Every smoker knows that cigarettes are killing them. But even though we want to, even though we know we should, we still can’t stop.
If you’re like most smokers, there’s a side to you that says that you would like to stop smoking – and there’s a side that says, “What? Stop smoking? Are you crazy? I can’t!”
In fact, 70% of American smokers report that they would love to stop smoking – if it wasn’t so difficult for them to live a smoke-free life.
Take it from someone who has had 35 years of first hand experience trying to stop, a typical smoker has made several attempts to stop in the past, only to end up smoking again. It happens all the time. Of the 70% that report they want to quit, half of them will make a serious attempt again this year - and fully 97% of all the cold-turkey attempts will ultimately end in failure.
A three percent success rate isn’t very high, is it? So why is it so hard to stop - and to stay stopped for good?
The biggest obstacle that keeps most smokers from stopping is largely the result of powerful conditioned responses that, over time, our mind has learned to accept. What I mean is that when we feel stressed out, we have conditioned our mind to believe that smoking a cigarette will calm us down – or -- when we feel tired, we have taught our mind to believe that smoking a cigarette will wake us up and help us focus.
Now stop and think about that for a moment. How can the same cigarette calm us down sometimes and yet energize us at other times? It’s just not possible! What we have done over time is to constantly reinforce these conditioned responses or habits and turned them into our beliefs even though they are not true. Have you ever heard yourself say something like, "Quitting is way too hard, I just don't think I will ever be able to stop…or… I want a cigarette sooo bad, I won't be able to think straight until I get one?"
What your mind is doing is basically asking your body to crave a cigarette, and to make yourself believe that you can't think straight until you get one! In fact, there is a little piece of your mind that will constantly try to trick you into smoking. And here’s how it works: Your mind convinces you that nicotine withdrawal is unbearable and that stopping smoking is not worth the discomfort and effort you’re going to go through. It creates a fear inside you that you will never be able to enjoy another moment again without being able to smoke.
Then your mind creates what seems to be really good reasons for starting smoking again…”I can’t afford to gain any weight so I better not stop smoking till after the holidays”…or… “Now is really not a good time to stop – I’ll just do it next week when I’m not under so much pressure”. Is this sounding familiar? Your mind will actually make up any reason, no matter how ridiculous, to rationalize and justify your continuing to smoke.
My program will break these previously conditioned responses so that your mind doesn’t fall prey to the negative “self-talk” that assures failure. Certainly true, conditioned responses are powerful, but you can -- and will -- create new ones. I assure you that your addiction can be broken. I’m not going to say it’s going to be easy, but you'll find that stopping smoking will not be as difficult as you might have previously thought or perhaps even experienced before if you’ve already tried to stop and failed.
Reprogramming your relationship with smoking will elicit new responses in your body. IT CAN BE DONE.
Stopping smoking involves a change in thinking and a change of lifestyle – and the quickest, surest way to get there and make those changes is through hypnosis. Going "cold turkey" or using willpower usually doesn't work, and it's painful and frustrating to boot. That is because we are only talking to the conscious mind, not the subconscious mind where transformational change takes place.
It is proven that nicotine is completely flushed from our systems in 48 hours. So, it goes to reason that if cigarette smoking were purely a physical addiction, we would be done with it after just a couple days of stopping. But as most smokers know, the cravings usually continue when they try to quit far after those first two days are over. This is because the psychological needs that continue to drive our motivation to smoke still exist within our subconscious. According to ScienceDaily (Oct. 24, 2007) — “Hospitalized patients who smoke may be more likely to quit smoking through the use of hypnotherapy than patients using other smoking cessation methods. A new study shows that smoking patients who participated in one hypnotherapy session were more likely to be nonsmokers at 6 months compared with patients using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) alone or patients who quit "cold turkey". At 26 weeks after discharge, 50 percent of patients treated with hypnotherapy alone were nonsmokers, compared with 25 percent in the control group, and 15.78 percent in the NRT only group.”goal. Even though these conditioned responses are powerful, you can break the old destructive ones and create new positive ones with hypnosis.
Let me be clear that unless you are completely committed to stopping smoking, even the greatest Hypnotherapist in the world can’t get you to stop. But if you are really dedicated to quit smoking, according to 600 different studies involving 72,000 people, hypnosis is the most effective way to achieve that. One-on-one personalized hypnosis is 3-10 times more effective than the patch and 15-20 times more effective than trying to quit on your own.
