Keep on Smoking

That's right, keep on smoking.

It's not and never has been my intention to 'make people,' stop smoking. If you want to smoke then that's your choice and it's fine by me. The purpose of this blog is to help people who want to stop smoking in a way that makes it very likely that they will. Making the decision is the biggest step, once that has been taken you will find becoming a non smoker a whole lot easier if you get as much informed opinion as possible about how to do it.

When I say informed opinion that means getting advice from people who have stopped smoking easily and people who help them do it. So please, if you don't want to stop then carry on smoking because nobody will ever stop you from smoking except you, when you decide.

Just do me a favour, when or if you do decide, please don't be conned into thinking that it is hard to do and don't try to do it when it is most likely you will need to smoke. Like new years day for example. Statistically 50% of New Year’s resolutions have been broken by the end of the first week. There is some very sound reasoning why this is the case and particularly with smoking. According to government figures only around 7% of smokers who rely on willpower will succeed in quitting on the first attempt. New Year’s Day is perceived by many to be a time to make a fresh start or turn over a new leaf, but in actual fact it’s quite probably the hardest time to quit smoking. By the last week in December the days are at their shortest and cases of Seasonally affected Disorder (SAD) are coming to a peak and the cold is starting to bite. Christmas is a welcome fillip to the gloom with celebrations and indulgence being the order of the day. However as the year draws to a close, the festivities are over the decorations come down and the unwelcome credit card statement drops on the door mat, merriment can in some turn into less uplifting mood states. Add that to the still long dark nights at the coldest time of the year, it’s a recipe for the blues or worse a bout of depression. This is the time of the year when any coping strategies (tobacco, alcohol etc) would be most needed by those who have adopted these behaviours. Hardly the best time to consider quitting!
However as stopping smoking is almost certainly the single best thing a smoker can do for their health stopping at any time is most certainly a positive step. I recommend that should you decide that this is the time when you’re going to quit smoking then you really need the best advice about the easiest way to go about it. One thing is for sure if you rely on willpower alone then unless you now how to use it effectively, statistically there is around a 93% failure rate.This is a shame as if you get good advice and use correct techniques your success is pretty much guaranteed.

You need not only get the best advice about how to use your willpower but also new coping strategies which can be installed using effective psychological techniques including hypnotic intervention and NLP. All this gives you a far higher chance of success.
If you really want to quit smoking now, do yourself a favour and make it easy on yourself, use an effective method!

You will find everything you need to become a non smoker easily, in this blog, it's down to you to find it.

With love Nigel

A Poem for 'Jeremy Fisher'

To A dear fishing buddy who recently shuffled off.

"How am I going to kick this horrible weed" ? He'd often ask, not really wanting to hear my answer; "Come down and see me, I'll do you for nothing, We'll find you something better to do instead" this would make him laugh one of his filthy 'Sid James' laughs, muttering something like " I bet we would, Tapping his Whisky flask in his hip pocket!..... Seems he's found his own thing to do instead....

Can you see them too

They hide underneath the mirror
they'll see you first .. can you see them too?
matching clothes to their homes they feel a heavy shoe
sliding away long before they'll give you a view,
for they see you first ..can you see them too?

They can hover motionless, invisible to the untrained eye
unleashing breathtaking power with ease they fly,
to the place where they hide in the mirrors side,
when disturbed by a hunter,feathered or furred,a man or a bird...
the largest of their kind are few ...can you see them too?

when the eye becomes skilled through watching and time,
or by the awesome wonder near, in the beauty of seeing
through the looking glass moving, of figures that ghostly appear,
at first maybe one but once seen they stand out,
the beautiful creature, spotted and stout,
but one false move, one glimpse, one clue,
with a flick they're gone ...can you see them too?

On learning their habits, their likes and their haunts
through the mirror you'll see them in crystal so pure
feeding at ease, their white gape they flaunt
stationary, to them comes their food or your lure,
but the story's not over yet, as they taunt,
for they know what is what and with consummate ease
they'll reject all that's not right as speedy as light,
and another dry net ,an empty belly too
they're really not daft...can you see them too?

but once every year an opportunity draws near
around May if you please when on one thing only they'll feed
the Mayfly, Hurrah, makes them bold, foolish, reckless no fear,
and then my friend you might get your chance to fulfill your need
to outwit this quick monarch behind the mirror
and if you can handle their power their speed

their uncanny ability to find buried weed
and if you appreciate how lucky you've been
and you'll give them their due
then the finest meal that God gave to you

will mean at last ...you'll see them.... and taste them too!

