Good morning EXer's!!
I was just thinking about a part of our quits that can be rather illusive at times. That day that we can finally feel confident about our quits. I think there are several elements to creating that confidence. First, we have to have achieved a few months smoke free so that our perceptions of our new life are firmly rooted within us. You know, where we don’t think of a cigarette with desire first thing in the morning. When we think past that cigarette to our new world without them.
Then comes the part where we have to believe that we will never smoke again. I know! So often people say “Never say never” which brings up another point. Though we can be confident in our quits. Though we can be at peace and cherish our new smoke free life, we still have to find that belief deep within ourselves that we will never smoke again. We have to know in our hearts that smoking isn’t anything but a bad choice.
It’s easy to say it but to truly believe it takes patience and a belief in the fact that we have indeed overcome the shackles of addiction that we lived with for so long. We have to see ourselves in our minds eye as a nonsmoker.
You see, our perceptions can determine just about anything in our lives because how we see things determines how our mind will react to those things. When we miss the “old friend” instead of embracing our new reality, we begin to lose confidence. When life’s stresses become overwhelming we can lose confidence and more importantly, when we associate cigarettes to those stresses and perceive them as a way to make those stresses seem more tolerable than we begin to fracture our quits.
These are the times to take matters into our own hands and change that perception. The means is within all of us, but it takes a little work. A little active building of our own minds. At times after I’d first quit and thought of a cigarette, I realized that I always saw it lit and in my hand. I knew that this kind of perception could do me no good so instead I used my visualization tools and watched myself driving without a cigarette in my hand. I even went so far as to perceive myself rolling down the window and smiling as I took in a lungful of fresh air. I’d look down to where the ashtray was and see it sparkling clean. I’d feel the wind blowing into the car. Over time with these kinds of visualizations, we can help to teach the mind that we no longer smoke.
We can replace our triggers with mental images of doing those very same things without a cigarette. I’m in no way saying that we should actively think about smoking. What I am saying is that when those mental pictures come in. When we find ourselves romanticizing the cigarette, then that’s the time to take advantage of the very thing that might cause us discomfort and change the pattern of our thinking. Look at things differently and things will become different.
So if your mental images aren’t the best that you’d like to see, then take a stroll up Mt. Freedom. Cigarettes aren’t allowed on that mountain and besides, your climbing! How could you possibly think about a cigarette when you’re exerting yourself?
I’ve always believed that the mind creates mental pictures of just about everything. These are our perceptions. When the addicted mind sends us an image of smoking, replacing that image could help us get through a tough situation. And once we do that, we build confidence. And the more times we do it, the more confident we become. It’s how we focus on things that matters most.
Stay true to yourself and don’t let those mental images take over your reality. Instead, take a moment to actively change them! By changing the way we see things, we can change the way we live things!
Stay on the path my friends! There’s a lifetime of peace and freedom waiting for you just around the corner!
ONWARD TO FREEDOM!!!
