Quit Smoking

How it began:
In the late 1990's I went on holiday to Boston. I had wanted to quit smoking for a long time and was just about to have some good luck.
My usual brand of cigarettes weren't available and those that were weren't giving me what I wanted from a smoke. Just once, hesitating before taking another, I suddenly became aware of what I was feeling with it temporarily stopped. I became aware of being frustrated with something which happened approximately 9 years before. By not having a cigarette for a few moments I could get to the root cause of why I had been using them and understand why it had been so difficult to resist. The key to finding out why, lay in the delay between wanting to smoke and doing it (which of course in this case I didn't), for in those few seconds, the emotion behind the addiction came to the surface and I began to be able to deal with it. This installing of a delay period, finding out what's happening and then doing something about it, is the basis for this free easy stop smoking program.

The method:

I installed a delay period between the point of habitually having a cigarette and actually taking it. The length didn't seem to matter much, however it needed to be at least 15-20 seconds long in order to find out what I was experiencing and to begin to do something about it.

In the short stop period I asked myself, "What is the feeling, and what can positively be done about it?" It helped me to name the emotion. It was deep frustration and as soon as I knew that the tobacco addiction had prevented me from being aware of that, the seemingly overpowering strength of it dissipated. Frustration was the worst problem but whatever came up there was always a more healthy response than repeating the old addiction.

I made myself do something positive about the feeling. Even beginning was a great help. By doing something positive, a new healthy habit was developing and the old negative one began to break. Sometimes all I could do was keep busy and resist.

To achieve complete cessation, all that was necessary was to become more persistent if tempted and keep asking, "What is the feeling, and what can positively be done about it?" and then make sure I did it. Just by doing that, I was healing, a new pattern was forming.

Next progress - then easy and difficult - finally conclusion