Craving Buster Technique

[Giulia]

(Note:  this piece was first published in a blog by @aztec  back in 2012 called  Craving - EX Community    The original author april_ac was from another site.  Thank you Aztec for bringing it here!)

We interupt todays broadcast..for a test! (TRY THIS!)

Ok...especially you newbies...I want you to REALLY try this.

Don't give me that "AWWW Man!!" It's not a hard test!! More of an "exercise"!

I want you to stop what you are doing right now....and look around the room. Look at everything. Take your time. (Don't read any further until you do that.)

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Now...I want you to look around the room AGAIN...and this time find all of the things that are RED. FOCUS on the things that are RED. REALLY look at them! (Don't read any further until you do that.)

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This time....look around and find all of the things that are BLUE. Again...FOCUS on only the stuff that is Blue. REALLY look at them! (Don't read any further until you do that.)

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Now....look around the room ONE more time. (Don't read any further until you do that.)

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Did the things that were Red and BLUE stand out to you the most?? Probably! Know why? Because THAT is what you were FOCUSING on!

Do ya see where I'm going with this??

WHATEVER you focus on the MOST....is what will be stronger...stand out more....become MORE dominate. JUST LIKE CRAVINGS!! If you FOCUS for too long on the craving...it GETS STRONGER.

So...SHIFT your focus AWAY from the craving!

What do you mean you can't do that....that it's too hard??? You just DID IT in that little mental exercise a minute ago!!! How much were you focusing on smoking while you were looking around the room...focusing on the Red and Blue stuff?? Probably not much...if at ALL!

It DOES work.

While I don't crave cigarettes anymore...I do have other areas of my life where I use that exercise. Sometimes it's needed to RE-focus on the GOOD things I have...when I'm feeling down. It gets my mind AWAY from the "pity party" state.

Make this work for you. It's your quit....It's your life.

And it's worth fighting for!

Thanks for playing along!! You may now go back to your regularly scheduled programs!

[SuzyQ411]

Love this exercise as well~ more food for the focus app~

[Giulia]

Glad you're finding all this helpful, Suzy.

[Giulia]

Thanks Ellen.  Uta was a fantastic teacher with wisdom that could be happily applied elsewhere in life.

[elvan]

Thanks for sharing, I would never have heard of this if you hadn't directed me.

[shashort]

Wow this is absolutely awesome brillant test Well explained  and demonstrated beautiful!

[Daniela2016]

It's great because it works, much like deep breathing:

• you can do it anytime
• you can do it any place
• you can do it for how long it takes for the crave to go away
• it is positive for you mind (re-aligning you by focusing on 2 things only) and your breathing - these are cleansing breaths
• nobody needs to know what/or why you are doing it
• it does not make you look like a fool (like singing while walking, which helps too)
• it can become you main tool to freedom from tobacco (the deep breathing is one of mine)

[aclaugh]

Thank you

[smokenomorelpj]

I'm off for 13 days and was feeling low due to an injury but this really helped refocus off of self-pity and cigs.

i'll do this more often

[Giulia]

smokenomorelpj‌  Hearty congrats on the 13 days.  All of us who have been there know exactly how hard won they are.  Physical ailments can bring us down in a major way. And re-focusing off our self-pity is a good thing to do.  But I want to put another thought in your head.  When I got to a certain stage of my quit, I realized that my quit was my rock.  It was the ONE thing in life I could count on to cling to when everything else was falling apart.  You won't probably "get" that at this of your quit  - but I just want to put that in your head.  Instead of it being so hard to hang onto, it became the one thing that I could hang onto that would never change.  That was all mine.  It's like that best piece of you, that strongest piece of you, that most noble piece of you that is all FOR you - THAT can be something to cling to instead of the addiction.  I don't really know how else best to put it. 

[debbiepatitucci]

This is great.....