Re: My first post
- From: "Cuckoo1" <cuckoo1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 13:00:06 -0600
Great post! Great site! Great TOF!!!!!!
Congrats Steve & thanks for all you have done to help us quitters.
Cat
"ddsteve" <ddsteve@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1142390014.693985.235020@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Habit, n. Settled tendency or practice.
Tomorrow I'm not going to smoke. I'm not going to engage in an
activity that I've practiced to perfection. I'm not going to repeat,
20-30 times a day, a mechanical routine that is probably more
unconscious than I'm aware. When I think about what smoking is(soon to
be was) to me, I come back to the mechanics. It starts by picking up
the pack and the lighter which automatically end up in their respective
and appropriate hands. I open the pack and take one out. This can be
done as deftly as a surgeon, and without looking. Then, between the
lips, always in exactly the right place. When was the last time you saw
a sober smoker stick it in his ear by mistake? Light it, one handed of
course. And then the first one or two hits of nicotine. And with that
I've completed the pattern. The same pattern day in day out, time after
time in the same way.
It seems to me that that's about all there is to the pattern from a
mechanical point of view. It's the practiced hand motions, the oral
attention, the deep breath. If I stop smoking my hands won't have
anything to do, my mouth is going to feel neglected, and my breathing,
well I'll probably keep on breathing whether I smoke or not. Maybe I
can find something else for my hands to do like scratch some part of my
anatomy that needs or could use a scratch. Brushing my teeth often
might satisfy my oral cravings. That would help to create a new
environment in my mouth. I suppose my mouth will be able to get used to
not feeling burned out. And the breathing, I think I'll go breath some
fresh air deeply.
And then there are the triggers. Actually they come first but
never mind. The phone, the car, when I wake up, just before I go to
sleep, coffee, a meal, a snack, sex, fatigue, hunger, before I start
anything, during, after I finish everything, STRESS! A smokers
automatic response to any kind of stress is to reach for a cig.
I think its all about habits, patterns. This pattern we call
smoking has taken up an incredible amount of my life on a day by day
basis. When I get up tomorrow I'm not going to smoke. Something huge is
going to be missing. I'm going to fill that time with embryonic new
patterns. Day by day they will grow and begin to fill the void.
Exercise will strengthen me as the air begins to get past the crud in
my lungs. I'll get extra things done because I'm not procrastinating by
having "one more" before I get started.
Unrelated Thought-
New Habit = Craving Management
Got a craving? Decode it-hungry, tired, bored(thats a biggie)
Distract it- Do something different, get up, take a short walk. Use
imagination, not will power.
Repattern-Alter old patterns that were associated with smoking. Change
the morning routine. Forget the coffee that has always gone with the
cig. Do something different.
It's time to go to bed. So GO TO BED. Just kidding. You can
stay up as long as you want. I'm off to bed to wake up tomorrow and not
smoke.
Good night all,
Daredevil Steve (0)
Hello AS3,
Ten years ago tonight I posted that bit above. I had no idea it would
be the first of many articles on smoking and quitting. I certainly had
no idea that 10 years later I'd still be at it.
I couldn't have begun to imagine the depth and richness of experience
that quitting smoking would give me. I've met people from all over the
world. Each of them has taught me something about the ways in which we
are part of each other. Some have become friends who will be part of
my life for the rest of my life. And along the way I may have even
learned a few things about smoking, quitting, and staying quit.
To those of you who have shared this journey with me, thank you.
To my quit buddy DDJacque, a very very special thank you and
congratulations :) Aint we sumtin!
DDSteve (10 years)
http://cognitivequitting.com/GettingStarted.htm
.
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