The entire health profession is cheering for you to stop your nicotine addiction. And, they know how tough it is.

One of the world’s most respected thinkers, researchers, and health practitioners, Dr Roger Walsh, is quoted as saying ” Nicotine is about the most addictive substance we’ve found.”

What does he know? Here are is credentials-

Roger Walsh is professor of psychiatry, philosophy, and anthropology, as well as adjunct professor of religious studies at the University of California at Irvine. Roger’s books include Staying Alive: The Psychology of Human Survival (one of New Option’s “Outstanding Books of the Year.”), Paths Beyond Ego (one of Common Boundary’s “Most Influential Books”), Meditation: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives (“Outstanding Academic Book of the Year Award”), and Essential Spirituality: The Seven Central Practices with a foreword by The Dalai Lama.

The way to stop using nicotine is to just stop. Easy to say. Takes support and understanding to actually do it.

Support is 100% why this website is here.

All the ways to stop are on this site. You can read the articles over and over. Refer back to this site as often as needed. The answers are here.

The bottom line is still to simply stop using nicotine no matter what stick gets thrown in your spokes. Find a way to cope and just do it.

But if you need supportive gizmo’s,  vapor smoke, wrist rubber bands, gum, hypnosis… use them all. Still, it’s about just quitting. In the end, there is no other way. You have to face that moment when you ‘keep walking.’

Hat’s off for staying with the effort. I believe I know what you are going through and of course, I am cheering for you to stop your nicotine addiction.

If you are in the process of quitting nicotine consider this- follow carefully–

• One- what you think,
• Two- your physical reactions and
• Three- your feelings.

And number FOUR- Your Actions. You control what you actually do. What you act on. You can do a thing or
you can literally stop yourself from doing it as in:

• take the donuts out of the cabinet and drop them in the dumpster ,
• walk out of the bar,
• stop yelling,
• turn the TV off,
• slow the car down,
• put the clothes back and walk out of the store,
• cut your credit card up,
• abruptly stop arguing with yourself and walk two miles,
• pour the cola down the drain and drink a glass of water.

Ironically, action greatly influences the other three–

• thinking,
• feelings
• and physical reaction.

That is exactly and I mean exactly how to stop smoking.

Trust this. There is no greater secret.

Part Two

Now for some behind the scenes information.

This blog post is all you will ever need to quit smoking.

• It is the one biggest secret.
• It is worth a million dollars, if you can put a dollar amount on it.

But, up to this point, it is not long enough and involved and detailed enough to make most people happy.

That includes Google. The site ranking crawlers like to see a 250 word post. That way they can perceive it as substantial.

As serious and grown up, whatever that means. That is silly. But those are the guidelines most bloggers play by. So let me flesh this out a little  even though the answer to quitting smoking nicotine is contained in the first part.

Extensive research has been done on this subject. The finding? It all boils down to your actions.

No matter how you feel, or think. No matter what influences bombard you, everything comes down to your actions.

After action the amazing thing is that

• your feelings will follow.
• Your thinking will change.
• All because of action.

Have you ever wanted to stay up late knowing you had an early appointment. You knew you should go to bed and get the rest needed to arrive fresh and on time for your appointment. And you have , no doubt, learned the consequences many times. That’s why your better judgment tells you to get some rest. In a case like that there are times when you accidently fall asleep and are so thankful you did.

Other times you get involved in a late night TV show, movie, or book and stay up half the night knowing you will be worthless the next day. So what’s going on? Oh, some psychology and a little stubborn streak maybe but, guess what? It doesn’t matter . All that matters is your action. Go to sleep. Get in bed and rest.

This is often too simple to be taken seriously. Before I was able to stop smoking I spent years playing with the idea. Feeling, thinking, pondering, reading books on the subject and such. That has the potential to ruin your life.

On the day I stopped smoking I still had

• the questions,
• the anxiety,
• the dread
• and the hopeless feeling.

The difference that day? Action. Trust it and you can stop smoking right this minute. I promise this is the big secret.

It is worth a million dollars. It can save your life. And you learned free right here. Don’t discount it just because it is free.

The secret to quitting nicotine? Action.

Pattern interruption is very powerful in behavior modification.

A quick little ritual that works:

These things can be so simple, it’s easy to miss their importance. As you approach your cigarette quit date, it’ s good to narrow down your nicotine fix locations to one or two specific places. It’s also good to have only one ashtray in the house. At the moment you quit (mine was midnight) you should destroy the ashtray. Don’ t go overboard, just do something you will remember. I put my porcelain ashtray in a plastic bag and smashed it with a hammer (outdoors). Then, I took it to a location about a mile from my house and dropped it, along with cigarettes and lighter, in a trash can.