Here are some frightening facts about cigarette smoking that you may not know. Over 4000 chemical compounds are created by burning a cigarette, many of which are the most carcinogenic (cancer causing) compounds known to man. Here are just a few of the worst ones.
Acetone - A flammable, colorless liquid used as a solvent. It's one of the active ingredients in nail polish remover. The tobacco industry refuses to say how acetone gets into cigarettes.
Ammonia - A colorless, pungent gas. The tobacco industry says that it adds flavor, but scientists have discovered that ammonia helps you absorb more nicotine - keeping you hooked on smoking.
Arsenic - A silvery-white very poisonous chemical element. This deadly poison is used to make insecticides, and it is also used to kill gophers and rats.
Benzene - A flammable liquid obtained from coal tar and used as a solvent. This cancer-causing chemical is used to make everything from pesticides to detergent to gasoline.
Benzoapyrene - A yellow crystalline carcinogenic hydrocarbon found in coal tar and cigarette smoke. It's one of the most potent cancer-causing chemicals in the world.
Butane - A hydrocarbon used as a fuel. Highly flammable butane is one of the key ingredients in gasoline.
Cadmium - A metallic chemical element used in alloys. This toxic metal causes damage to the liver, kidneys, and the brain; and stays in your body for years.
Formaldehyde - A colorless pungent gas used in solution as a disinfectant and preservative. It causes cancer; damages your lungs, skin and digestive system. Embalmers use it to preserve dead bodies.
Lead - A heavy bluish-gray metallic chemical element. This toxic heavy metal causes lead poisoning, which stunts your growth, and damages your brain. It can easily kill you.
Propylene Glycol - A sweet hygroscopic viscous liquid used as antifreeze and as a solvent in brake fluid. The tobacco industry claims they add it to keep cheap "reconstituted tobacco" from drying out, but scientists say it aids in the delivery of nicotine (tobaccos active drug) to the brain.
Turpentine - A colorless volatile oil. Turpentine is very toxic and is commonly used as paint thinner.
As a smoker, the toxic chemicals mentioned above are what you are putting into your body with every puff you take. Pretty scary stuff, isn’t it? When you inhale, these toxins are drawn through the porous lining of your lungs and directly into your blood stream. From your blood stream these chemicals are delivered to every cell of your body. That’s right – EVERY CELL OF YOUR BODY.
BUT HERE'S THE GOOD NEWS: The health benefits begin the moment you stop.
A study looking at more than 100,000 women between 1980 and 2004 found those who gave up smoking reduced their risk of death from cancer by 21% in the first five years after quitting, reduced their risk of Cardiovascular disease by nearly 50%, and after quitting for 20 years had no extra risk of death versus a non smoker.
"The harms of smoking are reversible and can decline to the level of nonsmokers," said study author Stacey Kenfield, whose report is in the May 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association."The harms of smoking are reversible and can decline to the level of nonsmokers," said study author Stacey Kenfield, whose report is in the May 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Food will start tasting better almost immediately as your taste buds grow back. Your oxygen levels will skyrocket and you’ll have significantly more energy throughout the day. Your circulation will improve and your smoker’s cough will disappear. Almost all of these benefits start happening immediately upon quitting, and your body will continue to repair itself further during your first few months of non-smoking.
If this isn’t enough to motivate you to become a non-smoker, I don’t know what will…
In 8 hours the carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) levels in your blood stream will drop by half, and oxygen levels will return to normal.
In 48 hours your chance of having a heart attack will have decreased. All nicotine will have left your body. Your sense of taste and smell will return to a normal level.
In 72 hours your bronchial tubes will relax, and your energy levels will increase.
In 2 weeks your circulation will increase, and it will continue to improve for the next 10 weeks.
In three to nine months coughs, wheezing and breathing problems will dissipate as your lung capacity improves by 10%.
In 1 year your risk of having a heart attack will have dropped by half.
In 5 years your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.
In 10 years your risk of lung cancer will have returned to that of a non-smoker.
In 15 years your risk of heart attack will have returned to that of a non-smoker.
What are you waiting for? I have a three-session stop smoking program that is very affordable and includes a personalized CD guaranteed to keep you on track as a non-smoker.
Stop Smoking:
