Absolutely. I’d like to explain the cognitive quitting view of that
connection….
Shortly after we started smoking we became addicted to nicotine and and
started to experience withdrawal between each cigarette. Withdrawal
includes increasing muscle tension, changes in breathing, shifts in
mood/emotion, and difficulty thinking or concentrating. These are universal
symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. One smoker may feel it sooner than another
or one may feel it more intensely than another, but every smoker deals with
these symptoms of withdrawal. It didn’t take any of us long to click to the
understanding that lighting up relieved the discomfort of withdrawal. That
was the beginning of our nicotine addiction, the fluctuating nicotine level
and our understanding of what was needed to remain comfortable.
After some period of time we responded to the onset of withdrawal by

automatically lighting up. Our auto pilot, or Warren, took over and ‘we’
didn’t have to be so consciously involved. Here’s where our nicotine
addiction became our smoking habit…. routine everyday events like
hunger, boredom, fatigue, or anger to name only a few, ‘feel’ just like
nicotine withdrawal. They all include some element of muscle tension,
changes in breathing, thinking or concentration, and shifts in mood or
emotion. And every time we begin to feel the onset of those sensations, our
auto pilot says “Smoke, that’s how we’ve always dealt with these
sensations”. As a side note, we’re hardwired to listen to our auto pilot
simply because the auto pilot works for our survival. That’s why it’s
almost impossible to win an argument with him/her. But the point I’m making
here is that the way we’re “joined to” smoking is through a pattern of
behavior where we respond to specific body cues with one very established
response, smoking.
The cognitive quitting program is designed to, first, make you very aware
of what cues your body is sending, to put you back where you were when you
first began to smoke and associated a cigarette to what you were feeling.
That’s done with the timer exercise. Next we’ll take the timer notes and
use them to prepare for upcoming situations. This is a critical step in
that retraining the auto pilot means having responses ready for him/her
before he/she needs them. Otherwise, the autopilot makes the old
association and we have to play a catch up game of rerouting the old
response. But that’s something we’ll get into as soon as you’ve worked
with your timer for a couple of days.
I hope this has clarified a question or two. And if it’s raised more
questions, great. Ask them and we’ll work toward answering them and getting
you solidly and permanently quit.
Steve