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Share your quitting journey

Memory Driven Living?

JonesCarpeDiem
Member
3 3 77
‎01-13-2019 07:24 AM

I feel we are driven by our memories.

Driven to repeat what has happened in the past.

Driven to recreate the feelings in those memories.

The associations are strong and silent.

We must execute the memory.

It's going to rain.

What am I thinking of?

Beef Stew in the slow cooker.

      This is how our memories drive us. Thinking of smoking is sparked by our memories. We connect feelings from the past to the present to create continuity.

      We are able to disconnect from smoking by making new memories that don't include smoking.

PS I didn't make the beef stew. I've learned I don't have to recreate every memory. (but I still make lasagna when the cheeses come on sale) 

3 Comments
About the Author
Hello, My name is Dale. I was quit 18 months before joining this site and had participated on another site during that time. I learned a lot there and brought it with me. I joined this site the first week of August 2008. I didn't pressure myself to quit. HOW I QUIT I didn't count, I didn't deny myself to get started. When I considered quitting (at a friends request to influence his brother to quit), I simply told myself to wait a little longer. No denial, nothing painful. After 4 weeks I was down to 5 cigarettes from a pack a day. The strength came from proving to myself, I didn't need to smoke because I normally would have smoked. Simple yes? I bought the patch. I forgot to put one on on the 4th day. I needed it the next day but the following week I forgot two days in a row I put one in my wallet with a promise to myself that I would slap it on and wait an hour rather than smoke. It rode in my wallet my first year.There's nothing keeping any of you from doing this. It doesn't cost a dime. This is about unlearning something you've done for a long time. The nicotine isn't the hard part. Disconnecting from the psychological pull, the memories and connected emotions is. :-) Time is the healer.