Good morning Exer's!!
You know, every day can be a good day if we chose to make it so. It's really up to us how we want to feel on a given day. I think at times our brains can form a kind of pattern within itself. In other words, if we dwell to much on a given thing then the brain will continue on with those thoughts throughout the day.
To me this is why we sometimes feel that a given day is just one long agonizing crave. It starts with the old standard signal sent to smoke and right when that happens, if we choose to fixate on that crave then it really will turn into a very uncomfortable situation that will continue until we find a distraction strong enough to change that thought pattern.
With time and practice, I think we all learn to simply dismiss a crave as soon as we feel it. But this does take practice and this is why NML exists. I think this is why we can be blindsided by a crave even when we're totally confident in our quits. It's as if the brain has found a thought pattern from the past and chosen to recreate that pattern.
Even after reaching toward three years, I found myself reaching into my pocket for that phantom cigarette. Of course I simply laughed at myself and continued on with what I was doing never giving that little phantom crave a single thought and because of this my thought patterns remained focused on the task at hand and I never actually had an unpleasant experience.
Now, I don't want to discourage anyone with that last statement. I was simply stating a truth. That for no reason those ancient thoughts can pop into the mind but the thing to remember is (at least for me) that the craves have no power over me eat all. They exist at times but are essentially meaningless bits from a past life that I once lived. A past that is no longer me. I can find no reason to dwell on them so they have no power to change anything about my life.
That's what's so cool about a quit over time. At this point the addict within is meaningless. This is why I live in peace. This is what I mean when I talk about freedom. This is the future that we all strive to reach!
So take that old addict within and drag him up Mt. Freedom with you. Let your new life become the shining banner of freedom that others can see from below and never think for a moment that you can't do this. Never believe that it's too hard. Never convince yourself that you don't have the strength to complete this wonderful task for you do.
You've shown that strength the moment you chose to take your life back. And you continue to show that strength every moment that you live free of the slavery of addiction. Hold your head up high my friends because what your doing now will determine just how wonderful that future will be tomorrow!
ONWARD TO FREEDOM!!!
