them: 'For the first time in my life I am not going to run blindly away from you. It was this fear and running away in the past which gave you all your power.I am simply going to stay in the moment and observe you - watch you -feel you in my body.I am not going to try and change you or push you away or judge you or make you wrong in any way.

I AM GOING TO OBSERVE YOU AND REALLY FEEL WHAT YOU ARE REALLY LIKE AND NOT OTHER PEOPLE'S SECOND HAND OPINIONS - AND IT HAPPENED. After a few days, as I continued to use and experiment with this technique of simply acknowledging the craving to smoke whenever it arose and not judging it or making it wrong but simply being aware of it, I noticed the energy began to shift. It did not feel so bad - in fact it began to feel light and warm and then I realized that the feeling itself - this famous craving - when STRIPPED of all the fearful projections and painful images WE PROJECT on to it - is, in it's very essence NO BIG DEAL AT ALL. I realized that the feeling itself was not bad. Yes. it felt different and uncomfortable in the beginning, but the feeling itself was so slight that I could easily handle and tolerate it until it
disappeared for ever. Yes, the problem was not the CRAVING to smoke  but our deeply conditioned belief that this craving is bad, all powerful and that if we don't satisfy it, we will all suffer terribly. It's a lie. The problem is not the craving to smoke but our deeply conditioned belief that this craving is bad and we must get rid of it.

Your Feelings
You do not want to give up smoking now because you are terrified of how you will feel when you stop. If you have given up before, you will know that you will experience certain feelings, certain sensations in your body. You will feel empty, deprived and insecure. You will feel even lonely, as if you have lost an 'old friend' (more like a wicked witch in disguise!). It is important to realize that when you give up smoking under this method, you WILL still experience these same feelings and bodily sensations - but it is at this point that this method differs radically from the old way.    The old way said that the secret to success was 'old fashioned will-power'.

It acknowledged that you would feel lousy when you stopped and that the only way to succeed was to endure this unavoidable suffering. It advised you to keep your mind off your desire to smoke by changing your routine or by substituting something else for the cigarette. Willpower man? It promised you that if you had 'ENOUGH' willpower and 'fought' off all the terrible feelings when they came  - with time and patience, you would finally defeat the enemy - and succeed. And many people did use that method and succeed - but at what price ? They have linked forever in most people's mind the idea that giving up smoking and pain are inexplicably linked.

But I hear you say : "They are. I have tried to give up before and it was hell." I do not disagree with you.  Giving up smoking can be hell. But the hell - the pain - does not come from giving up smoking but how you deal with the feelings you get when you give up  smoking.

Please underline the following in your mind: When you give up smoking, the feeling itself is not bad. It's only a temporary, RESTLESS, EMPTY feeling. The  pain that people associate with giving up smoking comes from RESISTING - from trying to deny or fight the feeling you get when you realize you can't smoke.

It Is a Lie
My advice to all smokers would be: It is all a lie. Make the decision to stop - and really mean it - and then after you have given up, EXPECT to feel this craving to smoke. But don't worry about the craving to smoke. Don't believe it is bad and don't try to suppress it. As you told us, simply stand back from it - and instead of giving in to it and smoking - just observe it - and for the first time REALLY EXPERIENCE what it feels like. Not what you are conditioned to believe it SHOULD feel like - but what it really feels like. Yes, you will realize that it is no big deal; nothing at all to worry about. And when you get that realization yourself, which you will, then you will know that is all you have to do to be a happy non-smoker."

Please do not believe this is difficult to do just because it is new to you. It is really quite easy. But don't let its simplicity fool you. Let me repeat: We all are terrified of certain feelings, especially the feeling we get when we can't smoke. We believe it is 'bad' and impossible to cope with it - so if we experience it, we tend, automatically, to mentally fight it; to resist it; to push it away; to want it to go away..  It has never occurred to us to welcome it. To just let it be.....until it fades away of its own accord  It seems the most natural thing in the world to do the exact opposite and mentally fight it. We all do it. But this OLD WAY method does not work.

Page six
What you resists persists. If you have a feeling you don't like: i.e. the feeling you get when you can't smoke..........Please don't try to fight IT or wish it would go away. Don't judge it as 'good' or 'bad' even if it does, at this moment feel hard and  uncomfortable. Why not try a new way ?Instead of resisting any feeling, the BEST way to dispel it is to enter it fully, embrace it, and see through your resistance.   Simply sit back..... from the craving and just allow the feeling to be WHATEVER it feels like.

Depersonalize it
Realize the feeling/sensation is not you. These feelings/cravings come and go. They are not us. So step back from the feeling and the thoughts that accompany it and realize it's impersonal nature. This is an important step. It reduces the 'hold' the feeling has over us and gives us more control. The feeling is not us. Now put the craving in context. 

You do this by remembering every feeling and thought has movement to it and is only temporary. Even the most acute craving will only last a few minutes....and then it will be gone. Now for the 'hardest' step of all: don't do anything to the craving. 
Resist all temptation to believe you have to 'do' anything to the feeling. To judge it. 

To get worried or upset by it. Let go of the idea that there is something wrong with this feeling/sensation in your body. Stop trying to get rid of it. Accept it's temporary presence. Don't make a big deal of it. NO, simply stay in the moment and allow it to play itself out in WHATEVER  way it wants. Where in the body is the feeling the strongest? Watch and observe what it does. Do not identify with it. Do not give it any energy by trying to change it. Simply stay in the moment and observe everything. Do not react to any thoughts that will flow through your mind (and they will). 

Treat these thoughts the same as the feelings. Allow them. Whether they are good or bad. Do not judge them. Just be still. Just note them. KNOW they are like the clouds in the sky. They will soon pass on. And what will happen as you maintain this attitude ?The feelings and 'bad' sensations will change of their own accord. You will realize that every feeling or craving has movement to it - and they come in waves. Now, if you will just allow yourself to observe them and not judge them as 'bad' or 'undesirable' - and just feel the feeling - without resistance - you will begin to realize the energy is still there but it does not  now feel so
bad .

