Cognitive Quit Smoking

I read and occasionally post at About.com’s Smoking Cessation Forum,
and this is something I posted today to someone who’s really
struggling at the moment to deal with all the emotions that are
surfacing since she recently quit. Thought it might help here:-
” Hi Seraphim,
I haven’t been posting much recently, but I’ve been following how
you’re getting on. I too realised how tackling my smoking behaviour
went a lot deeper than simply stopping smoking. It uncovered so much.
I posted to Mystry earlier about this, about the connections between
feelings/emotions/sensations and cigarettes.
Firstly as a smoker we light up to deal with the feelings of
withdrawal - irritable, antsy, tense feelings. A quick ‘hit’ soon
sorts that out. Subsequently other irritable, antsy, tense feelings
caused by other things - traffic delays, a row with the significant
other/kids, a difficult boss - get ‘treated’ with the same solution
(more…)

I mentioned before that it’s been a `tricky few days’. This is what
happened..
Nearly 9 months quit and everything was running on smoothly. Toolbox
in place, cognitive thinking honed and ready, ticking away quietly
and efficiently in the background.
But some events this week seemed to throw me. We all have lousy
times, that’s life and I’m no different. What happened isn’t that
relevant here, but some old associations with cigs popped back into
mind, and they bothered me, and I needed to understand why it had
happened. I emailed Steve:-
“It’s been a pretty stressful few days with some domestic stuff to
deal with. For reasons I can’t work out, old associations between
handling the stress and having a cig came back and I wish I could
work out why. This hasn’t happened in so long any clues as to why
that could have happened? It’s a bit like asking `how long is a piece
(more…)

Morning all.
Lynne, sorry things didn’t go well for you.
Cat, thanks for posting your “Thanksgiving ABC’s”. You’ve given me some
ideas.
Steve, thanks for the chat last week. It’s amazing that just talking it out
with you made a huge difference. My attention span is still no more that 30
minutes long, but I can just recognize what is happening, stretch, take a
deep breath and get back to what I was doing.
I’ll just keep working on sorting out my feelings, which seems to be the
hardest part for me.
Char

Sat nite, 2:00 a.m.
Hi, how is everyone? Indi, hope you’re enjoying your granddaughter.
Pam, glad you’re feeling better, I know that the past week has been
rough for you, sending good thoughts your way. Lynne, I was thinking
about you today and hoping that you were reaching inside yourself and
pulling out that strength that you know is there. Kalah, you too, hope
that you’re dealing with your internal storms. Steve, what a beautiful
day today here, hope it was up there for you too (maybe a little kite
flying weather?). Hey, hi to Mardi, Ann, and Char too, and Sue where
are you? Oh, yea, and Pat, I’ve got your journal all ready to read
during my trip for inspiration (and to knock some sense into me if I
start gettin antsy).
I had a great day despite the cravings. Don’t exactly know where they
came from, I just know that they came up on me a number of times today.
I think that maybe it was because I got out and did things that I used
(more…)

Hi
Tomorrow is going to be my quit day. It will be really difficult as
I will be at work all day and surrounded by smoke, but deep down I
know it is something I have to do, for me, and if I can get through
tomorrow then I can get through anything.
I really want to quit for the children I am hoping to adopt, so,
Steve, I will probably really need your help here.
Thanks
Lynne

Hi All
Guess what I found out how to get in this page from work - hee hee
naughty, naughty so now I can read and post whenever the boss goes
out.
Just a little update on how last night went. I got really stressed
and this is where Steve’s ‘feelings’ thing comes in so forgive me if
I ramble and try to get things into perspective.
Steve - remember what I said about the feelings in my nose, throat
and top of my chest -well since last night and really practising and
trying to be aware of what is going on in my body I reckon all those
feelings could be associated with ’stress’..
I noticed them come on about half way through the day and I was
feeling allsorts of emotions so now I can associate them with my
automatic junkie thinking I guess I can deal with them a bit better.
This morning I woke up with the feeling (or at least it came on very
(more…)

Hey Kalah
Welcome and congratulations on your committment to your quit - you are
definately in a good place hear and the only way on now is up - so thank you
for your post and be as verbose as you feell like being - can’t beat cat
though cos she can be verbose for England and US love her to bits really -
well done on your smoke free time so now you are a non smoker and just have
to think how to deal with your hermy when it is tellying you - go on one wont
hurt.
Namaste
Indi

Hi Steve
Sorry I vanished last night, but I have sent you an e-mail to explain.
Lynne

OK, I’m going to kill a few birds with one stone because I read over
the past few days’ posts again because I have a really hard time
retaining information unless I input it into my celebrum a few times -
well, ok, I admit it, I’m lucky if I retain 5% of it but hopefully I
retain the useful information.
As for Steve’s comment: “Speaking of eating properly, at last count,
most of this list is female. Some of you are mothers (in the maternal
sense). Did any of you moms ever feed your kids only one meal a day?
Would you even let them get away with one meal a day? So why are you
ding this to yourselves? What kind of moms are you?? (did I play that
guilt card correctly?)”
Nice try, Steve, but you will NEVER get as good at the Guilt Trip Aimed
At A Loved One as a mother.
This brought up another thought. Yes, we pretty much are all females
in this group. Where are all the guys, I wondered? Then it hit me, so
(more…)

Foundation statements are a set of statements that are true all the time,
anytime, and regardless of what emotions we may be feeling. The following
questions will help define those statements:
1- Is this a calm, rational moment when I can ask myself some questions.
Can I answer these questions honestly without the answers being
influenced by any emotion or physical sensation? If the answer is ‘yes’
continue, otherwise create a more appropriate time.
2- Do I want to be a smoker? (meaning do I want to respond to my life by
lighting up?). If the answer is ‘no’ continue. Otherwise, I should examine
why I’m trying to do something I don’t really want to be doing.
3- Having stated that “I don’t want to be a smoker.”, can I think of any
exceptions? Don’t confuse the desire to relieve discomfort (a perfectly
normal and natural desire) with the thought that a cigarette is the
appropriate tool for relief. The question here is simply, “Is a
cigarette ever
(more…)