A Smoking Cessation client recently wrote in an email to me; “I was really hoping this treatment would get rid of the empty feeling in my chest that drives one to light up! After all, positive reinforcement is something one can do by oneself. Maybe I’ll try nicotine lozenges to go along with treatment.”
That comment pains me!
Allow me to back up for a moment; I tell clients they can stop smoking in one session, two sessions, maybe even three or more for that matter, it is entirely up to them.
I teach all my clients that the level of their interaction is equal to the level of their success. The mind gym is like the physical gym. If you go there you get benefits.
Moving on to why/how this pains me by sharing some of my email response to him;
“Thank you so much for your feed back.
The work that is done in my office with clients; hypnosis for smoking cessation, neuro-linguistic programming and tapping/Emotional Freedom Techniques is about changing our programs, our habits. In other words, it’s about changing the way we think about something which then changes our behavior toward it. Tapping/Emotional Freedom Techniques enables us to literally neutralize the way our mind/body reacts to something.
That “empty feeling” you get in your chest which drives you to light up is a perfect example!!! Lots of people get what you refer to as an “empty feeling”. Some people smoke when they get it, some people over eat; you name it we are very creative in trying to get away from that feeling.
That is just what it is – “a feeling” which then creates a thought, “YIKES!!!, I have to get rid of this feeling!!!”, which then drives us to our “habit” of choice.
It’s not about the cigarettes or the food or the whatever. It’s about what we do with that “feeling”. Seriously think about it, if we had to smoke or overeat or whatever when we get that “feeling” we would teach our new born to smoke or overeat or whatever. Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it?
The bottom line is we are all doing the very best we know to do. In my office, I don’t “treat” clients; I teach people how to think and make better choices through neuro-linguistic programming, emotional freedom techniques and hypnosis.
People come to my office to stop troubling habits. I equip them as to how to do that on a conscious level and on a subconscious level. Each person then has to take personal responsibility to work the new habit, new programs, new way of doing things because the old way of doing things is how they do the behavior they want to stop.
For example the urge to smoke or that feeling in the chest to smoke or overeat or whatever and not fulfilling it can then feel overwhelming so in turn “one lights up”, or overeats or whatever. This is where the second session of reinforcement comes in. We work through these things in that session. If all you had to do was give yourself “positive reinforcement” you never would have had to make an investment of your time and money to allow me to assist you in the process of using hypnosis for smoking cessation.
We have urges all day long; an urge to scream at the bank teller because they are taking so long with the person ahead of us. But most of us don’t scream at the bank teller.
The urge to smoke is like any other urge. The more you think about cigarettes the stronger the urge is. When you hear yourself thinking, “I feel that feeling in my chest and I have to smoke to get rid of it!!”, simply say to yourself, “This is just a feeling, this is just a thought, this is just an urge. This too shall pass. I invested my time and my money with Joann for her to assist me in the process of smoking cessation. I choose to practice the new habit of Being A Nonsmoker. I choose to take a deep breath now. I am utilizing the tools that Joann equipped me with to get through this feeling, thought, urge.”
If you want to use nicotine lozenges or any other smoking cessation aid of your choice in the process of weaning away from the nicotine that is up to you. One of my Nonsmoking For Life clients decided in his first session that he wanted to use the aid of “a fake cigarette”. In his second session he told me the aid was helping him through this process and he was already using it less and less. In our third session he mentioned he forgot to put the fake cigarette in his pocket the other night when he went out. In hypnosis I suggested he may find himself more and more often forgetting to remember the fake cigarette. I am fully confident he is A Nonsmoker For Life. I also am fully confident that the smoking cessation aid, along with him exercising his new habits and listening to the CDs (which are part of the program) are all contributing factors to his success.
My intent is to equip you and to encourage you to use all the new (programs) tools to have more success with the new habit of Being A Nonsmoker. No one can go above your free will. The choice is always yours. Who better to be in control of you than you?!
I do believe you can be a Nonsmoker For Life. Your level of interaction is equal to your level of success. Go to your mind gym, exercise the new habits you invested in and you will get benefits. It’s a new habit…look at how long it took you to perfect your old habit of smoking…lighten up on yourself…have fun practicing Being A Nonsmoker For Life – for Your Life!”
Click on this hyperlink for Some Proof That You Can Quit Smoking With Hypnosis https://joanndunsing.com/quit-smoking-with-hypnosis/.