Negative Thoughts
Your Decision must be so total that when your desire for nicotine begins tricking your brain INTO MAKING EXCUSES LIKE .......
"Well I'll just have one -there's no harm in  that" Or ......"To-day is not the right day ( for the smoker there never is a right day)
- I will definitely start tomorrow - or next Monday. Definitely". No  Your decision must be so total that you will not even spend a second - a split second of your time in giving ANY credence to these excuses.Please understand this DOES NOT MEAN that you should worry if you have these thoughts or doubts. Of course not.Everybody who gives up smoking will experience these thoughts, doubts and false excuses running through their mind, especially for the first few weeks. The important point is:
YOU MUST NOT GIVE THEM ANY CREDENCE OR IMPORTANCE. YOU MUST NOT WASTE TIME FIGHTING OR STRUGGLING WITH THEM. JUST WATCH AND  OBSERVE THEM AS THEY COME INTO YOUR MIND AND GO......The only power they had in the past was the power YOU gave them - by FIGHTING them and WORRYING about them. NOW you are not going to bother about them, and bit by bit they will just fade away and die.

Your attitude will be:  'So what if these ideas or excuses come into my mind? In the first week or two --of course they will. So I will expect them - and not make a big fuss of them. Soon they will be gone forever....."  This is a key point to realize if you want to enjoy the exciting process of giving up smoking for ever. As far as you are concerned, once you have made the DECISION  to stop - that is it.

Key Idea
It makes no difference what excuses or doubts flood your brain. You will not waste ANY time or energy even in considering them'. Compare this to the person who has only made a weak commitment to stop. Compare his frame of mind. What he is really saying to himself is this:  "Well I'm not too sure how this is going to work out. But I want to stop so I'll give it a go. Hopefully, although I suppose it will be very difficult, I will survive - but let's see what happens. "But that person will soon begin to experience the doubts and........ the mind's clever excuses that everybody who tries to stop has to face. You, too will experience these doubts - these excuses.

Your brain will be on overtime. What is happening is simple. You want your nicotine fix. However, nicotine knows it is too weak to get you to smoke on it's own so it conspires to get the help and co-operation of your past conditioning - your brainwashing. It will flood your brain with wave after wave of doubts, negative thoughts and excuses....."I'll do it tomorrow - next week - next month etc..." Now is not the right time. I'll start............... These questions, doubts and excuses - no matter how many times they cross your mind ARE NOT IMPORTANT - WHAT IS IMPORTANT, like the craving to smoke IS HOW YOU RESPOND TO THEM.

The Quality of your Decision
This is where the importance of the 'quality' and 'depth' of your decision comes in. If your decision to stop is weak, like the person above, you will find yourself struggling, fighting and resisting these excuses - these fears. You will experience doubt, agony and restlessness. You will begin to listen to them and wonder if, maybe they are right. A struggle will then gradually develop between your desire to stop and these negative thoughts. As this internal battle RAGES on, you will feel tired,
frustrated and fed up with the whole thing - and in disgust you'll probably have a cigarette. And what will this actually do:  - It will simply confirm your old belief that giving up smoking is indeed agony! But all this agony IS NOT COMING from the cigarette. It is coming from your mind. You caused it by your half decision. You had not made a fully committed decision.  What happened is that you ALLOWED yourself to listen to and get personally involved with these 'doubts and excuses'. A thought pops into your head...."Maybe I should just have one - or maybe I got it all wrong - I don't have to give up at all - all I really need to do is
just cut down a little. "If you have not made a total commitment to stop, you WILL START TO ALLOW YOURSELF TO REACT TO THESE EXCUSES.

What if.....................?Should I ....................?No, I can't .....................?Well, should I consider it ...............................?And on it goes. And as we allow ourselves to consider these doubts, we experience struggle, tiredness, frustration.....etc  If your decision is ill-defined, weak or fuzzy then you will be PRONE to react to all these doubts. Compare this to the person who has made a total commitment to stop. He has told himself that under no circumstances will he ever smoke that first cigarette. It makes no difference what may happen or how he may feel on any particular day - even if the heavens should fall down - he will never smoke again. Because that person has made such a TOTAL, CONGRUENT AND COMMITTED decision to stop, when these negatives  excuses pop into his brain - he will not experience any struggle, restlessness or frustrated agony - simply because HE WILL NOT RESPOND TO THEM. Sure he will recognize that they are there, but to him they are just passing visitors......like clouds passing in the sky........no point getting worked up  about them......soon they will be gone ........!He can hold this attitude because he has made the decision that he will never smoke again - SO WHAT IS THE POINT IN EVEN THINKING ABOUT THESE EXCUSES.......... PASSING THROUGH HIS MIND.

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Chapter 7
The Illusion of Willpower

That is why people who use will-power alone to stop find it so HARD. They try to stop smoking, but because they still genuinely believe that smoking is enjoyable and in some strange way essential to their happiness, they feel they are making a sacrifice. They  feel they are depriving themselves of this 'pleasure'. Although this is an illusion, it is a powerful illusion and it is why people who use willpower alone sooner or later find themselves back smoking. Remember our past example. It could be at a party or at a bad moment during the day or during a particular stressful occasion. And because they still believe the old lie that smoking can magically produce pleasurable feelings in them, after a little battle (their desire to feel better always overcomes the desire not to smoke) they succumb to the old addiction..........and it takes only ONE CIGARETTE to start the whole chain off again.
To smoke or not to smoke?
Some students, at this stage still believe that this is not an extremely important part of the course. "OK", they reason ,"it may play a part but still the main thing is to stop and to do everything in my will to stop. "Although it is important that we want to stop smoking and we use our self-discipline not to smoke another cigarette when we finally decide to stop, it is vitally important that you understand this part of the course.

The Power of a Placebo 
Most of you are probably aware of the placebo effect in medical science. People who are told a drug will have a certain effect on them will, in most cases experience that effect even if they are given a pill with no active properties. Again most of us will find this hard to believe - yet it is a recognized scientific reality in modern medicine. Measuring the 'placebo effect' in medicine
Again, most of us will find this hard to believe - yet it is a recognized scientific reality in modern medicine. Norman Cousins, the famous American researcher has even gone as far as to say: 'Drugs are not always necessary. Belief in recovery is."
Listen to what Dr. Andrew Weil, who has conducted a number of important studies in this field has concluded: "The experience of drug users correspond almost exactly to their expectations. You can lead a person given a dose of amphetamine to
feel sedated or a person given a barbiturate to feel stimulated. The magic' of drugs resides within the mind of the user, not in the drugs. "In other words, the power lies not alone in the drug but to a large extent in what the person really believes the drug will do for him. In essence, if you genuinely believe that giving up smoking can be easy and you can do it - you will. Likewise, if you listen to society's out-of-date and ill-informed opinion about smoking and genuinely believe that it will be extremely difficult and tedious -then you will make things difficult for yourself.

