You may have seen the NHS campaign ‘Stoptober’ encouraging people to stop smoking for the month of October. The reason being is that if you managed to stop for 28 days you are 5 times more likely to quit for good.
If you want to stop smoking I encourage you to consider taking part in Stoptober. You can register and receive a wealth of support and advice to help you on your way.
I have helped many people over the years stop smoking as hypnosis has been proved to be more effective than patches and willpower at helping people quit. It makes sense when you realise that over 90% of your behaviour is drive by your unconscious mind. So I want to share some tips with you that you may find help you through Stoptober and beyond.
- What do you want? To stop smoking right, it’s that simple, or is it? Spend some time focusing on why you want to quit. For each thing that comes to mind ask yourself what that would give you. Explore what’s behind it.For example, if one of the reasons why you want to quit is for your health what will improved health give you? Perhaps seeing your kids grow up or having more energy to play with your children. Again, chunk up to the motivation behind that. What will playing with your children more give you? Perhaps it is more happiness. Spend some time getting a sense of this, imagine how it would feel if you had that.Do the same with any other reasons you want to quit (whether saving money or anything else).We often focus on the lower level action, in this top stop smoking, without giving our unconscious mind time to explore and experience what it is this will give us in terms of happiness and quality of life. If you have the taste or experience something wonderful you are more likely to be motivated to do what you need to experience it again.
- Cravings only last seconds when we allow them to do what they naturally do, enter our awareness and then move away again. They become more powerful when we focus on them and start to entertain the thoughts behind them. You are feeling your thinking. Your thoughts are telling you a story of what ‘benefit’ you will have from having a cigarette, why you ‘need’ one. The emotional addiction to cigarettes is usually more powerful than the physical.The emotional addiction is believing these thoughts behind the feelings/cravings. For example, many people smoke because they think it relaxes them knowing pumping your body with toxic chemicals does not relax it! People usually associate smoking with being relaxing as they smoke on a break or when socialising with friends. You would feel far more relaxed by have a few minutes break and taking a couple of deep breaths of fresh air! So you might start to be aware of what your thinking is telling you, it is hypnotising you into believing it, however thought is not truth, it is an illusion we fall in to believing. Ask yourself how do you know it is true?To help with cravings drink plenty of water and have sugar free mints. Cigarette paper is coating in sugar so you are getting a sugar hit at the same time so often the cravings are a sugar graving. When you have a sugar free mint your conscious mind is aware it is sugar free however your unconscious mind thinks it is a normal mint/sweet and is getting a sugar.
Good luck. If you think you would like some help then let me know.
Six surprising reasons to stop smoking…
1) Boost your brainpower – Ex-smokers have better reasoning skills and memory than current ones.
2) Help you look younger – Smoking prematurely ages skin by up to 20 years and makes you four times more likely to go grey.
3) Increase your fertility – A study found women smokers reduced their chance of conceiving by a third.
4) Improve your smile – The habit is linked to gum disease, teeth stains and bad breath.
5) Protect your vision – It doubles your risk of age-related macular degeneration – the main cause of blindness in the UK.
6) Make your kids happy – 98% of children with a smoking parent wishes that they’d quit.
