Helpful Hints For quitting Smoking

As I thought about helpful hints for quitting smoking this week I could not help but think of my dad, who passed away last week. Now he did not pass away from lung cancer, nor did he smoke any of the days that I ever knew him. However what I could see was that the last few years of his life had been very much bereft of the joy of living.

As I watched my dad in his last years I saw a weary, dreary life. Songs and jokes he had once loved to spout were gone from him. His ability to do skits and act in silly ways was no longer present. Even the food he had once greatly enjoyed had lost its flavor inside of his illnesses. He was, in short, deprived of all that he loved in life.

Now it may seem odd to talk about this in a blog entitled "Helpful Hints for Quitting Smoking." So I will tell you that I consider this blog to be more along the lines of an inquiry- and I do not have all the answers.

No, I never claimed to be the world's foremost specialist on quitting smoking- if there is such a person. But I am pretty highly trained in why people do what they do, and how people can shift that. And I know a heck of a lot about addiction. And that is all very well and good, but neither I nor anyone else can quit smoking for you, no matter how much we know.

So as an inquiry, I mull over the fact that my dad had in some ways lost his heart and soul, and in fact his will to live. Now it is true that he struggled about leaving the rest of us behind. But in the final analysis, his will to be 'done with it all' won out.

And also as an inquiry I have to wonder how much success a person would have in quitting smoking if he or she were not very happy in life. I have to think that if there is terminal upset, chronic pain or sadness around one's life, or if one is in some unhappy situation, the drive to fulfill some background desire to end it all might be quite strong. And smoking is certainly a socially acceptable way to do it without looking like you are.

Now I certainly do not say that all people who smoke have a death wish. I know too much about the emotional and physical pull of an addiction to ever say something so simplistic. However if you do smoke and you want to quit, it would seem to be smart inquire into your will to live and your life circumstances. Because without a strong desire to stay on this planet, all of your efforts may be null and void.

My dad, before he became so desperately ill, had a strong love of life and a high level of happiness no matter what his situation was. You can have that too. You can begin to do this by being honest with yourself about the true state of your happiness and then taking the steps to live a life you love. This in turn will increase your will to live. As you do that you can also be using Hypnosis or Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or some other tool to help you to quit smoking. Taken together, I would see this as a good formula. Now living a life of happiness can seem to be a bit elusive. However, it is a subject I speak about in my other blogs, so visit them as well, and they should be a help.

Visit my links above for Quit Smoking Right Now- Neuro-Linguistic Programming- a great tool. And also for an amazing book about food addiction called "Weight Loss: How to Keep Your Commitment."

Have you tried a million helpful hints for quitting smoking?

Long term smokers often wonder why they cannot quit. They wonder what makes them keep smoking, insanely, in the face of very probable lung cancer, and a long-drawn-out, painful death. This same question baffles most people, smokers and non-smokers alike.

Well let me clue you in that you are not crazy or insane, but rather it has been determined that nicotine is one of the most, if not the most, addictive substances on earth.

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.

Now you might be inclined to believe, as most of us do, that one of the best helpful hints for quitting smoking is to taper off slowly. Again from an addiction standpoint, this is bad news. You see as you become addicted to nicotine, and many other drugs, your body grows receptors to handle the influx of huge amounts of the substance. These receptors will never go away and the only thing they do is long for, and receive, the drug. If they don't get what they want, they will eventually slow down and stop screaming for the drug. So going cold turkey can have its benefits if you can last out the process.

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.

For more help in this and many other areas,, click my links above