As Emile Coue, the famous French physician once said: "Always think of what you have to do as easy and it will become so".
 In fact, many centuries ago Virgil, the famous philosopher was obviously aware of this fundamental law of psychology when he simply said: 'They can because they believe they can'.

Changing Beliefs
So now that we are beginning to catch a glimpse of how important our deepest-held beliefs are in determining our experiences, how can we go about changing them. The first thing to realize is that beliefs are not immutable laws or facts engraved in stone. If you have negative belief system about a person, addiction or experience, you can change it as easily as you can, say, change your clothing. It is important to realize that beliefs systems are no more immutable than the length of your hair, your affection for a particular kind of music or your choice of car, for example. It is as easy to change a belief as it is to change your clothing.    Many people believe that it will take a long time to change their old deeply-held beliefs but this too is....... only a belief. The important thing is to get it clear in your mind that if you don't like your beliefs - you can change them - and change them easily. 

This is a simple exercise for uncovering what you really believe about smoking. Sit with a stack of several sheets of paper. Choose a quiet room with no distractions. Now place the tip of your pen on the first sheet of paper and promise that you will not lift your pen for five minutes. Begin to write the sentence 'I need to smoke because....................... and finish it anyway you want. Not lifting your pen, write the same sentence again, 'I need to smoke because..................' and again let any ending that comes to mind be put on the paper   As you are doing this, take slow measured breaths in and out without pausing in between. This is called sometimes called circular breathing, in which inhale and exhale are connected. Since ancient times this deliberate sort of
breathing has been considered a way to bypass the inhibitions of the conscious mind. As you perform the circular breathing, in and out without pausing, keep finishing the sentence, 'I need to smoke because........' over and over again without lifting pen from paper. Once you liberate yourself to write down what you really believe about why you need to smoke you may find it difficult to stop. If you are doing this exercise freely, letting your thoughts simply unravel without trying to control them or judge them you will find many unanticipated ideas and unconscious beliefs rising to the surface. Let all emerge, but always return to your breathing and don't lift pen from paper until you are done. One word of caution: if you begin to feel too uncomfortable, stop. At the end of the exercise it is also a good idea to lie down and rest, allowing yourself to regain your normal equilibrium.

Try to perform this exercise for the following beliefs that are linked to smoking. Or if you prefer, pick the ones that you feel
most resistance to.1. It is very hard to give up smoking.........2. You will suffer terribly when you stop..............3. You will need tons of willpower to succeed...............4.When you stop you will feel terrible - and there is nothing you can do about this - but just suffer and hope it goes away.............5.Very few people can successfully give up smoking. Most people will eventually fail..............6. Giving up will be a terrible sacrifice. Life will never be the same or as enjoyable again...............7.You will never ever again be really able to enjoy your lunch breaks or social occasions ............8.It is just not possible to give up smoking and enjoy it............ Please take your time. Go through each belief. Sense - feel - how much power each belief has for you. Be patient. Most of us have no idea how deeply embedded these beliefs are. The first step towards changing a belief is to becoming AWARE of
it.Do not criticize or judge yourself for having these beliefs. Please be patient and honest with yourself. Admit to yourself what you really believe no matter how bad or discouraging it may seem to be, at first.

How To Dissolve Your Old Beliefs
Take a belief you have about smoking and bring it to the surface of your mind.NOW WE ARE GOING TO DO SOMETHING THAT MOST OF YOU HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE WHEN TRYING TO CHANGE YOUR BELIEFS - NOTHING. YES NOTHING.In the past, we have tried to change our beliefs by trying to...... Deny them Fight them Resist them Or force ourselves to believe a 'better or more positive belief'. Although, this may seem the natural or correct thing to do it actually achieves the opposite of it's intent.By fighting or trying to push it away, we are really giving it MORE energy and actually increasing it's power over us.If you really want to change your old beliefs..... Don't fight them. Don't hate them. Don't try 'to do' anything tothem. Instead, simply become aware of them; watch and observe them  without guilt and this simple non-judgmental awareness will dissolve the belief of all it's power...............Like magic. Most of you do not believe this - simply because you have never practiced this simple technique. All you have to do is to consciously 'sit' or be aware with your old belief, without judging it or making it wrong until the power behind it dissolves.A simple non-judgmental, non-resistance AWARENESS of a belief gradually dissolves it.   Because many of your beliefs are deeply embedded in your mind, it may take time for many of your old ideas about smoking to disappear.Don't worry. Simply maintain your simple, non-judgmental, non-resistance awareness of the belief until it dissolves  by doing the exercises suggested.What is really happening here ? By simply acknowledging what we believe and not reacting to it or trying 'to change' it, what we are really doing is not giving it any more energy or life   When this happens, like everything else in life, WITHOUT ENERGY OR LIFE, it will eventually fade away and die. In fact, this is what you were doing in the first writing exercise....A CHALLENGE Why not try this simple method ?

However, to make the exercise maybe  less abstract, you can also imagine putting your old beliefs into bright balloons and then imagine these balloons floating higher and higher into the sky towards a a bright blazing sun where they are dissolved into nothingness. Another excellent technique is to imagine that your attention is like a gigantic warm sun radiating beams of
heat and warmth omni-directionally. Then try to imagine that all of your old beliefs are made of hard ice and as you become aware of and focus your attention on each of your old beliefs, without judgment or resistance,  they gradually weaken and MELT away into nothingness...............As you play with this exercise, you will notice that slowly and gradually, your old beliefs will lose
their power and fade away.You will also notice that as you read and RE-READ this e-course and let these new IDEAS sink into your consciousness, all your old beliefs will change gradually of their own accord. Give it time. And be patient.

