SMOKE YOUR LAST CIGARETTE TODAY! 

If you're reading this, I'm pretty sure you've probably been smoking (or know someone who has been) for a while. I'd go so far as to bet you (or they) have probably tried a lot of different ways to quit smoking too. 

I'll even bet you (or they) have tried at least one of the patches, gum, and maybe even some of the medications that are available over the counter or even by prescription.

Whether this is your first attempt to quit smoking or if you've tried to quit before only to discover that those methods didn't work for you, understand this...

IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!

Why We Keep Smoking Isn't So Much a Physical Need... It's Mostly Mental

A primary motivator of why we continue to smoke is actually not the physical element of it. You may well be, or even very likely are addicted to nicotine, however, the physical withdrawal from nicotine is often quite mild.

Many clients have said when they tried using the the patch method to quit they still wanted to smoke even though, in theory at least, they were getting all the nicotine they needed. You may have even observed that yourself if you've tried the patch or nicotine gum methods in previous attempts to quit.

I've worked with clients who have been extremely heavy smokers. Some estimated they spent as much as 24-48 hours a week NOT smoking due to workplace restrictions that force them not to smoke on the job. So they are in fact, fully nicotine withdrawn by the time they end their shift.

They're fine, no anxiety, no frustrations, and no physical symptoms of smoking withdrawal. Yet the mental aspect is what feeds the habit of cigarette smoking, and that's what drags them back to lighting up again every time!

Your Conscious Mind's Desire to Quit vs... Your Sub-Conscious Mind's Desire to Continue

Our minds are split into two specific areas or segments if you like, but they're far from equal in influence.

The analytical part of your brain understands all the reasons and obvious benefits of quitting smoking.

This is the logical, analytical part of your brain that wants to stop smoking for all the known and documented reasons; every cigarette you light up is damaging your health, your clothes and your body wreak of smoke (no matter how hard you try to eliminate or cover up the smell), your family are begging you to quit,  and not least of all your family are begging you to quit

This part of your brain (the receptive part) is just 5%

When you try to quit smoking, the odd's are already against you, because that 5% is the only part of your brain that really wants you to stop.

Take that small percentage of your brain, the teeny-tiny part that's fully committed to you quitting, and understand it's under constant attack from all the daily stresses of work, and general life stressors. It's no wonder then, because that 5% of your brain gets pounded into submission so relentlessly, that  by the end of the day, of course you're pulling the cigarettes out of the trash... one more time

That persistent assault on our 5% (above the surface) brain beats down the element most often referred to as "willpower", and that in turn "dissolves" under the daily onslaught. Is it any  wonder we get discouraged or depressed into admitting defeat

Meanwhile the other 95% of our brain is the part that drives our belief systems

Unfortunately, that 95% is likely working for the tobacco and tumor brigade. This is the part of your brain that betrays you. It convinces you that you really need that cigarette to calm you down while you drive, to relieve the stress of your work day, or that smoking a cigarette will comfort you in one way or another.

It's also the part of your brain that holds the keys to your "inner- identity". When we see ourselves as a smoker, we hold onto that as an informative part of our identity. So when we try to quit smoking, in effect we're battling against ourselves, so in the end, either way, we often feel like we are losing even when we are, in fact, winning. 

Our 95% (below the surface) brain is also the part that tells us smoking is a reward. This feeds our habit forming mindset, as we learn to reward ourselves for completing a task or project with a smoke-break.

The routines and patterns we create around the habit of smoking are what is ingrained in our subconscious mind. Our 95% brain builds habits and patterns that demand we repeat them, so we soon learn to structure our work, and our day, around when we can have our next cigarette. Hello unhealthiest of habits

Our brains are wired to protect us against threats, and when we fail to light up our next habitual cigarette on time, that part of your brain sparks your natural "fight or flight" responses to trigger, which in turn makes you feel anxious or worried.

We tend to think of that as a "physical" withdrawal driven by the need for nicotine, but it's not, it is in fact, our brain playing tricks as it tries to retain the status quo. This part of our brain sends signals out to prompt us to take action (smoke a cigarette) by creating a panic state because it thinks we're depriving it of something we actually need to live.