The harmful effects of smoking.
Every smoker knows the harmful effects of cigarettes and smoking everyone knows it causes cancer, heart attack, stroke, emphysema, bronchitis, asthma and all kinds of breathing problems. Have you ever woken up feeling like a weight was on your chest. Experienced burning sensations in your throat, cigarette cough or flem. Secondhand smoke harms the people around you. Smoking is not a socially acceptable as it once was. Have you experienced feeling like an outcast? Every smoker knows that smoking is expensive and dangerous. Every smoker hurts their own self esteem by having to lie to themselves to continue to smoke.
It's not your fault that you're a smoker.
It's not your fault you started smoking. 90% of smokers have role models or peers that smoked. Even though most of them told you not to smoke you saw them smoking. Since we want to be like our role models and peers. You were shown to be a smoker. There also other reasons such as marketing and advertising. Many people had candy cigarettes when they were children. And you pretended that you were smoking. Then you chewed them up because they were gum. They tasted sweet and you associated pleasure with smoking even before you ever had your first cigarette. Then there were magazine ads. That gave your unconscious mind of messages that cigarettes were cool cigarettes were glamorous. These cause associations in the unconscious mind and are actually a form of brainwashing. Because your unconscious mind cannot tell the difference between what's real and what's imagined. All cigarette advertising is geared towards getting you to associate pleasure with smoking. If you can recall your first cigarette it probably was not pleasurable. But because you already had an unconscious association that smoking is pleasurable you kept doing it till you perceiveit as pleasurable. It's not your faultyou became a smoker but it is your responsibility to stop.
It's the first cigarette that get you hooked.
Nicotine is a fast acting drug. Some people think that nicotine is as addictive as heroin or cocaine. Nicotine addicts people quickly but the good news is the withdrawal symptoms are not that bad. Many people experience withdrawal symptoms. Symptoms include irritability, depression, anxiety, headaches, nausea, diarrhea, sore throats, insomnia and coughing as your lungs clean themselves out. Tiredness, increased appetite and possible weight gain. The degree of withdrawal experienced is different for everyone. People continue to smoke because their addicted to nicotine. The withdrawal symptoms last about three weeks. Some people think that smoking calms them down. That just is simply not true. Nicotine is a stimulant. The effects are that it raises your heart rate and blood pressure. Because you are addicted to nicotine you experience cravings for the drug. When you smoke a cigarette the craving goes away because you got your fix. Sometimes all it takes is to say no. Make your decision to be a nonsmoker and stick by it. It is that simple. Remember your reasons why you want to be a nonsmoker and realize that at some point the cravings will stop. When you quit you are actually changing your brain chemistry.
Smoking is a habit and an addiction.
As a habit people smoke where they have associations to certain times and places. Such as in the morning, when getting in a car, after a meal or taking a break. It is helpful to avoid the situations where the habit would be triggered. If you're drinking your coffee try drinking it in a different place than you normally would. The best way to break the old habits is to create new ones. That means changing your routine as much as possible. Doing things in a new way. If it's not possible to change situations then you must be aware and just be strong. The more you practice being a nonsmoker the more it will be natural for you to go through life without cigarettes.
Dealing with cravings.
Most people experience cravings. The first few days can be the hardest because you are changing your brain chemistry. Most withdrawal symptoms will be gone within three weeks. It is important to remember cravings are like waves. They use last 2 to 3 minutes but they will pass. Some helpful things you can do is to take deep breaths. Remain calm. Hypnosis can help you to remain calm. You can use over the counter stop smoking remedies. Hold on to the thought that these will pass. Drink water. Avoid stress. Keep yourself a busy or go for a walk a talk to someone on the phone to help get you through it. Get social support to get you through the withdrawal period. Drink less tea or coffee during the withdrawal period. Avoid or lower consumption of alcohol.
Rubber band - Youcan use a simple rubber band to help you quit. Find one that fits loosely on your wrist. If the thought of a cigarette comes in your mind, snap the rubber band right away. This will cause your brain to associate pain with that thought. This will help reduce that thought because your brain does not like pain and will eventually eliminate it.
Other useful things you can do to make it easier to become a nonsmoker is to plant to live your life without cigarettes. Realize there is no such thing as one cigarette. One cigarette is what starts the addiction process. Create substitute behaviors like drinking water, chewing gum or hard candies. Plan activities to keep yourself busy. If you catch a self thinking about smoking shout out in your mind that you're thankful to be a nonsmoker. Always believe that being a nonsmoker is the right choice. Create a list of why you're happy to be a nonsmoker and read it every day. If things get tough hang in there it will be worth it. Remember all you have to do to be a nonsmoker to be free of cigarettes, is to not smoke. It is that simple. Take time to reward yourself for being a nonsmoker. Take it easy on yourself while you quitting. Relax a little bit more while you're making this change. Remember being a nonsmoker is its own reward. You will be very thankful when you look back from that time in the future when you know it's over. That you did it! Remember that 40,000,000 other people have quit smoking you can do it to.
How hypnosis can help you quit smoking.
Many people have used hypnosis to quit smoking. Hypnosis can help you to change the way you think, feel and behave about smoking. Hypnosis works by using your natural mental processes. To make changes in the way you think and feel about cigarettes. The difference between smokers and nonsmokers is simply the way they think and feel about cigarettes. Smokers think cigarettes are pleasurable on an unconscious level. Smokers have pleasurable mental associations to cigarettes and smoking. Nonsmokers on the other hand have neutral or negative painful associations to cigarettes and smoking. All smokers know these mental associations are not true on a conscious level. You know it's killing you slowly yet you continue to do it. How insane is that? It's the brainwashing of these mental associations that keeps people smoking. To become a nonsmoker you must think like a nonsmoker, feel like a nonsmoker and act like a nonsmoker. Hypnosis is the best way to change the way you think and behave. Because all hypnosis is really self hypnosis, no one can hypnotize you against your will. You must be willing to accept the suggestions. If you do not like the suggestion you'll simply reject it because you are always in control when you are hypnotized. As you accept the suggestions you are programming your unconscious mind thoughts and mental images of being a nonsmoker. How long it takes for hypnosis to work is up to you every one is different. Some people can quit in one session others take more. Repetition is very important with hypnosis because repetition is the mother of all learning. Repetition can be accomplished in two ways more live sessions or use of one or more CDs. Most people have heard it takes three weeks to make or break a habit. Give yourself a chance to stop smoking and make this change for the better. You deserve it.
Rich Alexander is a contributing author to publications and a radio guest. He is a certified hypnotist with experience in helping many clients to achieve their goals in a variety of areas. Working for American Hypnosis he has presented hundred's of hypnotic Stop Smoking and Weight Loss seminars and has entertained people with his comedy hypnosis show. Rich has hypnotized over 15,000 people across the USA.
Rich's list of certifications and awards includes:
Member of the National Guild of Hypnotists since 1993
Certified Hypnotist 1995 by the Hypnosis Motivation Institute of California
Rich holds over 20 certifications in Hypnosis, NLP and Stage Hypnosis
Operates a Hypnosis Clinic inPort St. Lucie, Florida since 2004
Speaker at the National Guild of Hypnotists
Rich is available for hypnosis presentations, seminars or stage shows for companies or groups.
I want to thank you for learning about hypnosis to stop smoking and encourage you to use hypnosis to make the changes that you want. I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you in my office!
To set up your appointment.
Contact Rich Alexander, Certified Hypnotist
At Florida Hypnosis
772-337-7754
www.floridahypnosis.org