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Chapter 8
Commonly Asked Questions

Below are some of the most commonly-asked questions we are asked. Please study each one carefully as they will help to increase your understanding of the main principles involved in giving up smoking.

Q: Instead of giving up entirely can I just not cut down ?Why ? Why would you just want to cut down ? That means that you would still like the opportunity to smoke now and then. If you feel like that it means that at some level, you still strongly believe that smoking is enjoyable. You still believe that the actual act of smoking is directly responsible for this enjoyment. By trying to
pretend to yourself that you can allow yourself to simply cut down, it means that you will remain catch in the illusion that smoking is inherently enjoyable.(In fact by cutting down and spacing out your cigarettes you will, in fact look forward more to each cigarette and actually increase the illusion that the enjoyment is inherent in them. To refresh yourself on this lesson refer back to
DAY 4. )

It also means, that at some level, you have not faced up to the widespread 'brainwashing' that you will have to face physical and mental agony if you stop completely. In the end, what is keeping you smoking is FEAR A fear we ALL know. The fear that we will never be able to enjoy life or handle pressure without our little crutch or pleasure. The fear that we will have to endure a long traumatic period in order to get free and...... and most of all, the fear that we might never be free. Please do not underestimate the power of these false beliefs. If you feel - 'No I will not give up smoking - I will just cut down on the number I smoke.' - it may sound convincing to you, but what it really means is that you do not want to face these illusions You are still terrified of the feelings you believe you will have when you give up.   Fine.   Congratulate yourself for being honest. Remember it is all right to have these beliefs. Do not hate or criticize yourself for still having them. They have been deeply ingrained in our society for ages, so there is no blame for holding them.Remember the law: What you resist persists. So if you still have these fears,
do not fight them in your mind. That is the old way. Just allow them. Beware of them.  By just bringing them to the surface and observing them and not identifying with them, they will rise to the top and evaporate of their own accord.

Be patient with yourself. We all believed that to change our beliefs and feelings the best thing surely was to try to get rid of them, change them, push them away and then to criticize and punish ourselves for having them. But what we were really doing was actually increasing their power by focusing more energy and power on them by fighting them. The law is simple: Resistance effects the opposite of it's intent Face this belief but do not fall into the trap of believing that cutting down on
the number you smoke will solve your problem. You will simply remain locked in another prison of illusion.

Q: Can I just not smoke one cigarette ?There is one golden, unbreakable, infallible law you must follow when you give up smoking. Once you make the decision - the final decision to become a non-smoker, you must never smoke again.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ONE CIGARETTE. THAT IS THE GREATEST ILLUSION OF ALL. It was ONE cigarette that got you started on all this in the first place. Imagine it. If you had never smoked that FIRST cigarette there was NO WAY you could have become a smoker. I know there are some doctors and specialists who recommend that you should stop smoking by gradually reducing but remember this new approach is different. Remember again, we do not ask you to give up smoking
immediately. In fact we allow you to keep on smoking until you realize the real cause of your addiction : fear and why you believe it is difficult to give up for good. But once you make the final decision to stop, that is it. Get it blazingly clear in your mind. 
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS JUST ONE CIGARETTE .........and when you accept this, you will not tire yourself out or torture yourself by thinking : Can I just not have one ?

Q: Will I put on weight ?This is a vitally important question because it is behind one of the most worrying trends in smoking: The idea that if you stop smoking, you will automatically gain weight. The Old Willpower Method This is important. There are two parts to this problem and it is important that we understand BOTH of them. First, we need to be honest......  Yes, in the past, people DID tend to gain weight and certainly not lose weight when they gave up smoking. But please remember this: This was BECAUSE most people tried to give up smoking using the old Will-Power Method alone. They believed that....... when they gave up, they would feel terrible. They were then told that the ONLY way to deal with these cravings was to endure them.........and hope that, with time and persistence, they would go away. They were advised above all...... to use their Willpower and FORCE themselves not to smoke. And......finally, they were told.... to eat snacks or nibble this or that - ANYTHING, in fact to keep them busy and their minds OFF smoking.

Why eat? Because the feeling or the 'hunger' for a cigarette is very similar to the feeling you get when you are hungry, and so, in the past, people ate in the terrible mistaken belief that by eating, they could satisfy their craving for a cigarette and that it would help them keep their minds off smoking. But of course it didn't work.........And the MORE the feeling came back..... the MORE they ate in the belief it could help them, so, we have to accept there was some validity for people gaining weight in the past when they tried to quit. But the CAUSE was not giving up smoking but HOW people went about the process of giving up smoking. If you look closely at how they went about it, you'll see our old friend again : Fear. People ate TO NUMB their feelings.

Remember, when you give up smoking, you too will get these selfsame feelings - 'I want a cigarette.' And you will experience similar feelings when you realize that you cannot have one.But unlike the old willpower method, you will not eat extra in order to ESCAPE or NUMB these feelings. Why? BECAUSE you will want to WELCOME and ACCEPT these feelings. You will WANT to transmute them. These FEELINGS/CRAVINGS are the KEY to your success. Please underline this: The Old Way was to hate and fear these cravings - these uncomfortable bodily sensations. You were told you had a big fight on your hands - these feelings would be unpleasant and overpowering . And because the feeling you get when you want a cigarette is similar to how you feel when you are hungry, of course, you believed that by eating, you could satisfy these feelings or at least alleviate them. But all you did was to temporarily block off these feelings. By eating, you give yourself an excuse not to have to deal with and really feel these feelings. You put off the evil day........and started to put on the pounds. 

Never forget that when you give up smoking, you  will CONTINUE to have these empty, restless, insecure cravings  for the first two or three weeks..... Now, for the first time in your life, LET yourself have these feelings, these empty sensations in your body. Actually feel them, moment-by-moment  in your body.

Call Their Bluff
Sure, you will get the temptation to eat extra - to compensate - to 'fill' in the feelings you believe you are now lacking. These desires are natural, normal. They are not bad in themselves.  And they are ONLY TEMPORARY. Just feel them! Yes, it takes courage not to run away and try to escape by eating extra. If you will just have patience and stay with these feelings you will discover your moment of truth - that these feelings are no big deal and that you can easily handle them. You don't have to eat to escape from them.

