Cognitive Quit Smoking

or “when all else fails…”
I had a bad moment today - the worst since I started. But I learned
something very important about foundation statements, so it was worth it.
I went for my normal morning walk/jog and felt rather listless.. then
to do morning chores for the horses. Half way through doing the
horses, on total automatic pilot, a thought came steaming into my
mind…. “you’ll feel better if you have a cigarette” WHAT! I then
had this long dialogue with myself “yes I probably would feel better,
did it really matter, what the hell, I could just have one so where
are they.. etc.etc”.
I was still on automatic pilot. Finally I woke up enough to think
about my foundation statement and decide that even if it would have
made me feel better (which it wouldnt have), I had declared to myself
I wouldn’t smoke.. It was hard. PHEW
Then of course, I realised that, at the time the initial thought had
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Hello there.
I have decided that from 7.pm tonight I will no longer smoke.
I have failed so many times in the past, but so want to succeed
this time, so please bear with me.
I am reading, reading and re-reading all that is relevant.
I know the pitfalls, but this time, I really do want to succeed.

21 today!
This email is a celebration of my first 21 days as a non smoker. In
the UK, the age 21 has a special significance as a “coming of age” -
and I feel like I am just starting to “be-come ” a non smoker (amongst
many other things).
I am returning to myself.
I have so many things to be thankful for and I feel just bursting
with “thankfulness”. As Clarissa Pinkola Estes says* “we marvel that
we could be so lucky to have another chance”
1. I feel gloriously alive and full of energy. Today I jogged a mile
with my dog in the shell pink frosty breaking dawn. 4 weeks ago I
could hardly walk this far, as I had aching legs and sore knees.
2. I feel much more in touch with who I am as a person. Whilst at
times the emotions and feelings and physical sensations have been
quite “interesting” I am welcoming them as a part of who I really am,
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Hello everyone! I have been <blush
and have not posted previously. Pam “hinted” in a response Carol’s
plea for other new members to talk to that there were “lurkers” out
there who might come forward. I thought I’d throw her a crumb! I haven’t quit yet–made some half hearted attempts, but I had a
free case of smokes from a distributor and was unwilling to toss
them as I was afraid I’d fail and then on a limited budget have to
start buying them again. Well, they are gone and I’m feeling the
pain and the shame. My husband is a waaay bigger smoker than me and
he has made very respectable attempts. (up to 6 months at a time)
and having me smoke–although not around him, hasn’t helped. He
quit again today and I’m sure that he is frustrated that I’ve never
made a solid attempt, but he’d never say anything because he
believes it HAS to come from within.
I use smoking as a reward (ha!) or break for everything. It’s my
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Just ignore my previous post if you thought it confusing or contrary
to the cogquit program - as I replied to Pam (off-line!) that it was
not my intention because I think the cogquit program is just great
as it is….
Question on physical stuff. Have people found that they record all
their physical sensations or only those that might relate to stress,
(as per The List)? At the moment I have a headachey cold and am
finding it difficult to move beyond “feel feverish, head is aching,
neck is stiff” etc. Which seem to be incidental to the need to
smoke? But are not incidental to life as a whole I guess. But the
other day, when I was thinking about my toes, I realised they were
tired and sort of scrunched up after exercise. Is that type of
thing a relevant thing to put down?

Hi there,
I am fed up with my constantly stopping and starting smoking.
I have been doing this for the last 15 years.
I manage well to begin with, then something happens, and then I
relapse yet again.
My longest time was 3 and a half years, I didn’t like the smell of
cigarettes, the thought of lighting a cigarette make me feel sick,
but big stressors in my life, led me to start smoking again.
Please, can anybody out there help

Steve and I have just been chatting he is on his way out of town,
and did not have time to post himself, but asked me to say a few
words about the cognitive quitting approach, and post it to the
group.
This programme has evolved over the past 8 yrs into a very
successful cognitive quitting programme it isn’t theory, but a
proven method of quitting smoking. We keep it simple its not to
say its easy, but it’s highly effective. We follow a structured
programme of work, as I described in an earlier post today.
Some of you have experience/training in other approaches in areas of
psychotherapy etc, using different techniques eg using verbal
imagery, chanting etc., and in their context I am sure they are
valuable. This group, however, is focussed on cognitive quitting,
specifically on Steve’s programme. I would ask you to keep `on
topic’, and carry on other discussions off- list, and keep
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A quickie (supposed to be working)..
Do you experinced people find it helps actually to commit your ABCs to
paper? (I guess I mean where they are new ones?)
I’m noticing over the past couple of days that if I work on an ABC in
my head the thoughts can continue whizzing round like a hamster in a
wheel, whereas if I start writing it- even if it becomes a semistream
of consciousness as I work throguh the thoughts- it all clarifies
itself and the answers become obvious. Maybe its just me, with brain
working to fast…(or the effects of quitting, meaning I can’t think
straight without writing?)
carol

Steve and I urge all you new quitters to work hard on the timer exercises to help you get more in touch with what you’re experiencing (ie physical sensations). Sooo……I thought it would be a useful exercise for me to practice instead of preach! I’m going to ‘do the work’ myself for a couple of days and post my results here. I’ll include some observations on how I find I’m addressing any physical discomforts, plus any other useful information. Having ‘done the work’ myself when I first quit, I certainly became a lot more in tune with myself physically and found that Warren dealt with things without me having to give it conscious thought, but it’ll be interesting (to me anyway) to see if I uncover anything else.

Pam

I haven’t made any promises to myself about stopping smoking, but I
did decide to start doing the timer exercise (again). Am paying much
more attention to the “rational response” part—had let that part go
last time thinking it was something I was supposed to be working on
later. Didn’t really get how to do it previously—learned alot from
Carol. Just some observations so far:
1) glad I’m doing this while I’m still smoking because it’s so
obvious to me that I really can’t come up with any rational response
if I’m needing a cigarette—even when I fully intend to have one
right after making the log entry and even if it’s only been 1 1/2 hrs
since the last. Just can’t think at all—the urge drowns out any
thought other than “have one now”.
2) Not surprised at how tired I am most of the time, but aware of it
more consciously and acting more often to take care of it by sitting
or even laying down for awhile.
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