Habit Buster

Escape your Habits

How do you know you've got a habit? You have a habit when you stop noticing you're doing it. The mind is a clever bit of kit. The habit mechanism, which is part of the unconscious mind, functions perfectly well without any conscious intervention. Smokers will tell you that they sometimes don't even remember lighting up, as the habit is so well integrated with their daily ritual. This is the only reason in my opinion why people find it hard to quit. Habits run themselves unconsciously, so trying to consciously stop a habit tends to be quite tricky unless you go about it the right way. In fact trying consciously can make it even worse. As I said before in an earlier blog, trying not do do something reinforces that something in your mind. For example: Try not to think about a nice slice of soft gooey chocolate cake...ummm. You see what I mean!

The way to get a habit is to repeat something over and over again consciously. Just like when you learn your times tables parrot fashion. Once your unconscious picks it up through this repetition, you'll know it forever! You'll have a habit! If you want to stop doing a habit then you have to focus upon the benefits of not having the habit by repeatedly focusing upon these benefits until they becomes the norm. Then what you have is a situation where the mind has the choice of two behaviours where before it only had one. Now with smoking, the habit has been reinforced so many times, (even a twenty a day smoker will be putting their hand to their mouths 200 times a day), that to repeatedly focus on the benefits would be quite a task even though there are many. The old Tony Robbins system of affirmations with visualisation can help, but not always. There are many different ways of doing this, some very effective some not. So for convenience here, another exercise is needed. The brain needs a mechanism in place that leads you towards the new behaviour.

So here's your chance to re direct your brain towards what you really want in a way that should make it impossible to think of the old behaviour without being pulled toward the new behaviour instead.

The following is an exercise that will work for any habit. I'll describe the exercise and then give a pictorial example. First read it through to get the idea, then do it with your eyes closed at the start, it may take a wee bit of practice but trust me this works.

It works because your unconscious really does want what's best for you, and will lead you in the right direction, if you give it specific instructions that it can positively follow. If you have a habit, then at the moment your unconscious believes that this habit serves some purpose that benefits you, it's not trying to harm you. Give it something better and it will follow, because that is the way of the universe. You may need to change some beliefs about your habit but that is easy. Do you still believe in the tooth fairy?

Step 1. Form in your minds eye what it is you do or feel just before you do the unwanted behaviour. It could be a feeling or and image or an internal dialogue. To put it another way, find in your mind what it is that brings up the urge to do the behaviour. When you have this image, make it big and bright, adding sounds and feelings if you find that easier. Now the most important part of step 1 is that when you bring up this image it must be associated as if you are really there, looking out of your own eyes. When you have this image, add to it in words or feelings all the things that you hate about the behaviour and it's effect upon you. If you find this hard, then it can sometimes help to actually do the behaviour. This is now your 'ready' picture

Step 2. Put that image aside for a moment.

Step 3. Now I want you to think about how you would be if you didn't have the problem. If you no longer had this habit, how would your life be greatly improved? So form an image of how you would see yourself differently if you were completely free of this habit and how that would make you feel. If you find this tricky, just imagine how you would be. It's important that you are dissociated in this image (as if you are watching yourself as an observer) Keep on adjusting this image until you have a picture in your mind of an image of a new you that really draws you towards it. Take your time and form that image. When you have it, it should be making you feel good, as if you want to smile. If not keep on adjusting it until it does... This is your 'steady' picture

Step 4. Now , Starting with your 'ready' image big and bright and colourful, put a small dark image of your 'steady' image in the lower right hand corner. Now have the small dark 'steady' image explode big and bright and colourful and cover the ready image which will simultaneously shrink and fade small and dark as fast as you can say"GO". Then open your eyes. Repeat this sequence five times opening your eyes after GO every time. Ok so to run through step 4 it's (eyes closed) two images together,GO.(open eyes) and repeat five times. It's important that you do this quickly. As quickly as you can say the word GO!

