I quit smoking cigarettes 12 years ago, in the year 2000. It was one of the hardest things I ever did. Here are some thoughts that might help you.
(1) It's not "you" that wants a cigarette. That's the first thing you must understand. It's the nicotine addiction that is bullying you to light up. The real, inner, higher self wants no part of it. Your personality has been hacked, hijacked, usurped by an alien entity called tobacco.
(2) Cigarettes are like a friend you carry in your pocket. At first, you feel a weird loneliness when you drink coffee or finish a meal or read a book or take a walk -- without lighting up a cigarette.
(3) What's addictive is not primarily the substance -- but the thought that says "I must have this substance." Addiction is a mental compulsion constructed of sentences in your head. As long as you believe that the substance, tobacco/nicotine, "controls" or "over-powers" you, you are a passive victim of a delusion.
(4) The craving is entirely reliant on words in the mind, which stem from traces of the substance in your system. Stop thinking those sentences. When the sentence appears in your mind, realize it is generated not by your self but by the nicotine that is in your system. It's the nicotine talking when you hear a sentence in your mind "I need a cigarette right now." Nicotine must be purged, by abstaining, by quitting, in order to eventually silence its voice.
(5) Once you dismiss those addiction sentences, like clicking on the X of a pop-up ad on the web, you can then pave new neuronal pathways in the brain. You must deconstruct the habit patterns, demolish them, dissolve them in the acid of your new hatred for cigarettes and your new alarm at the damage done to your lungs.
(6) Quit buying cigarettes. If you bum a cigarette, bum only brands you hate, like Camel non-filters or roll your own Tops tobacco. If you give in to a craving, punish your craving with the nastiest cigarette possible. Don't smoke your favorite brand, smoke GPCs or some other horrible tasting garbage. Don't smoke the entire thing. Don't carry cigarettes on you. Throw away your ashtrays. Force yourself to be uncomfortable and unsatisfied when you smoke.
(7) After about 3 months of not smoking, you'll probably wonder why you ever started. Your craving will have vanished. The thought of inhaling smoke will sicken you. You will start hating the smell of tobacco smoke. Second hand smoke will nauseate you. You've been set free from the nicotine demon.
(8) It helps to formulate a new compassion for your life and your lungs specifically. Apologize to your lungs for putting hot, toxic smoke into them over and over again. Assure your lungs that you value them and will start treating them with the love and respect that is due them.
(9) If necessary, use the Buddhist monk technique of contemplating the negative: look at photos of nicotine damaged lungs, read about lung cancer patients, etc. It's not morbid, it's transforming and liberating. It's reality. It's pulling your head out of the sand of denial.
(10) Begin to loathe cigarettes instead of craving them. See them not as a thing to puff and get a tiny buzz, but as enemies, killers, life-shorteners, money-wasters, cruel poison sticks that make your breath, clothes, car, and home stink.
(11) Research herbs that are good for lung health. I am taking an Herbal Forumula Lung Tonic tincture by Herbs Etc. to undo the damage done to my lungs. The herbs are mullein, horehound, grindelia, echinacia angustifolia root, pleurisy root, passionflower, osha, lobelia, yerba santa. Alvita herbal teas are also good.
(12) Personally, I would warn you against Big Pharma medicines, like Chantix, which are reported to have serious side-effects like suicidal thoughts, bizarre dreams, heart problems, violent behavior, and depression.
ABC News "Chantix Dangers"
CNN News "Chantix Linked to Suicide"
FDA "Boxed Warnings for Chantix and Zyban"
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