Please underline: The belief that you will gain weight automatically if you stop smoking is a myth. In actual fact, if you practice this psychology correctly - you should lose weight! However, there is one other issue we must deal with in regard to weight gain before we proceed. This is the second part of the problem we  mentioned earlier........Remember: If you do not RUN AWAY FROM or try to NUMB your cravings to smoke by EATING, YOU WILL NOT GAIN WEIGHT when you stop smoking. And even if you are one of those who may experience a slight weight gain of up to 5 pounds, due to metabolic changes- that is nothing! Follow our simple advice - and you will not even experience that! But the important thing to remember here is this: In the old way of giving up  - the idea that you must use WILLPOWER alone to force yourself to stop  and then you must keep yourself BUSY to help to take your mind off the desire to smoke - people looked to substitutes like food to BLOCK or to ESCAPE from these feelings. By doing this, it ruined, of course any chance they had of not gaining weight. But our approach is the exact opposite.

We will want you to  FACE and WELCOME ALL the cravings  you get when you stop. We want you to TRANSFORM them. You now know that by allowing and opening to every feeling and desire WITHOUT judgment or resistance you can MAGICALLY  transform how these feelings FEEL, moment-by-moment  in your body. They can actually be experienced as enjoyable sensations - and thus you will feel no compulsion to use food to escape from these cravings.  So why continue EVERY DAY to....CONGEST your lungs with cancerous tars.  To CLUTTER up and POISON your blood vessels.  And to SENTENCE yourself to a lifetime of.....filth, bad breath, stained teeth, burnt clothes, filthy ashtrays, and the foul smell of stale tobacco.........all because of the mistaken BELIEF that if you stop smoking, you must gain weight. Go on....show the world by your own PERSONAL EXAMPLE that it is a LIE! Because it is! And as you show them, ENJOY fully all the immediate benefits you'll experience when you stop.....You'll feel stronger, younger, healthier Your complexion will be better. Your teeth and fingers will no longer be yellow. Your eyes will look healthier, more alive and vibrant. And your clothes  and breath will no longer stink of stale smoke. You'll feel
f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c !!

Q: Why do you always repeat the SAME IDEAS and CONCEPTS over and over through the course. It's starting to annoy me ?Tonight, sit down and watch a new movie. And ...try to count the number of times you see people smoking during the film. And ask yourself why? And then consider this........Today, most large films are financed by 'companies within companies'. In fact, it's almost impossible to track down who is financing or contributing some of the large sums needed to make these movies. Why do some of these companies not want to be known? For tax reasons. Maybe. Or maybe it is because they just love the movies.... Sure. I wonder is it just a coincidence that in most of these NEW films today you will

Always Find People Smoking
For example, last week on Irish Television, I watched a repeat of the Clint Eastwood Movie, 'True Crime' with James Wood. An
excellent movie - but the next time you see it -  try to count the number of times people are depicted really 'enjoying' smoking their cigarette. I lost count - but as I watched it, I really felt sorry for any poor individual who has just started to stop smoking that day. Why do films indirectly, and in a lot of cases it seems, subliminally, focus so much on the act of smoking? Maybe it was just a coincidence.......and I'm wrong. But here's a question....Will the makers of that film and films like that tell us EXACTLY where ALL the financing of these films come from? Can they tell us that NO tobacco company either directly, or more likely INDIRECTLY, through a third party, contributes to the financing of these films? I wonder.....?Anyway, watch movies like this and you will know the answer to the question why we repeat the same ideas over and over again. We are trying to help you to CONSCIOUSLY change your beliefs about smoking. To QUESTION all of society's beliefs and blind assumptions about smoking. By repeating the same simple ideas AGAIN and AGAIN - we are helping you to......CHANGE YOUR MINDSET TO LOOK at smoking with NEW EYES. To QUESTION EVERYTHING you have been told about smoking. By repeating the same simple ideas -- AGAIN AND AGAIN we are helping your subconscious mind to effortlessly absorb the key central message of our course: You do not NEED to smoke to be HAPPY. We are simply using the same technique, the use of constant repetition that the tobacco companies use everyday, through all their different mediums to get you to smoke. We're simply using it to make it easy for you to give up!

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Chapter 9
This is Going to Be the Most Important Decision of Your Life

Not only is it going to change your financial life........ ....imagine how excited you would be if you found out that you had just won over $50,000 in a grand raffle! Well, you have in a way!! But it will also be the most important health decision you will ever make. The decision you make, in the next few days will also, probably save you years of pain and unnecessary suffering. This decision is so important for you and your family. It is also important for all the smokers  who have not yet had the courage to face their addiction. There is, however one terrible, terrible irony of smoking.......People find it so hard to believe that it is easy to give up. And that is the central truth about smoking: it is easy to give up. People find it so hard to accept that giving up smoking can be EASY. And yet, most of us believe the opposite. In this course we have, hopefully opened your mind to a new possibility.

You have begun to allow yourself to forget the myths and lies - and to begin o believe that maybe.....just maybe....it is possible to give up smoking and to give up for good. Yes, I know it is still hard for you to believe - but that is because you have not yet experienced it. Soon, you are going to give up smoking for good. As this time approaches, you will begin to experience a variety of emotions - from initial delight to fear and panic. Fine.  There is nothing to worry about. You are not doing an examination here where everybody is looking at you  and where if you fail initially, you are doomed forever. You are starting on a process where you are going to prove to yourself that giving up smoking can be easy and even downright enjoyable. 
Why not take this adventurous,  playful attitude ?Relax and begin to play around with all the new ideas you have gathered from this course. Do not force yourself to believe any of them. But start to consider them as possibilities. Open your mind to the possibility that maybe, after all..........'I could genuinely give up smoking for good ..... Oh, wouldn't that be marvelous ........... But no, hold on, I tried before and failed and found it terrible ......... Yes! .............. but ....... wasn't that because I tried to give up through WILLPOWER alone ? ....... Could this new approach, this psychology of non-smoking really work ?Maybe....... Just maybe. I don't know.'

