Giving Bad Advice to Others When Quitting Smoking

I read a lot of blogs and websites that are written by former smokers that give advice on how they quit smoking. I encourage every smoker to find a way that works for them but often these reformed smokers are giving bad advice that will cause another smoker to fail or relapse, which just increases the sense of shame that a smoker has that there is something wrong with them that they can't quit,

Making Smoking a Conscious Choice

Have you ever found a cigarette in your mouth and forgot that you had lite up or had a second one in the ashtray? Smoking becomes an unconscious, automatic habit. Most cigarettes are not conscious choices but a reflex. The brain triggers a want, desire or craving for a cigarette and the smoker automatically reaches for one without consciously thinking about it. The brain reflex continues after an

Classical Conditioning Can Keep You Smoking

Palov was a scientist that discovered that dogs can be conditioned to salivate when they hear a bell rung because the sound had been paired with the presentation of food. The dogs learned that when they hear the bell, they would be fed. This is called classical conditioning. Habit cigarettes are the very same thing. Everything a smoker smokes a cigarette while doing something else, they can

Obnoxious Ex-smokers

Out of 7 siblings, 6 of us smoked. My brother was the first to quit because he was having surgery and was told that he would not heal very well if he continued to smoke, so he quit on the way to the hospital. After his surgery, he nagging the rest of us and was just obnoxious with his holier-than-thou attitude towards those of us who continued to smoke. Years later after I quit, he confessed that

Using Cigars to Quit Smoking Cigarettes

Jim quit smoking cigarettes almost two years ago but he has started smoking mini-cigars that are the shape of a cigarette. Many men switch to cigars thinking that this is a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes because "you don't inhale" with cigars. Research has shown that when a cigarette smoker switches to cigars, that they do inhale, it is an automatic response, plus cigars, depending on

Who is in Control, You or the Cigarette?

A few days ago I flew up to Seattle to visit family and friends. My flight was delayed and I spent needless extra hours in an airport. If I had been a smoker, this would have been very uncomfortable. Many participants in my stop smoking workshops have admitted that they avoid flying because of the restrictions on smoking. They can't or don't want to have to deal with the stress of flying and

Dreaming About Smoking Even After Quitting

Yesterday was my 18th anniversary of going smoke free. I gave my first stop smoking workshop one month later. Even after all this time, I still dream that I smoke. It usually happens before a new workshop is scheduled to start and I'm in a panic because I need to quit right now, so that I can facilitate the class. Upon waking, it takes a minute or two to realize it was just a dream and for that