Quitting Smoking? Here Are My First Helpful Hints
Lorelei Fenton
Are you a smoker and have you tried vainly to quit? Have you wondered what has you completely unable to do so? Have you wondered if you are chronically stupid or clinically insane to keep doing this behavior that will eventually land you on a fast track to lung cancer and a painful, debilitating death?
Well you are not stupid or crazy, but I can tell you that you are struggling to break free of one of the most, if not the most, severe addictions on the planet.
And so you might say "That's very interesting, but what does it mean to me?"
Well think of a skid row alcoholic. He is clearly out of control with his drinking and unable to stop it. That is because he has ten trillion cells in his body and every one of them is addicted to a substance. With nicotine, it is a very short process to have all of your cells become addicted. And since your life does not seem to be falling apart, as it is for skid row addict, there is no strong pull to get help for yourself. On the contrary, in the world of your cells mini-consciousness, it seems as if you will die if you do quit smoking, as opposed to if you do not. And when ten trillion cells speak, they are very hard to ignore.
Some people say one of the best helpful hints for quitting smoking is the taper-off method. From an addiction standpoint, this is simply not such a good idea. You see, nicotine, like many drugs, produces or grows receptors in the body. The purpose of these receptors is to handle the overflow of huge amounts of a drug. And the only thing these receptors do is to 'want the substance.' If these receptors do not get the substance, they become very agitated. If they do not get the substance for a long time, the agitation begins to subside. In essences the receptors give up trying. So going cold turkey, if you can last that long, does have its benefits.
Now on the other hand, if you activate these receptors with even a tiny bit of their drug, they will become agitated tot the highest degree. The screaming will become manic, since they seem to know, even with their tiny mini-consciousness, that it is possible to get their drug. Therefore when you taper off nicotine, it is ten times harder to quit.
We still do not know the best way to quit smoking. One way that people have met with success with this very physical addiction is the body, mind, spirit method of getting help through the 12-step program, Nicotine Anonymous. Such a program for smoking addiction will also allow you to share your journey with other people in the same boat. And if it saves your life, it is worth the trouble.
One other new method that is meeting with great success is the method of Neuro- Linguistic Programming. When your cells and receptors are kicking up a fuss for their drug, how best to override them but with the help of the brain and the central nervous system. Some say it is a cheap parlor trick, like hypnosis. But if the trick works, I say try it. But whatever method you use, once you stop, for goodness sake don't try 'just that one last cigarette.' I hope you can see by now, that is truly playing with fire you probably can't douse.
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