Step 5. Test it. Try in vain to picture the 'ready' image. What happens? This should be hard to do without your new 'steady' image cutting in. If it doesn't, go back and do it again even faster. You could even test it out with the old behaviour, it will feel somehow wrong. For many people this will wipe out the habit completely!! This will be permanent!

Below is a pictorial representation. It might not be your particular stimuli or ideal but you will get the rough idea. Don't do it with these images, use your own unique images in your mind.... this is just a representation to give you an idea.

If there is no change at all, then describe what you did in the comments section on this blog and I'll find out what you need to change to make it work and return to you.

with love

Nigel

Let your Brain take you by the hand.

Use your Brain to Gain.

For the vast majority of 'smokers', smoking just accomplishes good feelings .i.e. Smoking makes you feel good. This is why many people who smoke, tend to smoke more at times of stress and upset. The cigarette is a quick tool to a good feeling, and we all like good feelings! People who smoke have made a habit out of using tobacco as a coping strategy.

This is the reason why becoming a non smoker fills many people who smoke with a sense of dread. Thinking how will they cope without that good feeling...it really is nothing to do with nicotine, nicotine addiction is a myth.

If a smoker can come up with a strategy that gives them the same benefit as the cigarette on an conscious and unconscious level then giving up smoking is very easy. When I say the same benefit, I mean something else that makes you feel good. If you can't actually think of anything that would make you feel as good, because sadly some people can't, then astonishingly, just imagining something that would make you feel good can work too, if utilized correctly.

It just becomes a matter then of overcoming the mechanical unconscious habit and that is even easier as long as you point your brain towards what it wants and not what it doesn't want.

Habits are just 'programmes' in the brain and just like a computer the program will work over and over again until you replace it with a different program or in cyber geek language overwrite it with a better one. The only difference being that you cannot entirely delete a habit like you can a programme. It has to be that way or you would be able to forget how to drive or forget how to count. That's why when you become a non smoker you have to stay a non smoker !

Coming up with an effective strategy then becomes a matter of using your brain to get what you want, and it is always a very personal thing. That is why it is impossible to take a group of people who smoke and use the same technique on all of them. Every one of them will have a different set of strategies to elicit good feelings. However the same psychological model can be used by all people who smoke, who want to be free of this destructive habit, by incorporating their own unique set of strategies. A simple NLP swish pattern can easily achieve this. This is where a skilled NLP practitioner can be very helpful. It can be done amazingly quickly, and the change is permanent. The only things that can limit the effectiveness is if the person does not want to be a non smoker, or the person is not prepared to make the changes required to enable a cessation in their coping strategy.

With love

Nigel

Dont think about a pink elephant.

Most people are not aware that there unconscious minds do not easily process negative suggestions. The word “not” or any of it’s derivatives only exist in the world of language. Therefore, you can’t not think about what it is you don’t want to think about. This has important implications for the smoker trying to stop smoking. So if we say “don’t think about a cigarette” what do you think about first……think about that…………or not! This means your unconscious functions far more smoothly when you concentrate on what you want as opposed to what you don’t want.

This principle is closely related to a universal law in the field of Hypnosis called “the law of reverse effect”. This law states that the more you try not to think about something, the more you think about it. Further , it’s useful to consider for your goal whether the internal representations, or self talk or imagery you use is empowering to you or defeating your efforts. In other words is the way you see yourself stopping smoking helping you to achieve that outcome?

In the course of my work with people from all walks of life I have found that every spiritual system teaches it’s followers to see God or the goodness in everyone, and our aim is to do that. Therefore we must also assist others in doing that for themselves. We urge smokers who want to stop smoking to seriously practice focusing on what they want and not what they don’t want. Really concentrating on the benefits of being a happy healthy non-smoker daily will rapidly clear the mind of the negativity commonly associated with tobacco cessation.

It is a valuable experiment as a therapist to hold on to the internal representation of exactly how we want a smoker to be when we’re helping them become a non smoker. Therapists often see their clients fully experiencing their goal as the client discusses their smoking problem. We ask the client to discuss the problem, inviting them to “try” and hold onto it as we just listen and hold a totally positive, resourceful image in our minds. The most common experience is that as client talks about the problem, they begin to run out of steam and are left a bit bemused that what they were talking about even seemed like problem in the first place!

