I know that there has been so much said on this subject in other venues that what more can be said? But, I'm a smoker and I hate it but have not been able to quit. It's obviously affecting my health, I have an ugly cough now and have had pneumonia twice in recent years. The idea of support groups seems wimpy to me, but man I have to do something.

Anybody else in the same boat?

Try the nicotine patches, they release a steady stream of nicotine into your blood. The gum does the same thing but it has a bad taste. I know of several people who have only had success with the patches, so give it a try. Good luck.

Understand that you sleep approximately eight hours a night and do not have to awake to smoke so you can see that smoking is mostly a pychological addiction. Concerning support groups, actually your chances of quiting go up conciderably if you make a pack with somebody else to quit. There was a book I read twenty years ago that advocated writing down affirmative memos to yourself in a positive tone, such as the one I used: "On or before my 30th birhtday I will happily become a non-smoker." I never failed to write this sentence down at least 30 times per day for 30 days and I often repeated it in my self-talk many more times per day. The end result was that I began to view myself as a non-smoker and when my birthday approached I was ready pychologically to become a non-smoker, which is what I became. I only used regular chewing gum as a oral substitute, nicotine gum was not invented then. I successfully quit smoking for 13 years. Another important aspect to quiting your smoking habit is to replace it with a new healthy one. Talking a walk around the block would be one idea. Placing a rubber band on your wrist and zapping yourself for having a thought of smoking a cig. is another. Tony Robbins advocates using the "swish" technique. As soon as you want a cig. swish the idea away like a TV program that brings in a new visual box to replace the old one, the new idea could be a picture of you with white teeth, fresh breath, pink lungs, and a long life....

There are many ways to give up smoking, do a little research and see what's out there. Just remember, this was a learned behavior and you can just as easily unlearn it. The first puff you ever took made you cough and your brain kept telling you, "What the heck is this crap?" But soon the brain has other things to worry about and begins to ignore the sensory imput. There are many examples of this principle. My grandfather died of lung cancer and one of the last things he ever said was, "I don't know what a cigarette ever did for me." He's right.

Bingo

Thanks for the reply, all good suggestions. I've tried the patches and they do help with the chemical addiction part of the habit. I guess I need to combine those with a good plan to deal with the non-chemical part. Which you pointed out and I never thought about - thanks.

BTW, I have been waking up at night and having a cig lately. But I think the stock market at 5-6 year lows has something to do with that, but that's another thread I started on this board.

I'll do some stop smoking research. I've always told myself that when I start to feel it I'd quit (how's that for a cop-out?) but cop-out or not, I'm feeling it, so it's time. Plus these Mexcian Marlboros, less than 1/2 the price are nasty.

Any others out there that want to give this a go?

About 20 years ago the Doc told my old man to stop smoking his two packs a day or die. He came home that night, threw the cigs away and never touched another one in his life. One word. Willpower.

Ldvee, you're welcome. Believe me, when I quit it was like I had finally accomplished something major because it's reallly difficult to give a up a habit that you practice many times per day for many years.

Getting over the chemical addiction generally wasn't the toughest part, although the first 48 hours or so is difficult. The more difficult part was really accepting that I was now a non-smoker, so that is why I think the 30 times per day affirmations which reprogramed my brain into believing on a sub-conscious level that I was now a non-smoker was so key to quiting. Writing them down has much more power than just saying them, btw.

If you keep telling yourself, "I can't give up smoking", then that's what you'll believe. In otherwords, reprogram your brain to believe something else. The key elements to that technique are: a sentence that uses a positive adjective with an action verb and has a specified date to accomplish the goal, generally 30 days into the future.

It's pretty surprising how powerful this can be though, so don't underestimate it! For instance, I once had the notion that in my self-employed business that $2500 was enough money or all I could make per month. This was back in 1984. So, after conquering the smoking habit I refocused my brain, using this same technique to attain a new goal. So, I asked for $5,000 per month. Of course, I stated this as a goal and wrote it down at least the required minimum of 30 times per day; generally just before sleeping so that the the brain would dwell on it. Sure enough, I made $5,000 easily. I then asked for $10,000, yup, I did that too and it was just as easy too! You see, if you give your brain a task it will work to accomplish it because that's what it loves to do. In summary, the idea is to have a goal and keep very focused on it. If you neglect the simple task of affirmations of the goal, then you'll most likely not accomplish it. That's the secret, stay focused on the goal and it will be obtained.

Four suggestions:

Tape yourself saying the goal for 20 minutes into a cassette recorder and then play it at bedtime nightly.

Everytime you take a cigarette, write down the affirmation ten times before you light the cigarette.

Find a friend who also wants to quit, thus the two of you will have a common goal and you'll have his/her moral support.

Last thought, you said something about the stock market, well, take that $150 or so you are wasting each month by polluting your lungs and instead put the money into buying some heavily discounted stocks!

Bingo,

Is there any specific book out there concerning this brain programming process?

Sounds alot like a book I have on Metaphisics.

I am sure that if you where succesfull in your business using this technology, you had to be guided by some kind of book.

Many of our fellow brothers and myself would appreciate you telling us where we can learn this,

the masterater