Done.

18 years later I was driving through that town and passed by the exact spot where I dropped the ashtray off. There was still a trash can in the same place. Of course I was glad I had put out that last cigarette and stopped the insidious nicotine addiction.

Experiences like this do a tremendous thing for you on a subtle level. Use this ritual practice your own way. Even if you have already quit and are in maintenance, there are quick little rituals you can do that will help you in a powerful way. No more cigarettes, no more nicotine. Quitsmart — Everything You Need to Break Free from Cigarettes

There I was thinking the Internet spammers were ruining things when I Googled the words: quit smoking. This search reveals a whole new symphony of chaos. I feel emapthy for so many people trying so many things to stop smoking.

My God what a clamoring bunch of pathetic cries in the dark!  But I don’t blame them. It is confusing.

There are more quit smoking programs than you can shake a stick at and most of them are mediocre. I saw one or two that looked OK, and a few blogs of folks in the process of quitting, bless them all, I hope they make it.

The general feeling out there is that a magic pill, gum or patch will do the work for you. Isn’ t that what people want? Magic.

Granted, if used properly some of these aids can help. But first you’ve got to get something straight. You are quitting. Now is the time, nicotine gum or no gum, patch or no patch. When you’ve set your quit date, no amount of last minute foxhole digging will make it magic. You must face yourself. You must go through it and breathe and release and keep going no matter what comes up.Quitsmart — Everything You Need to Break Free from Cigarettes

Shortly after I quit, my Dad died. No magic there. Just a lot of stress and soul searching. And I went through it with no gum or patch or special equipment. I am not fishing for pity here. I am being authentic and saying, “I have been there.”

I find so many programs based on the  ‘spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down’- method. They try to dress up some product so that the external thing, the product , becomes the reason quitting works or does not work. People love that. Many people actually need that and if it helps, go for it. But do not let it replace the depth of your self that is the true decision maker.

“I tried the XYZ method and IT didn’t work.”  Same with all the packaged diets around. The Hollywood Diet, South Beach, Nutra Whatever. Having a packaged name and a box set of supplies does not take the place of facing the moment and going through it. But it does give you an out if things don’t go the way you had hoped. I am not against these products.  My biggest crutch during the quitting process was coffee. It was a real help to me. It is a trigger for others so be careful. (I have since quit coffee and have not had a drop in seven years. ) I just hope you will use them as an aid, not as the answer. Used as a tool, they can be a very real help.

But the bottom line is all about you. I hope this site supports you in an authentic way and gives you the pat on the back you need to keep going. I am in your corner.Quitsmart — Everything You Need to Break Free from Cigarettes

You can find other resources here

The part of you that insists on smoking  or using nicotine does not respond to intelligence. You can read, study and talk about the ins and outs of the habit but it will laugh at your learning.

Meet it where it is. The best thing you can use your mind for is to make it up that you will not smoke. Period.

But get ready because once you make that proclamation, the tricks come tumbling out of you like a bad horror movie. You might feel an undertow giving you signals that it’s time to smoke.

Don’t do it.

Take a walk instead. Walking is not intelligent, it’ s just walking. That meets the habit where it is. You might feel a huge need to have a hand to mouth experience. Eat a lollipop. You might feel anxious and irritable. Go to sleep. Go to bed as early as you need to but do not smoke.

You might feel a strong urge to have that catch in your throat and lungs that inhaling smoke gives you. Breathe deep.

This one is a bit odd but— you might feel too clean, too fresh. Smoking makes you dirty and oily feeling and after awhile that feeling becomes your normal state of being. Feeling the drag that nicotine addiction puts on you.

Learn to be aware of all these things. Meet each feeling where it is by acting at the level the impulse is coming from.

Do not meet them with intelligence. Meet them with action and a witness of the feelings.

That’ s using your intelligence to outsmart itself. Your mind will use all kinds of logic to coax you back to the old familiar way of feeling. Catch it in the act and ease away from it.

Never assume you’ ve got it under control.

How can you tell when your mind is playing tricks? Simple -It leads you closer to smoking. Do not smoke.
Quitsmart — Everything You Need to Break Free from Cigarettes

You are literally creating a new reality for yourself by becoming smoke free. That’s not just exciting in an Up With People way.

It’s astounding in an almost science fiction way. You are changing reality, going from one that is less adequate to one that is more adequate. You do it by making the choice moment by moment and holding to it despite inclinations to go back to the old comfort zone. Those inclinations mean you are making it toward the new way!