And maybe your thoughts will continue as follows :"Do I really NEED to smoke? Really NEED to. Could I ever get through the day HAPPILY without smoking? Could I ever ENJOY my morning coffee without a cigarette or after a meal .............I have ALWAYS believed (like the world once believed the earth was flat.) that it would be impossible. Surely it is. ................... but wait a minute, I got by happily before I ever became a smoker in the first place - didn't I ? I was able to enjoy watching TV, talking to all my friends on the phone, enjoy all my meals .....WITHOUT SMOKING! Yes, I did and even when people around me - my mother and father were smoking - it never bothered me at all. 

I wonder........ I wonder. ..................And what about the majority of people in the world! They don't smoke and they seem to get through all these occasions comfortably .......... They seem to be ABLE to enjoy their coffee and meals without the slightest NEED or desire to smoke. It doesn't effect their enjoyment one iota..............My God, could it be true? ........... Maybe even after all these years, I do not really NEED the cigarette ....... Sure I would like to have it.... ........... but do I really NEED it ?Could I possibly enjoy myself without it........? I must admit ........ I never really thought about it like this before ....... I just believed giving up smoking was all about losing a nice pleasure ...... And never actually considering the possibility I could be just as HAPPY without it ........'Continue to let your mind expand. Be totally honest with yourself. Maybe your inner dialogue will continue as follows: "Yes..... I might let myself consider giving up. Wouldn't it be great...... ? But really deep down, I still feel afraid. I'll miss them ....... I know it sounds silly ......... but they have always been with me in the good and the bad times ...... I think the truth is: I'm afraid I won't be able to cope without them ......... but could I ?Oh, I wonder, I wonder .......that is the question ?Up to this.... I have NEVER even considered this as  a possibility. But maybe ..... maybe ....... If I did choose NOT to smoke what is the worst that could happen to me..... ?OK, for a while I would probably feel different ....... lonely and lost ....... as if I had lost an old friend But, hold on -- wouldn't I also get those terrible cravings to smoke - that terrible nebulous feeling - I must have a cigarette .........?Ah, yes, I forgot about that ............... Damn it!

Ah well, what's the point ........ I don't want to go through all that again, do I ?But, wait, hold on - what was that I read in DAY 6...... Surely that can't be true ? Yes...... it accepts that how I felt in the past when I tried to give up was true and valid - but it claims that the pain and discomfort which I definitely felt came NOT from the feelings themselves but how I responded to them. Yes, now I remember: When I give up I should welcome whatever feelings I get - not fear them or hope they won't come up or try to escape from them........... The pain comes if you fall for the old LIE that they are too overpowering and you won't be able to handle them, so you try to get rid of them or change them in some way. I must admit this sounds true to me ..........All I have to do is to ALLOW them ......... NOT get involved in them ..... NOT get frightened or anxious over them ......... to simply put them in context ........... they are only temporary ............ and when stripped of the power and fear which I have unconsciously projected on to them, they are really insignificant. Yes, yes, of course that is it ..... And it has been these feelings - or rather my FEAR of these feelings and, my belief that I would not be able to cope with or tolerate them  if I gave up smoking that made me not EVEN want to consider the possibility of giving up. But now, maybe .. .maybe ........ it can be done and easily ...... I must admit I'm beginning to feel a bubble of delight and excitement and smell the incense of success .......... and the choice of real freedom.'

A New Beginning
Maybe similar thoughts are flowing through your mind now. Again let me repeat: I know it is hard to believe but you really can give up smoking now - and for good -- and actually enjoy the process. Just allow yourself to make that final irrevocable decision to stop when you are ready. Remember, millions have already successfully done it. They are getting on just as happily with their lives now and are able to ENJOY all those occasions which you presently believe are impossible to enjoy without the opportunity to smoke. They saw through the illusion.

You are not alone We are soon going to ask you to make a solemn vow that no matter what happens in your life from now on, you are never going to smoke that first cigarette again. Please never forget the following. Burn these facts into your mind. Reread this lesson again and again. When you stop smoking, you are NOT making a sacrifice. The enjoyment does not come from the cigarette. It simply triggers it off. You will not face any great horror or pain when you stop. Remember the law : What you resists persists. When you stop, do not worry or get uptight when you get these cravings to smoke. Simply acknowledge and accept that you will get them. They are a natural part of giving up. In fact, to enjoy giving up you should welcome and rejoice in them. In fact, the more times you have these cravings, the better. It will give you more opportunities not to fear or fight them, but to simply stand back and watch them as if you were watching a beautiful landscape. So when you get the feeling 'I would love to smoke - accept it as perfectly natural. The feeling isn't bad. What is important is how we deal with it. Whenever you get the feeling, whether it is once or a hundred times a day - it doesn't matter. Simply allow and accept it.  Stay in the moment. Remain a spectator. And if you can maintain this simple, neutral, non-judgmental awareness, like a scientist............ the energy of the feeling will change and the desire will simply dissolve of it's own accord. Words cannot explain this extraordinary, simple but powerful process. It must be experienced. So every time you simply allow - and do not get anxious or worried about them - what you are really doing, for the first time, is not giving them any more energy or life.......And like everything in life, without energy and attention it will soon die out and be gone for ever. So, in the next three weeks or so...... welcome this feeling ' I would really love a cigarette', whenever it comes!

Doubt
However, there is one thing you must never never do: Never question or doubt your decision never to smoke again once you have made it. This deep feeling or desire for a cigarette is real and you must be very careful that you do not allow it to question or doubt your decision with thoughts such as......'Maybe I'll have just one.' Or the most common and dangerous thought of all.....
'Maybe now is not the best time. No I'll have one cigarette now but I'll definitely start next week'.

Simple Advice
So, let me repeat, for the first few days as a non-smoker allow these empty, insecure feelings. Accept that for a while, you will feel empty and fed up. You will also temporarily feel as if you are been deprived of something that is vital for your pleasure. Fine. Allow them all. Also, allow the slight physical aggravation that your body will undergo during this period. It is simply helping itself to get rid of..... the poison that has been destroying it. When the feelings come, instead of bemoaning the fact that you can't smoke why not say to yourself: 'Isn't this great - this little monster inside my body is dying and everyday it is getting weaker and weaker'. In that way even if you feel a little insecure or uptight you will still be in a happy state of mind. Enjoy starving that little monster - nicotine - inside your body.  Luxuriate in it's death throes.  There is no need to feel guilty about gloating over it. After all, it has been gloating over you for enough years and the only way it can ever gloat over you again is if you light another cigarette.

