Stopping Smoking Isn’t Child’s Play-Let’s Stop Playing In The Shallow End Of The Pool
Stopping Smoking Isn’t Child’s Play—Let’s Stop Playing In The Shallow End Of The Pool
I’ve been working to keep folks from smoking for so many years I
hate to say it. Let’s just say I’m in my third decade of helping. And recently it struck me that so much of the stuff- that’s asking smokers to try and put an end to their smoking- looks like it’s pure child’s play. And that is probably why quitting rates are pathetic.
I am not implying that all programs don’t work; it’s just that they don’t work so well for smokers needing more.
You see: How many folks who want to swim– only stay in the
shallow water and splash each other around? That’s fun when you’re a child, but when you are grown up, you want to swim in deep water and truly swim with all your might.
The problem with the stop smoking programs is they provide you with shallow water where you can carry on like you are still a child… And, hey, if it works, God bless you! But what I am saying
is that out of the mass of folks who want to quit: playing in the
pool’s shallow end is no experience for most of them. And so after
splashing around with these programs for a while, they just leave the pool and ask themselves: “So where can I go now? I want to learn to swim!”
But if any of you swimmers recall when you learned how, it takes instructions and some good practice to learn to swim. You just do not say to yourself, “Hey, I can swim!” It doesn’t come that
easily.
And some people who want to really learn to swim have to deal with a few hang-ups. They can’t just learn to swim. First, they have to face some fears they picked up when they were small—
much smaller than they are when they are now learning.
Do you follow what I’m saying? Stopping smoking isn’t an act of just stopping. Many factors have come into this onerous habit.
In other words there are lots of baggage smokers carry; and before quitting is really possible, it takes some effort to unload stuff. I’m not talking about making it a big deal, but delving a bit into what has contributed to your smoking helps a lot.
Sure, you could stop with hypnosis, but do you think all that
baggage just disappears? It stays with you, and in some way
it presents itself in other forms and actions. Nature doesn’t
just forgive you, because She’s a nice gal…
…There are a lot of laws that smokers need to face up to. Cause and effect is a biggie that needs seeing. If your father smoked
cigarettes and said real men smoke them, then you- as a man- might connect your self-esteem to smokes.
There are dozens of things that have happened to folks on their way to their addiction that really need to be recognized by these folks. My telling you (or someone else) doesn’t really solve things. You need to find things out in a way that helps you curb them.
But can you see that when you exercise your mind and heart in the stopping smoking process, you are acting like someone who got out of the shallow end of the pool?
I do have to say that someone, who wants to stay splashing around in the shallow, should really remain there; and maybe at some point he or she will stop their smoking. But those I’m addressing are smokers who have tried one or many prescribed
methods and have been unable to decrease their smoking to
where it needs to be: Zero!
But the really good news is that just as a guy who goes to a
conference in Jacarta will combine that business excursion
with some awesome site seeing in places or countries that
are near Indonesia, likewise when you embark on your
stopping smoking journey, you will be able to visit other
aspects of your potential; and that’s the real bonus that’s in store. Just like the guy in Jacarta-whose plans take him elsewhere- you may well remember the ‘elsewheres’ that you have been to- far more vividly than the stop smoking program.
Because, face it: stopping smoking is not that exciting. Sure,
you’ll live much longer, be healthier and smell better; but the
other places you go to- once you’ve stopped- are what makes the process so great.
Humbler Acts
“America’s Stop Smoking Wiz”
(Copyright mmxii by Humbler Acts)
For a free look at what
my plan can do for you:
Put name and e-mail upper right.
T
