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Help with stopping smoking...
Tosh
Veteran
I'm a recovered alcoholic and I've managed to stop drinking for a long time now, using the spiritual programme of AA (which I find has many similarities with Buddhism); but I am finding it difficult to stop smoking.
I've tried the following methods:
1. Willpower.
2. Alan Carr's Easyway Book.
3. An Alan Carr session.
4. Nicotine Gum.
5. Nicotine Tablets.
6. Champix (a prescription tablet, but it gave me severe depression)
So now, having failed the above attempts I'm looking for a 'spiritual solution' to stopping smoking. I believe the key is around acceptance; accepting that I will feel anxious, craving, and discomfort; and not only to accept these feelings, but to welcome them.
I can do this for short periods of time, but then I guess I lose my mindfullness, and succumb to a 'queer mental twist' (that's AA language) and smoke.
Can any of you ex smokers offer any of your experience at stopping smoking? Thanks in advance; it's killing me!
Regards,
Tosh
I've tried the following methods:
1. Willpower.
2. Alan Carr's Easyway Book.
3. An Alan Carr session.
4. Nicotine Gum.
5. Nicotine Tablets.
6. Champix (a prescription tablet, but it gave me severe depression)
So now, having failed the above attempts I'm looking for a 'spiritual solution' to stopping smoking. I believe the key is around acceptance; accepting that I will feel anxious, craving, and discomfort; and not only to accept these feelings, but to welcome them.
I can do this for short periods of time, but then I guess I lose my mindfullness, and succumb to a 'queer mental twist' (that's AA language) and smoke.
Can any of you ex smokers offer any of your experience at stopping smoking? Thanks in advance; it's killing me!
Regards,
Tosh
0
Comments
The addict feels stress and takes their medication. The addict feels depressed and takes their medication. The addict feels whatever and takes their medication. The question is, does the medication actually alleviate the symptoms and is there a healthier medication that would alleviate the symptoms with fewer unpleasant side effects.
Negative self judgment is often what ails the addict and taking their medicine is a source of negative self judgment. Pay attention to what you say to yourself throughout your day. You may be berating yourself for your addiction and to alleviate the 'bad' you feel after berating yourself (likely without realizing you berated yourself) you turn to your meds to make you not feel so bad. It's a pretty vicious cycle. Feel bad, so smoke|drink. Feel bad about smoking|drinking so berate oneself. Feel bad from berating oneself about smoking|drinking, so take medicine (smoke|drink). On and on the wheel of karma spins.
here is my suggestion. Stop trying to quit. Trying to quit sets up a battle and a battle requires you to use will power. Will power for most of us isn't as tough as we would like. Will power alone is often no match for addiction rooted in unconscious issues. It's a loosing battle before it even starts.
So, perhaps make peace with the fact you are a smoker. Studies show you will likely live 10 or so fewer years than if you stopped smoking, but oh well. You like smoking, you enjoy smoking and why live at all if you can't enjoy your life?
So, instead of quitting, just practice mindfulness. Before you smoke take 3 mindful breaths. No self judgment, just mindful breaths. Do not permit yourself to ever smoke again without 3 mindful breaths before each smoke. Not a big deal right? It's just 3 breaths and it's free of any self judgment.
Just 3 breaths.
That is all.
Will you stop smoking in 3 breaths? No.
Will this eventually lead to your no longer smoking? Maybe, maybe not. It's not really important.
Take care of yourself in other ways and since you are going to smoke anyway you may as well use the time to take a few mindful breaths, right?
Just do that. Habitually.
If only it were that easy
For me, I went to a hypnotist named "Romaine"....yes, just like the lettuce.
I think he travels around from town to town and has TV commercials before he comes to town with the jingle 'Romaine has the answers"
I went there thinking it wouldn't work. I had been smoking for 13 years and still enjoyed smoking, but I was also the singer in a Rock band and felt it would be a good idea to quit.
So first they take away your cigarettes and lighter.
Then everyone lies down and he does his thing. He is very focused on positivity, so there are no messages of you are quitting, or smoking is bad or anything like that. Instead it is messages of I am a healthy non-smoker. All positive.
Anyway I was certain that I was not hypnotized, certainly I was fully conscious throughout. However I've never smoked again and that was 21 years ago.
They gave me a cassette tape (I'm sure it would be a CD now
So I've never even really craved a cigarette. I felt a bit like I had the flu as I detoxed, but otherwise it really was very easy and painless.
I did however gain 40 pounds.
My wife and my Mom went to a different hypnosis seminar but it was very negative messages, and it didn't work at all for either of them.
I have seen Romaine ads on TV recently so he is still doing his thing, mind you in north America.
I quit in a competition against someone I had much anger towards at the time.
Funny thing is, never lit another one since and it's been 20+ years. it really was a mind over matter thing for me. Or perhaps, emotion over matter
I've a friend whose an alcoholic and managed to stay stopped from drinking in the early days using the same method with other people people in AA.
I think the ego can be a useful tool if used correctly, and I hate to say it, but I find it easy to humble myself and say, "I'm just a weak man" where smoking is involved, so that wouldn't work for me.
but she did end up taking it for a few months before that point and was able to quit. at the same time, i quit cold turkey.
i think, mainly, i just tried to focus on the concept of the drug. it was irritating and interesting to me that a chemical can cause such a desire. every time it would arise, i would almost study it from a scientific standpoint. notice how strong this silly need was. realize how odd it was that our brains can convince us of these things. i tried to see it for what it was, an illusion.
but no matter what, i would not give in. the illusion of "just one cigarette" is hard to pass up, but i still have not given in. i'm at about 4-5 months now, and they say it takes about 6 before you are really out of the dog house. so my feelings still arise randomly. after a meal, in my car. today, actually, i had the urge to smoke after i had a particularly stressful day at work.
i suppose, my approach to the urge is similar to my approach in meditation. observe the thought, the desire, allow it to pass. the main thing though is to never give in, not even once. if your desire is strong, then you are still addicted.
.
Good luck with stopping.
Namaste
^that dude has it right.
Meditation helped me to stop smoking. This is how.
Recognizing the thoughts and feelings related to the craving of smoking. The more you do this, the more space will open up between the craving and the actual smoking.
1. notice the feelings associated w/ wanting a cigarette (physically and mentally) give them names like anxious, nervous, aggrevated, tension, stress.
2. the more you notice the feelings that arise and name them when a craving happens- the more "space" there is between "you" and that feeling. In that space is where you can find the strength to not go on to the next cigarette. The space gets bigger and bigger until you forget you wanted a smoke in the first place. good luck- i know you can do it.
I've fought addiction for sigs but mariuana. It never worked, not even recovery and support groups. Untill I stopped fighting and surrendered. Surrendering to the here and now and all the crappiness it represents = reality. ' it'll never get better then this, so better make the most of it'...I must have said that to myself a milion times in the beginning, it almost became a mantra
I run a mindfulness based quit smoking program from Australia and it is available globally.
Mindfulness has undergone much research over the years and has been shown to be effective in many areas including smoking cessation.
Psychology Today magazine recently stated "For smokers who had learned mindfulness, stress no longer automatically led to lighting up. Mindfulness reduced cravings. Mindfulness didn't just reduce activity, it functionally disconnected the different regions of the brain that make up the "craving network." Paying mindful attention to the trigger of the craving interrupted this complex brain response, and ultimately protected smokers from their own desire”
I teach clients mindfulness skills specifically designed for smoking cessation and tailored to each client's individual smoking habit. The mindfulness skills remove the power of urges to smoke. Urges are then able to come and go with little impact and influence. Once we learn how to take a detached, observing stance towards the urge and stay unhooked from any sabotaging thoughts we can better allow the urge to rise and fall away (which it will do) and not get caught up in the urge and avoid struggling with the urge (which can make it worse).
The urges are now not being reinforced or 'recharged' so they will now die away over time.
As we know, everything is impermanent and is always changing. This includes urges too. Urges will always fall away when we learn how to allow them to do so.
The program also includes the latest in quit smoking psychology, upgrading coping strategies and relapse prevention skills.
If anyone would like to find out more then you can go to -
Mindfulness Quit Smoking Program
Hope this helps! Happy to answer any other questions at any time.
Hope this finds you all well.
Kind Regards,
Steve
1. Ciggarettes tend to put an "exclamation point" on a period of time. Without ciggarettes, life becomes more "open ended", no beggining to a moment and no end. Moments roll together and you see that everything is in flux, always.
2. Food tastes better.
3. You're clothes, hands, hair and people you come in contact with smell better.
4. Going outside just to go outside is way better than going outside for a ciggarette. Butterflies roam out there and it's easier to notice them when not caught in a cloud of smoke.
5. Eventually, EVERYTHING that you do will seem easier. Walking. Talking. Running. Sleeping (yes, you will actually have more restful sleep). Sex. Etc. And, last but not least, your breathing will improve dramatically, which can also improve the quality of your meditation.
So the real question is: Why wouldn't you want that stuff?
So... what worked for you?
After sharing stuff like that, my ego couldn't take the embarrassment of a relapse amongst my A.A. friends; I sponsor some of these guys too - and you don't want to look weak in front of your sponsees do you?
I'm such a ruddy fraud sometimes!
I had already quit for a year or more for each of my 3 pregnancies, but started again soon as I was done breastfeeding. Then one time I quit for 3 full years, and then started again! :eek:
I will never EVER tell anyone "its easy" that's for sure. But Now I'm on a 12.5 year Quitting Streak. :-)
This is not a very Buddhist remedy
Took them both less than a month to quit completely. One of them has quit for almost 14 yrs and the other for just about a year now.
Try it. Might be just what you need to get you past the initial cravings and headaches and toothaches, etc. that often comes along with quitting.
Best of Luck!!
:thumbsup:
EDIT: haha just read last thing you posted..GOOD JOB :] Keep it up!