Positive thinking is the single most powerful thing a human being can learn to assist them in all aspects of there lives. Focusing on a problem will do nothing other than amplify the problem. The old brain storming technique where people just gather around and throw any ideas to solve a problem works for this reason. So for a smoker a good personal brainstorm to assist in becoming a non smoker can have tremendous results. When it is understood that the only reason people smoke is to make them feel good, then a few brainstorms about what else could possibly make a smoker feel good usually throws up a number of other pleasurable activities.

Shocking tactics

Give them a phobia of cigarettes?

I think that even hardened smokers would admit that they wouldn't want their children to copy their habit. But the truth is the children of smokers are far more likely to become smokers than the children of non smokers. What can we do avoid this?

Well, as I see it, the way that Governments and health organisations are approaching the matter is not helping. Even today with all the information about the harm smoking can do, the take up rate amongst children remains about as steady as ever. The reason for this is simple, they're leaving it too late...! Once a child passes the age of about six, they can start making there own decisions, convincing them otherwise is much more problematic. So here's some tips, some a bit radical if you don't want your kids to follow you down the smoking path:

• Don't let them see you smoking!
• Subtly arrange for them to chew an unlit cigarette good and properly before the age of six. When they go, "Yukky" and splutter, copy there responses and say, whilst also tasting a cigarette, Eeeew, yukky,nasty,cigarettes!" being as dramatically offended and frightened as possible, and throw them (the cigarettes) out the door, preferably into the dark...
• Become a happy healthy non smoker.

The second tip may offend you, but it will pretty much guarantee they'll be non smokers. Exactly in the same way that many people have a phobia of spiders or any other fear inherited from their parents. People with phobias, who don't know why they have a phobia, have usually had it installed before the age of six by their parents, before they develop a critical faculty. It's just like sowing a seed...

with love

Nigel

P.s. If you want to be a non smoker and you want an experience of what your lungs are going through, have a good chew on an unlit cigarette yourself, I mean really give it a good chew, for a minute or so, until you can't bear it anymore. While your chewing think about what you do the moment before you light up....as if you are really there...

Radical indeed !

What would happen if you became a non smoker

All this will be yours if you can change your mind.

Pretty good news I think !

Have you ever changed your mind before... think about it,

when was the last time you changed your mind...?

What did it feel like? Where do you feel that feeling? Is it an internal dialogue or an image that you're getting about changing your mind before. Well just step inside that thought for a moment and hold on to it, and while you're there....

Here are the facts.

1. You will live a longer life and see your family grow up.
2. You will be more healthy.
3. You will get back your sense of smell and taste.
4. You will feel proud of yourself.
5. You will have more money.
6. You will get fresh breath and whiter teeth.
7. You will be in control.

So what stopping you from getting all this?

LIES and...

FEAR

That's all! Its the fear of what you believe will happen, either because you've tried it before and failed or you believe the myth about Nicotine Addiction. If the former is the case then chances are you also believe the latter. Beliefs drive your behaviour. Well, let me tell you some facts which may go against your beliefs:

• About a third of all smokers who quit smoking experience no discomfort at all.
• Becoming a non smoker will cause you no harm.
• Nicotine is not an addictive chemical,Tobacco manufacturers just want you to think that.
• You most probably know somebody who has quit without any help at all.
• They are no different to you.
• Most smokers who have trouble trying to quit smoking thought they would have trouble.
• The third who quit without discomfort thought they would have no discomfort.
• You have been a non smoker before, no worries at all.
• you will be physically more relaxed when you become a non smoker.

So the facts are you can have everything at the top of this section and whats more you will feel great. Because you can change your mind, Just believe the facts not the lies. Remember there are multi million £/$ organisations and big Government revenues at stake, they want to keep you smoking. Who do you trust most, an outspoken crazy woman like me who has found out the truth about smoking through years of experience, or these multi national organisations who have to answer to their share holders. All I can tell you is that I have no axe to grind and I am making no money out of letting you know how to be free.

With love

Nigel