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The Truth About Smokers "Pleasure Paradox"
By: Neil Stelling
Smokers love excuses. Nothing makes them happier than, 'I can't quit because…'. They really believe their own excuses.
But all these excuses are cop-outs. There's no reason to smoke. Smoking doesn't have any redeeming benefits. It's 100% harmful, poison.
But many smokers don't want to hear that. In fact, they already know it's poison. They just haven't yet discovered how to quit. Reading the truth, in a non-aggressive, non- threatening way, helps to get started on the quit smoking path.
So the excuse, 'I enjoy them', 'they give me pleasure', needs to be looked at carefully. Do they really enjoy them, or are they making a 'Can't quit' excuse.
In reality, the pleasure comes from the experiences associated with smoking. It doesn't come from smoking itself.
In fact, smoking becomes the 'avoidance of displeasure', rather than the 'gaining of pleasure'. Smoking brings temporary relief to the withdrawal symptoms that smoking caused in the first place.
Have you always smoked ? Or do you remember back to a time you felt peace and confidence, before this addiction took hold of you ? Any pleasure comes from temporary relief of withdrawal symptoms. That's the sad truth.
Where's the pleasure in loss of taste ? A build up of tar and other chemicals causes a gradual loss of taste. Smokers sometimes don't notice since it happens over years.
Then they can't taste expensive restaurant meals, and think multiple cigarettes before, during and after the meal provides the answer. Sound familiar ?
In fact, good company and conversation provide the pleasure, which a smoker mistakenly associates with his cigarette.
What else causes us to associate pleasure with cigarettes ?
Unfortunately, over many years, cigarettes have featured prominently in movies. Famous, beautiful people seem to love their cigarettes.
Have you noticed how most romantic movie moments used to involve two people lighting up cigarettes together ? Luckily that's less common in modern times, but who can forget Bogie and others in the classic old films.
Cigarettes still get advertised around the world, associated with something pleasurable. Once again, romance, freedom, open countryside, tranquillity.
This psychological conditioning prevents thousands of people quitting. The myth of 'pleasure' is stronger than the reality of physical nicotine dependency.
Ever heard a smoker say they can't wait for their children or grandchildren to get started smoking ? Of course not ! They know it's harmful, and usually openly admit they'd like to quit. They even agree with policies that restrict smoking in public places !
They admit they found the taste awful at first. But persevered so they could seek the pleasure they hoped to emulate. Nature makes poisons foul-tasting for good reason - a warning not to use that substance.
Smoking actually removes pleasures previously taken for granted.
We've already covered taste. How about fitness ? How about the ability to run more than a few yards without gasping for breath ? How about your non-smoking friends and family, who must breathe passive smoke, and find their clothes foul smelling in the morning ?
So the biggest pleasure in quitting smoking actually comes from regaining past pleasures ! Unless you're a lifelong smoker, you've forgotten the simple pleasures lost.
But here's some good news. Those pleasures can come back. When you quit, your senses eventually return to normal.
Once again, you can taste and enjoy food. Taste starts to return after only a few days. Over time, your fitness will improve. Your habits will change as your non-smoking personality starts to emerge e.g. no cigarette between meal courses.
The pleasure of non-smoking far outweighs any imaginary pleasure from smoking. Regaining life's simple pleasures is a worthwhile goal, and good reason to quit smoking right now.
Why can some people quit smoking permanently, while others just keep starting again ? Discover the NLP approach to quit smoking once and for all. Click ==> http://www.QuitSmokingWithNLP.com/
This article was posted on November 17, 2004
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How to Benefit from the Mind-Body Connection
(excerpt)
You are about to gain insight into the
mind-body connection. The number of
people who truly understand these principles on our
planet are relatively few.
There is an undeniable connection between our minds and
bodies, you can learn
to use this fact to your benefit.
Dr. Bernie Siegel, author of "Love, Medicine and
Miracles" was once a
distraught cancer surgeon until he
began to understand the greater principles
of the mind-
body connection. He felt dragged down by the artificial
barriers
that existed between patient and doctor, and the
helplessness he often felt as
a result of his inability
to effectively serve those patients. Eventually, those
barriers
were disintegrated by Dr. Siegel's recognition
and growing understanding of the
mind-body connection and
how it could serve his patients and himself.
Dr. Siegel, or Bernie as he began to have his patients
refer to him, had some
startling realizations as a cancer surgeon. He found that
there were actually
quite a few people in the world that successfully beat
the statistics on cancer
survival. He began to recognize that a patient's ability
to defeat something as
serious as cancer had to do with the patient's mind and
attitude about their
disease.
If you would like to see the rest of
this article, please go here:
http://www.tobeinformed.com/repository/mind-body.html
copyright 2004 - David Snape
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