The new will become the most comfortable zone and you will be healthier for it. But, you’ve always got a choice.

A Parallel Universe is one that has optional realities going on. This one is best lived smoke free. Choose it and you will bend your life back into its sharpest, most potential.

There is an option right now and it will always be there. You can be smoke free now and think about the road not chosen.

Imagine yourself with both options.

1. How it would be as a smoker–temporary comfort that ends in coughing and hacking, addiction and lower esteem.

2. And free from smoke. Better health, a more natural eco system in your body, that addiction no more, and higher self esteem.

The ticket to your Parallel Universe is in your hands regardless of how much you would like to think of yourself as a victim. Take charge of your actions. It is a big responsibility to stop nicotine and the smoking habit. You can handle it.Quitsmart — Everything You Need to Break Free from Cigarettes

What are the effects of Nicotine? You feel the vacancy of being without smoking and you just want things to get back to normal. The quickest way is to smoke and put this quitting thing off until another day. Don’ t buy that load of crap. It’s good to re-think the meaning of normal. Smoking is anything but normal. It is an absolute horror. Experts estimate that one third of all cancers are caused by tobacco products. If a public menace like that was a ‘bad guy’ or a sect of people there would be rioting in the streets about it!
Quitsmart — Everything You Need to Break Free from Cigarettes

As long as you are smoking you are nowhere near the balanced, healthy person you can be. Celebrities Johnny Carson, Yule Brenner and Walt Disney all smoked and tried to quit. They wanted to quit so they could be back to normal to the ‘healthy self’ they knew they had once been. All three of them died from smoking related illnesses and none of them wanted to die that way.

We know enough today to stop this awful plague on our friends, loved ones and relatives. It starts with you. Be decisive. Do not allow yourself to be on the fence about this. You must be immoveable in your resolve to keep moving forward. The price you are paying now is more than worth it. You are regaining your physical health– the positive effects of quitting nicotine start within hours. You are regaining control of your life. You are giving a gift to others, a gift of yourself, your example and your commitment. You are sharing your insight as only you can. You are unique, not a statistic. You are a valuable vessel of creativity. Respect it. You are intelligent. Use your smarts to understand this thing and relax into freedom. You are loyal to family, friends and associates. Prove it. You are full of life! Expand it! You are the boss of your life. Enjoty the effects of living free of nicotine. Do not allow an insidious drug and habit to trample you. You are a good person. Let this new way of living be an external expression of the overwhelmingly positive life force in you. That is normal.Quitsmart — Everything You Need to Break Free from Cigarettes

It Might Be A Year Until You Quit.  That could be a fact. In the meantime you can do some things to get ready. The main thing to remember is awareness. If you are still smoking, always be conscious of when and how you smoke. Use extra filters, and change brands so you won’ t settle in and make it a rooted part of your life. Use only one ashtray and force yourself to take it from room to room. Avoid smoking after meals or when you are anxious. Make yourself wait. Smoking is a major cause of house fires. That fact does little to deter smoking because the habit is so pervasive that unless you launch an all out attack on it you will always have trouble stopping.

This is not a doomsday notice, just the facts.
Quitsmart — Everything You Need to Break Free from Cigarettes

If you are still smoking you need to do every little thing you can to uproot the routines and rituals that keep it in place. So, if you have not stopped smoking yet, there are plenty of things you can do to prepare for when you do quit. Most habits are strong because they meet four criteria: Personal, Physical, Social, and Systems. You need to uproot each of those to break a habit. 

Personal. Your own inner take on stopping smoking. 

Physical- brain chemistry and body functions. Stopping nicotine addiction. 

Social- others do it. 

Systems- The regular use, like clockwork. Break all four and you can get free of smoking. Start by doing little things that will break those four areas up. Here’ s how it looks to act on these:

Personal: affirmations of being smoke free.

Physical: cut down- use quit aids; chew gums, exercise, sleep

Social- Hang out with the non-smokers. Become aware of your circle of friends and relatives and their degree influence on you.

Systems. Note how your personal smoking system works. Journal it. That will build awareness. Get as much control of your system as possible by delegating only one ashtray and getting rid of the typical accessories of smoking. Always pick up your butts from the ground or sidewalk. Favorite lighter? Get rid of it. Think of five other things you can do. Write them down and do them.

You are better than smoking. It might take time but work on it as a real expression of your worth. Quitsmart — Everything You Need to Break Free from Cigarettes