Timer Data to ABCs
If you’ve done the Timer Exercise then you’ve got a data base of ’slices’
of your life at hourly intervals. The time intervals are an hour apart
isn’t all that important. What is important is that each ’slice’ includes
the following info:
1- time
2- event
3- smoking situation (yes or no)
4- emotions/conditions (happy, sad, bored, etc and/or tired, hungry, cold, etc)
5- physical sensations (body cues)
6- rational response (how to deal with the body cues in a non smoking way)
One example of a timer entry might be:
1- 10 am
2- break time at work
3- yes
4- been a busy morning so I’m feeling a bit frazzled, a bit fatigued
5- tension in shoulders and neck, overall feeling of ‘weakness’, maybe a
bit of overall anxiety
6- fruit or fruit juice or some other nutritionally balanced snack, a
couple minutes of stretching and deep breathing, a short walk around,
If the ‘break at work’ is a situation that’s always included smoking, then
lets say that the ‘break at work’ is a situation where you’ve always
behaved a particular way. An ABC is a tool to graphically illustrate
behavior where A is the activating event, B is the self talk or belief
system about A, and C is the consequent response based entirely on B.
Since the smoking behavior is a response to some body cue or cues, here’s
how we’d use the above timer entry to prepare an ABC for tomorrow’s ‘break
at work’….
A - my body is feeling: tension in shoulders and neck, overall
weakness/sluggishness
B - in the past I’m have smoked a cigarette to relieve these sensations.
instead, tomorrow I can take a few minutes to do some shoulder and neck
stretches to release the tension in those muscles, I can do some deep
breathing to relax and clear my head, some fruit or a healthy snack (which
I prepared the night before because I knew I’d be in this situation) to
refuel my body and keep me energized till lunch.
C - I choose to do some stretching, breathing, and a quick healthy snack.
You’re A is whatever physical sensations were noted. The B is however you
decided you could best address those physical cues in a non smoking way.
And your C is whatever you decide to do, usually some restatement of
elements in B.
Try it with some of your timer ’slices’. If you’re having trouble, post
your problematic ’slice’ here and we’ll help you. Or if you’d rather, email
either Pam or I. If you haven’t done the Timer Exercise, what are you
waiting for? Start it and we’ll help you.
Steve