Beat the Mind Games When You Quit Smoking

Beat the Mind Games When You Quit Smoking More in Addiction Nicotine Use After You Quit How to Quit Smoking Nicotine Withdrawal Smoking-Related Diseases The Inside of Cigarettes Alcohol Use Addictive Behaviors Drug Use Coping and Recovery Smokers often think of lighting up as an enjoyable pastime. Cigarettes offer comfort, entertainment, and companionshipâ€"or so you think.  At the same time, you might relate smoking cessation to feelings of pain, misery, and sacrifice. These opposing feelings are reinforced on a subconscious level, below the surface of your thoughts.?? The result is that you might adopt unhealthy and inaccurate beliefs as facts of life when in reality they are only your distorted perceptions of the truth. Use these tips to help you learn how to recognize thoughts that dont serve you as you move through recovery from nicotine addiction and reprogram your mind with thoughts that do.?? 3 Quotes to Help You Quit If you want to change your life, change your mind.We either make ourselves happy or miserable, the amount of work is the same.This is the hardest thing Ive ever done. The first quote is from  Terry Martin. Its a catchy little phrase, and very appropriate to quitting smoking. Or, its another meaningless expression that do-gooders like to chant. The choice is up to you. Your quit can be a horrible, difficult, torturous period of penance that may end with you becoming a smoker again because you really want to be smoking but feel you cant. Or, your quit can be a somewhat uncomfortable but exciting path leading to new opportunities and higher self-esteem. You know you wont smoke because youre already feeling the freedom of living without chemical dependence. That too is up to you. Smokers Are Experts at Mind Games You have to be, to continue to do something as self-destructive as smoking and still sleep at night. If you allow those old mind games to continue, you are going to be facing a horrible, difficult, torturous period of penance, so take the easy way. Make a mental change, and try some new, fresh mind games. Dont quit smoking because you have to. Rather, embark on a challenging and rewarding adventure of teaching yourself how to be a non-smoker. The second option is more pleasant and, thus, easier. That is not to say it wont be without some effort on your part, but embracing the process instead of head-butting it is the best way to go. 14 Mind Tricks to Get You Started Here are some tricks to get you started: Never allow yourself to think I need to smoke. Thats way too emotional. Change it to something wordy enough to take the passion out of the sentiment, like, Im feeling some tension that I would have interpreted in the past as a desire for a cigarette. Same goes for I want to smoke. In addition to being unemotional, analyzing the feeling makes you realize that you are not actually in pain over a craving to smoke.Never allow yourself to think I could have just one. Change it to I could become a smoker again. They amount to the same thing.Never allow yourself to visualize yourself enjoying a cigarette. Instead, change the mental image to a picture of the nastiest, most uncomfortable, unwanted cigarettes you ever smoked.Often point out the good stuff to yourself. Everyone sees the healing changes at different rates. Even on your first smoke-free day, you can find something good, even if its just your money jar. As you notice them, write them down. Youll be amazed at how fast you come to t ake the benefits for granted.Often tell yourself how good you feel. Its just as easy to say I feel great as it is to say Oh, am I ever suffering. Easier, actuallyâ€"there are fewer syllables. And your subconscious really does come to believe what you tell yourself. Try writing, I am so glad to be free on a post-it and sticking it to your bathroom mirror so that you are sure to remind yourself of this every morning.Never deny yourself something good because you quit smoking. Say you associate sitting on your porch with smoking. In the first days of quitting you may associate everything with smoking. Deal with the triggers early on and dont leave yourself feeling deprived. One exception is alcohol. Take it slow and easy on a trigger that also lowers your inhibitions and capacity for rational thought.Often laugh. Laughter is a much better, more effective, and healthier relaxant than inhaling poisons. Try some Youtube therapy.Never doubt that one cigarette will make you a smoker again. There have been too many stories of people who hadnt smoked for years and wound up right back at their old level, kicking themselves every puff of the way, for anyone to seriously question the law of addiction. Which, by the way, is a Law like gravity, not a law like the speed limit. You might be able to drive too fast without getting caught, but dont step out of a plane just because nobodys around to see you.Never let your mind fall into the old rut of junkie thinking. Dont think of quitting as an end. Its the beginning of a healthy new lifestyle where unforeseen opportunities will open to you. Dont let your junkie tell you that the damage is already done. Yeah, you may have done some damage, but you dont have to do one bit more. Dont keep telling yourself that its hard. It takes a lot of effort but so does everything worth doing. You are learning new things and developing new skills every day. You are doing this.Never let your mind start to romanticize how great everything was whe n you got to smoke. And dont envy the smokers who are standing outside furtively getting their fix. Instead, remember what it was really like to need to smoke. If smoking was all that great, you wouldnt have ever considered quitting. Take a minute now and remember all the lousy stuff about needing to smoke.Never  let yourself think that you might smoke, even if its in the context of being afraid that you will smoke. Thats just giving yourself permission to do it, even if the permission comes with the price of beating yourself up later.Always recognize the truthâ€"you control your hands and your mouth. Nothing can make you smoke unless you decide to do it. Make that decision with your eyes wide open. Any dubious relief that a cigarette would offer will begin to wear off the moment you put the thing out, leaving you with nothing but a reawakened  chemical addiction. The only valid reason to smoke is to decide to become a smoker again and remain one until the day you die. And I really dont think theres any valid reason to decide that.Never  say never. The thought that you will never be able to smoke again is scary and might lead you to grab one because it could be the last chance. This is false. Cigarettes will still be for sale tomorrow and next week and next year. You will always be free to smoke. All you have to do is to decide to be a smoker again and accept all of the negatives that go with that right back into your life.Always post a message to your social support system before you smoke. And once you do, wait for at least three answers to your call for help. By the time those three come in, the urgency to smoke will have passed. What if youre out and you wont be able to post until you get home? Think about how long youve already gone without smoking. What difference will a few more hours make? Give your friends a chance to help before you relapse. Even better, give your own intelligent, rational mind a chance to kick in. Mantras Have a few mindless mantras that you can fall back on when youre just too tired to think anymore today. Theyre things that are too obviously true to argue with, and catchy enough to remember. You can often find them in peoples signature lines. They include: If I smoke one, Ill be right back to where I started. Where I started was desperately wishing I could be where I am today.What if you abandon the journey today and the peace would have come tomorrow?It is not a matter of if you will go to war with quitting smoking, but a matter of when you will go to war. Will you go while you are healthy and in control or when you are dying?We own our quits In times of stress, ask yourself, WWND? (What Would a Non-smoker Do?) Try to picture someone you know who has never smoked in the situation youre in  and try to imagine them reaching for a cigarette to get through it. The absurd notion that a cigarette would help them will help you see that the notion a cig will help you is absurd, too. Congratulations to everyone who will not smoke today.