Santa Claus Made me smoke - Ian Clark helped me quit by Ian Clark

Smoking is often merely a conditioned reflex. Certain situations, such as coming out of the subway, beginning and ending work, voluntary and involuntary interruptions of work, feelings of hunger, and many others regulate the timetable of smoking. Often a smoker may not even want a cigarette particularly, but he will see someone else take one and then he feels that he must have one, too.

While to many people smoking is fun, and a reward in itself, it more often accompanies other pleasures. At meals, a cigarette is somewhat like another course. In general, smoking introduces a holiday spirit into everyday living. It rounds out other forms of enjoyment and makes them one hundred per cent satisfactory.

The Reality

A reward of slow suffocation, is it perhaps that we do not like ourselves enough to want to damage the very thing that carries us through life. In some cases it is like the experiment that was carried out in the 1960's. It was called the Great Marshmallow experiment. It involved 100 4-6 year olds, they were individually placed in a room with 2 way mirrors. The tester would then place a single marshmallow in front on the child and tell them that he had to leave the room for a few minutes, if they did not eat the sweet, on his return they would receive 3 marshmallows as reward. 75 of the children ate the marshmallow almost as soon

as the tester left the room. This experiment proved a human craving for instant reward. The same applies to smoking, It is instant and anything that happens after you smoke a cigarette seems to have no bearing on the last one but creates a need for the next one.

The first cigarette of the day is linked closely to the amount of anxiety you feel. The morning is the time when you are thinking about what is going to take place that day. The journey to work, will I be late, will I survive the busy roads. What will happen when I arrive at work, will my boss be in a good mood. Will there be work that is too difficult for me or will there be too much to do and not enough time. Most people will have run through their whole day before they even leave the house. This instils anxiety and because of the misunderstanding that exists in your mind about real and artificial anxiety created by the last cigarette you feel destined to smoke.

The last one at night is another myth. I used to think that I could not go to sleep without my cigarette but what was I thinking. Nicotine which is primarily a stimulant, was never going to be a calming agent, all it did was increase my breathing to cope with the lack of oxygen that in turn released endorphins that in turn made me tense. Not only that but all the carbon monoxide in my blood was slowly poisoning me. No wonder I woke up every morning with a headache and no wonder I thought I felt so bad because I needed another cigarette. Once you quit you will sleep soundly, you will wake refreshed. As life intended it to be.

The issue of mealtimes is a strange one for me, I too would have agreed with the statement above regarding a cigarette being like another course however I now know differently.

What could be nicer than eating your favourite food and then being able to savour and taste it for a long time after eating it. When you smoke all you are doing is replacing that lovely experience with the rancid taste of cigarettes. It seems to me that for any smoker having a meal is an inconvenience and the food is somehow just in the way. All you want to do is get the food out of the way to get to the cigarette. It does not enhance a meal it destroys it. Then there is the matter of waiting for everyone to finish before lighting up and even then you may have to leave the table and your company and have a cigarette, missing conversation and enjoyment all for a selfish act like smoking.

Go to Page 1

BIO:

I have been helping people quit smoking for over 2 years through my book and support website at http://www.fullstop-smoking. I am married with one daughter.
You can purchase the full book at the website

Some Aditional Articles you may enjoy

Breast Cancer Cure With The Power Of Fame by Denny Armstrong

The Best Time to Quit Smoking Is Now by Keith Forster

Redeeming Unsaturated Fat by Protica Research

8 real life energy boosting secrets you can use today by Charlotte Anthony

Sugar Lovers Beware by Rino Soriano

Click a Number to go to an article index page
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39