Elements Of A Smoking Habit
Let's pretend you wanted form a habit. And not just some wimpy habit, but a major, mind controlling, and life changing habit behavior. Where do you start to make it a really strong habit that will feel impossible to break? There are three basic ways we learn habits; emotions, authority figures, and repetition.
Let's use an example.
Let's just use a younger you for the example, 10-14 years old. And for this example, let's use the habit of smoking. If you don't smoke.... replace the word "smoking" with any craving you get, or just pretend you smoke? It is an article about smoking after all.
While in that age range, we'll assume you were learning about life and how you fit in it. You may not have felt as sure about yourself as you would later in life.
Kids that age sometimes feel self-conscious, dependant on others, powerless, not good enough, or??. We'll call this feeling "bad". This is not saying you felt miserable, but maybe didn't feel "good" as you thought you should feel? Did you feel as "good" as you thought other people felt?
Possibly, (probably) not. Which would mean you wanted to feel better, or at least as good as you thought other people feel. What would make you feel better? That depends on the influences in your life to that point.
How does a person learn things like that? Emotions, authority figures and repetition. You probably saw authority figures smoking - parents, family, friends, role models, and of course, advertisements. Smoking is perceived as tough, strong, independent, self-assured, and unique. All the "good" feelings you were feeling a lack of.
This would start a feeling in your mind, the beginning of a craving. A part of you that believes smoking is what your life needs to fix the bad feeling. Not just in a "knowing" way, but a "feeling" way. This concept will make the most sense to someone whom has tried to quit any strong habit, you know your "feelings" are stronger than your "knowing" any day.
Then at some point you tried your first cigarette, and DID feel better. But you were not very good at smoking yet and since it made you feel better, you practiced it until you were good at it.
Time passes and you continue to reinforce the emotional associations with your triggers. If you feel tired, stressed or angry, you want to smoke to get that refreshing "ahhhh" feeling.
If you've tried to stop smoking before, you may have already thought of these things. And you've spent time thinking and analyzing your habit. But, you didn't learn this habit by thinking and analyzing, so why would trying to quit smoking that way?
It makes a whole lot of sense to quit smoking using the same methods you started smoking with. A "hypnotized" state of mind combined with emotions, authority figures and repetition. Also known as: modern hypnosis.
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Quit Smoking in Oregon with Glancy Hypnosis
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