I think I’m starting to get the hang of this
Maybe I’m not too bright but I had a hard time at first with the
lists and seeing the relevance.I still haven’t posted my lists. I
guess I’m shy. LOL. I just wanted to say that I’m finally catching
on, yippee. I’m already implementing other responses to situations
and I wanted to mention something I’ve been doing and see if anyone
has any feedback on it. Every time I do smoke now, I try to make it
as unenjoyable, or painful, as possible. for example: standing in the
cold rain, or in cold water. Picturing my lungs all black and
disgusting. Even snapping myself hard with a rubber band every time I
take a drag. Now I’m not masochistic folks, but I want to associate
this horrible addiction to pain only, not pleasure and so far it
seems to be helping.I haven’t had more than 3 drags off any one cig
in a couple days and I’m down from 20-25 a day to maybe 5 or 6. I
hope I don’t scare anyone with my tactics here. I just thought I’d
share and see what kind of feedback I get. Thanks and I hope everyone
is having a great weekend! SandyL
January 28th, 2006 at 12:35 pm
Hi SandyL,
Sandy, you sort of lost me there… are the “other responses” you’re
implementing the ‘rubber band’ and ‘black lung’ visualization
techniques? I know that some people use aversion techniques. The problem
with them most of the time is that they only work while you have something
to be averse to. Meaning… it’s hard to be bothered by your black lungs
if you’ve been quit several months and know your lungs are clearing. At
that stage ‘one won’t hurt’ is almost a reasonable argument since one isn’t
going to blacken your lungs the way they are now. That’d take going back to
full fledged smoking…. right? Using pain as a motivator is a very short
term tool. We humans just aren’t wired to remember pain. We can remember
that we were *in* pain, but we can’t *feel* past pain. Hence the expression
“pain has a short memory”.
At the risk of belaboring a point, I’m reposting something written a
while back regarding “Why Recognize the Physical?” Sandy this repost goes
right to the question of the relevance of the lists.
Today someone asked me “Why is it so important to recognize our
physical and emotional feelings?”. The short answer is that it was only
physical cues that ‘told’ us when it was time to light up. The longer
answer is that within 20-30 minutes of putting out a cigarette, most
smokers will begin to experience the onset of nicotine withdrawal. That
withdrawal is defined by very specific physical symptoms: muscle tension
(perceived as anxiety), shallow breathing, an increasing inability to
concentrate or think clearly (this is physical in that a smokers ability to
concentrate is largely dependant on nicotine level).
When we became regular smokers and had become addicted to nicotine, we
learned quickly that a cigarette would immediately relieve the onset of
withdrawal. Within a short time, it had became automatic in that the most
subtle experience of the physical sensations associated with withdrawal
triggered the ‘light up’ thoughts. So what we had was Warren trained that
‘tense muscles, shallow breathing, difficulty thinking’ = ‘light up a
cigarette’. Lighting up and smoking a cigarette is an appropriate and valid
action when a smokers nic level has dropped and withdrawal has begun.
Take a look at the following very normal situations:
Detox or Withdrawal between cigarettes- tense muscles, shallow breathing,
reduced ability to thing clearly.
Anger- usually experienced as muscle tension, shallow rapid breathing, a
reduced ability to think clearly.
Boredom- slouched posture or physical inactivity resulting in muscular
discomfort, shallow inefficient breathing, mental fog.
Meals- The body is, at it’s most simple, a biological machine. It needs to
be fueled properly and in a timely manner. Skipped meals, waiting more than
4-5 hrs between meals, improper or poorly balanced meals result in muscles
that are fatigued and uncomfortable, abdominal discomfort, a brain that
isn’t functioning to par.
Fatigue- Whether the result of poor sleep or of an extended period of work
(mental and/or physical), fatigue results in muscle
tension/ache/discomfort and some degree of mental sluggishness.
Notice that
1-these 5 common emotions and conditions are ‘defined’ in terms of physical
sensations.
2- in each case the physical sensations are very close in nature if not
identical and where they differ is only by degrees of intensity.
3- that as smokers, and too often as quitters, we are initially unaware of
the physical element and even when it becomes so intense as to demand our
attention, we NEVER look at the source of the physical sensation to
determine an appropriate response.
I think these 3 points are pretty much what the smoking habit is all
about… i’s a core belief that lighting up is a correct response to
whatever we are ‘feeling’ and it’s failure to be aware of and examine BOTH
the belief AND the source of the feelings.
Having taken the long way around, the reason it’s “so important to
recognize our physical and emotional feelings” is so that we can be aware
of them in a timely manner and examine their source. As soon as we begin to
do that, how we’ll respond becomes an intelligent choice rather than an
automatic and involuntary action.
An urge to smoke can not exist in the same space as an urge to stretch
some tense muscles when the stretching is what makes sense.
Hope this helped someone,
Steve
January 29th, 2006 at 10:20 am
Hi Sandy,
Excellent. Those are exactly the things to do to retrain Warren.
However, I can see where you’d have a problem with…
As long as you’ve got an active chemical addiction you’ll be dealing
with the physical withdrawal that occurs when your nicotine level falls
below comfortable. In that situation, there is no response other than
lighting up that makes sense. If your body is uncomfortable because it’s
nicotine deprived, giving it a dose of nic is the only ‘appropriate’
response and everything else is going to appear ‘inappropriate’.
You’ve cut down considerably (I think you said 5 or 6 down from 20+?)
as a result of dealing with the cigs that were more behavior than nicotine
need. I have a feeling that as soon as you step off the chemical
need/feed cycle and get past detox, your quit will be fairly smooth sailing.
Steve