A Happy Non-Smoker
You are now about to become a happy non-smoker. Remember, don't get anxious or uptight about this. It is not a final examination where failure equals eternal doom. It is an adventure of discovery and success. Soon you will smoke your last cigarette. Remember, from that moment on - you are a non-smoker. Yes, that very moment. Do not say to people: 'Oh, I'm trying to give up smoking - Say: I am a non-smoker. You are NOW the same as all the people in the world who don't smoke whether they stopped ten years ago or never smoked at all. This is important. There is no waiting involved. 

As we have said, the difficulty in giving up smoking is not the physical aggravation caused by nicotine withdrawal -- but the doubt, the uncertainty, the waiting to become a non-smoker. The 'waiting' for the terrible withdrawal PANGS and PAINS that we were promised or warned would come. The fear that we are too weak and that the desire for a cigarette will prove too overpowering for us. So if you are waiting for this great pain and suffering..... you will be waiting for the whole of your life. They won't come, because they don't exist. So there is nothing to wait for. The slight physical aggravation and the temporary, empty, lonely feelings that you will experience for the first few weeks when you give up ARE IT. There is nothing else to face or tolerate. Simply face these temporary, slight feelings you will get when you stop. Throw into the dustbin all the old folktales that these feelings are horrible monsters that you have to fight continuously. These are only disguises that these feelings wear so that they can scarce you out of facing them and discovering their true puny nature. Like little children at Halloween with their monster masks. So face the feelings. Put them in context and then just feel them as they really are. That is all you have to do. You are NOW a non-smoker.

What else is there to wait for? You do not have to wait till tomorrow, next week, or next month. Simply remember two golden rules..........This is just an excuse. And not only will it cause you to delay giving up if you give in to it, but it is designed for a much more deeper reason: To give you an excuse not to have to face the feelings you will experience when you give up. So you keep running AWAY from these feelings, fearing they are too painful, too unpleasant and just too impossible to change. But are they ?It is this lie that has kept you smoking for years - or - to be more accurate made you so FEARFUL that you kept on putting off the day when you would even try to quit this addiction.

Two Golden Rules
1.  Never question or doubt your decision. You are a non-smoker so you do not smoke. Full stop.
2.There is no such thing as ONE CIGARETTE.

 That is all you have to be concerned with - that first cigarette.  IT DOES NOT EXIST SO WHY TORTURE YOURSELF OVER SHOULD I OR SHOULDN'T I ? I hope you have enjoyed this journey with us. There is no need to remember all you have learned. Your subconscious mind will have taken it all in. If you do not understand certain parts of it revert back to the lessons again and again. Take your courage in your hands. You are only days away from discovering the truth that you
can become a non-smoker and more importantly a happy non-smoker. We have had lots of readers who were in your position now about to take the big jump. They, too had all your doubts and fears but today they are totally free from both
the need and desire to smoke. When you have doubts why not focus your mind on the 60 million people in the US who have already succeed. It really really can be done. Soon it will be 60 million and 1.

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Chapter 10
The Joy of Non-Smoking

The longest journey begins with the first step.

Chinese Proverb.
There is only to-day. You do not have to worry about how you will feel or act To-night  Tomorrow. Next week  Or next year.  As far as you are concerned, they don't exist. They are only thoughts - pictures in your mind. However, YOUR mind will want to project you into this future - AWAY from this moment - the here and now. It does not want you to EXPERIENCE how you will REALLY feel, NOW, IN THE PRESENT MOMENT when you can't smoke because the feeling is so slight, so insignificant that you won't mind at all that you can't smoke. The game will be up. You will be free.   The mind does not want you to experience what you will really feel when you can't smoke because it is so slight, so insignificant that you won't mind at all that you can't smoke. So in the beginning, your mind will fill you with pictures of depression and self-pity. It will paint terrifying, exaggerated  PICTURES of how you will feel when you can't smoke. It hopes you will accept it's estimation of how these feelings will be - so that when you get these CRAVINGS during the day - which you will - you will run away from them. Or try to RESIST them in some way. Or worse....... you will hate and curse yourself for picking this day to stop smoking. But TO-DAY, and EVERY DAY from now, you will not fall for this trick. Of course, your mind will be on overtime, especially for the first few days. Expect this. It is not something to be worried about or hate. Remember what you resist persists. So simply accept it - don't even hope or wish it will go away. If it is there, fine. If it is not there, equally fine. Just accept that you will have all these thoughts and more.

Present moment
Always stay in the moment. You will ONLY feel tired, anxious or fed-up if you forget and try to get involved in these thoughts. If
you think you should fight them or try to reason or argue them away. Remember the paradox: What you resists PERSISTS. 
So if your mind wants to go on overdrive, let it. Don't judge it or try to quieten it down. Simply let it be and gently focus your attention on something else and you will discover the paradox always works - the mind and it's thoughts calm down.

THE REAL CAUSE OF UNRESTYet, we must never forget the real frantic energy that IS ENERGIZING all these thoughts and mental pictures - the deep CRAVING you have to smoke. This FEELING  that people have been telling you for centuries is..... the nearest thing to hell. 

This FEELING that you don't want to face. This feeling that you are so convinced that you won't be able to handle it. Well, may I ask you: HAVE YOU EVER REALLY EXPERIENCED THE CRAVING TO SMOKE AS IT REALLY IS? REALLY EXPERIENCED IT MOMENT-BY-MOMENT? HAVE YOU EVER STAYED IN THE PRESENT MOMENT AND ACTUALLY FELT IT --- AND NOT YOUR MIND'S INTERPRETATION OR EXPECTATION OF HOW IT SHOULD BE ? THE A,B,C.....Giving up smoking is very simple. You make a choice not to smoke. However, many times during the day, especially during those trigger occasions that you have linked so closely with smoking - you will WANT to smoke. Don't make yourself wrong for feeling like this. There is nothing wrong with this. In the past, you found smoking enjoyable - because of false associations - so it is only natural, that for a while after you become a nonsmoker, that you will have these strong urges.

