Cognitive Quit Smoking

1. As an ex-smoker I do want to smoke but I want to stop smoking even more.
Cravings are the only alternative to smoking. It’s a small price to pay for
freedom, better health and peace of mind.
2. Just because I want to smoke, it doesn’t mean I have to. I can choose not to
act on the feeling.
3. I am always free to smoke. If I’m not smoking it’s because I’m choosing not
to, not because I can’t.
4. “I’m choosing to stop” defuses resistance and lets me feel free and strong
about not smoking.
5. I deal with this problem one day at a time. I will decide tomorrow what I
will do tomorrow. I can handle not smoking for this moment and the next five
minutes.
6. I am not someone who can just smoke occasionally. Knowing that it’s unlikely
to be just one puff, or just one cigarette, helps me think twice before lighting
up.

7. I want to stop smoking more than I want to smoke. I can smoke if I want but I
don’t have to. My options are to experience this craving now or go back to
smoking.
8. Think about what’s more important. Then each decision to not smoke becomes a
little easier. Eventually it becomes easy and natural.
9. Being an ex-smoker means accepting desires to smoke. I just relax my body and
let the desire wash over me like a wave. I let it stay as long as it wants and
go on about my business while it’s there.
10. I cannot be a happy smoker. Smoking is so anti-life and so contrary to my
personal value
11. Success does not mean NOT having problems or difficulty. These feelings and
issues are a normal part of stopping smoking and I can face and work through
them in a positive way.
12. When I start to think in hopeless or defeatist terms, I am not only
endangering my abstinence - I am thinking unrealistically. There is nothing
wrong with me. There is no reason I cannot successfully stop smoking. I can do
it and I am doing it.
13. Today I will live my life just as I normally would. I will do anything I
would do as a smoker. No matter where I am or what is going on around me, I am
capable of not smoking.
14. I always have a choice. One of the big secrets of stopping smoking is doing
it one moment at a time. I can always handle not smoking for one moment.
15. Desires to smoke are not threats to be avoided. They are opportunities to
practice making decisions. And the more you practice, the easier not smoking
gets.
16. I want to remember what smoking was really like - the shame, the guilt, the
lack of control, the physical deterioration and the obsession to stop.
17. As a smoker, I spent years concocting elaborate lies to justify doing
something I knew wasn’t in my best interest. My abstinence depends on struggling
to think honestly.
18. I may want to smoke sometimes but there is no reason to be afraid of that
feeling. It is just a feeling and can never make me do anything. I will NOT be
afraid of cravings. I am perfectly free to NOT act on them.
19. My commitment to stopping smoking is not just a desire for better breathing.
It is a choice to be open to what is inside me and around me. It is a
willingness to experience life without a cushion.
20. There is no free lunch. Anything worth having requires effort. To
successfully control my addiction, I need to accept moments of craving and make
a decision to forego instant gratification for the greater long-term
satisfaction. I can welcome this as a worthwhile task freely chosen.
21. It’s when I want the whole problem to just be gone - when I want magic -
that I get into trouble. I will try to remember that moments of difficulty are
perfectly normal in stopping smoking and take those moments in stride.
22. There is no situation, stress or craving which can make me smoke. I am
capable of maintaining my abstinence no matter what is happening inside me or
around me. Nothing can make me smoke except me.
23. I feel confident about my ability to deal with my smoking problem but I must
never forget I have that problem.
24. Smoking, like other addictions, has an anaesthetizing effect. My commitment
to stopping smoking is also a commitment to be engaged with life.
25. Today I will not take the easy way out that leads to despair. Today I will
do the hard thing that leads to joy.
26. Stopping smoking is a rewarding adventure. I feel excited and happy. So far,
so good. I can do this as long as I want. I feel optimistic and confident.
27. Nothing damages self-esteem like smoking does. Most smokers say it is the
single thing in their lives they feel worst about. Stopping brings security,
confidence and happiness.
28. An addiction does not break itself. There is work I need to do and the more
aggressively I do it, the more quickly the difficulty will be overcome.
29. A bad self-image is a self-fulfilling prophecy. To expect failure, is to
ensure failure. Part of stopping smoking is reformulating my self-image to
incorporate the possibility of success.
30. I want to smoke and I want to stop smoking. My conflict about which is more
important is the major difficulty in this process. Resolving this conflict is my
primary goal. The more I think about my priorities the more I will reaffirm that
I want to stop smoking.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 12th, 2003 at 7:21 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.