Do not revert back to the old way and hate these desires and yourself for having them. Don't let your mind run away and take you away from this close non-judgmental inspection. For the first time, you are NOT going to run away from this feeling that you get when you can't smoke. You have been doing this your whole life. Simply stay in the moment. Don't let your mind take you away from what is really happening NOW. 

Stay open and relaxed and notice how you feel now. You may feel empty, uneasy, anxious but if you don't let your mind  exaggerate these feelings, you will realize that they are only temporary and NO BIG DEAL. YOU WILL REALIZE THAT THIS
IS ALL THERE IS TO IT. THERE IS NOTHING ELSE TO WAIT FOR AND SOON EVEN THESE TEMPORARY SLIGHT FEELINGS WILL BE GONE. Yes - that is all there is to it. There is nothing else to wait for. However, because we all believe the old MYTHS that giving up smoking MUST be hell and extremely difficult - we cannot believe that this is all there is to
it. So we conclude....... that there is something wrong - and then the idea pops into our head: "Ah, maybe it hasn't come yet. That's it. I'll just wait. I bet you very soon I will experience the real agony - the real pain that everybody speaks about. "
And so you wait around, day after day anxious, worried, fearful - waiting for this terrible drama - this great test. It is an illusion.

Key Idea:
You have already gone through it. What we described above IS IT. There is NOTHING to wait for. There is NOTHING to wait for there is no great drama - no great pain, unless you want to create it. So you see the only problem with giving up smoking is that during the day, you will feel like a cigarette. You will want to smoke. Accept this feeling and follow the simple procedure
for dealing with it whenever it arises. Everyday it will get less and less until one day you will notice that you had forgotten all about it and that it had died out weeks ago!  To become a happy non-smoker.........
1. Make a decision to stop. A real irrevocable decision. Do not question or doubt this decision.
2. Take one day at a time.
3. Realize it will be very easy.
4. Accept that many times during the day you will want to smoke. Do not run from this. Face it and you will discover it is nothing at all to be concerned with. Follow the new procedure to deal with it.
5. Realize you are a non-smoker NOW. There is nothing to wait for or fear - except the negative pictures in your mind that you are projecting onto the future.
6. Everyday celebrate the fact that you are a non-smoker.

Very soon you will have no more need for all these techniques and hints. The false beliefs you had about smoking - that you would never be able to enjoy your life again without them or that you would have to suffer a terrible agony to be free of them will be totally dead. You will have no craving or desire to smoke even if everyone around you is smoking and begging you to smoke. Please don't think this is not attainable for you. IT REALLY IS - and this time next year you will know it as a FACT because it is a reality you will be experiencing. However, there is ONE GOLDEN RULE YOU MUST NEVER NEVER BREAK OR EVEN QUESTION.

When you put out your last cigarette, you are NOW A NON-SMOKER.

There Is No Such Thing As One Cigarette
Get this very clear in your mind. And follow it. It will save you time, trouble and hours of mental wrestling. Please never forget it - even if you feel tempted to smoke just one cigarette, maybe at a party or you feel down or depressed. Remember : There is no such thing as one cigarette. In fact your ONLY goal - your ONLY objective as a non-smoker is to make sure that you never smoke that FIRST cigarette. Remember if you had not smoked that first cigarette, many years ago, you could never have become a smoker in the first place. And look at all the pain, frustration and money that first cigarette has cost you. So let us not fool ourselves. We are non-smokers. And non-smokers do not smoke. Full stop. And so to waste time to see if we can have, maybe just one ...... surely it can do no harm ...... IS AN ILLUSION. In fact to become a non-smoker is very very simple: There is only ONE thing that we have to look out for and that is to NEVER NEVER SMOKE THAT FIRST CIGARETTE.   ....AND TO REALIZE THAT FROM THIS MOMENT ON....... WE ARE NON-SMOKERS.

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Afterthoughts

What to do if you REALLY don't care and just WANT to smoke.
1. Again expect to feel like this. In fact you will feel like this many times. And remember even the most acute craving will only last a few minutes.
2. Acknowledge how you are feeling. This is important. Realize if you keep feeling like this it is quite normal and natural.
3. Simply note and affirm to yourself : This is fine. It is only my body registering it's demand for nicotine.
4. Stay in the moment.
5. Don't make how you feel wrong. Simply open to the feeling . Allow it to do whatever it wants to do. Say: 'Come on my friend - you can do and suggest whatever you desire. I know your time is up and the more I stay open to you without wanting you to go away - in  fact NOT CARING WHAT YOU DO - you can stay here all day if you want -- the sooner you'll be gone.'
6. Now gently refocus your attention on whatever you were doing. Treat it as a game. Repeat the procedure as often as you feel necessary. Soon there will be no need for it...........Failure is an illusion. When you are ready, pick the day when you will smoke your last cigarette and become a non-smoker. You are now just beginning on the journey. 

Even though you are now or shortly will be a non-smoker continue to read and reread  the course in order to deepen your understanding and knowledge of this simple psychology of non-smoking.

And another point: 
There is no such thing as failure. If you should fail and start smoking again. PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT GIVE UP and think that you will never succeed. The only failure is if you were to give up and never try again. The only failure is if you were to give up
and never try again.   

LEARN FROM YOUR FAILURE. And discover where you went wrong and start again. Thank you for all your time and attention during this course.  As you start off now on the road ... all our best wishes go with you.  You're not alone. We have all been there.   

What to do when you want to smoke....
1. Expect it. Many times a day you will feel like this.
2. Acknowledge it. Each time during the day when you feel like a cigarette simply acknowledge it. It is OK. It is quite normal and natural.
3. Make a note of it. On a piece of paper write down what time it is and realize quite clearly in your mind : This is only my body registering it's demand for nicotine. Soon it will be gone. Everyday it is getting weaker and weaker.
4. Imagine your body's demand for nicotine in the form of a little monster in your body. See the life pouring out of it. Imagine it getting weaker and weaker - it's mouth open, falling to the ground , struggling and gradually dissolving into nothingness. Everyday you choose not to smoke you are draining it of more power and life and in three weeks, it will completely dead.
5. Repeat this process every time you feel like a cigarette, noting the time and the intensity of the demand. In fact the more intense the demand the better : it is only the 'little monster' shouting more loudly - thus you know you are on the right road.