Developing The Mindset To Quit Smoking

Smoking Has Always Been Your Choice

Smokers all have one thing in common - a very deep desire to quit smoking. Even the most ardent smoking "fans" would admit in private that they want off the demon weed and to live a healthier life. The ironic thing about being a smoker is that once you start smoking the only thing you really want to do is stop. There are people out there who claim they love to smoke and don't mind the health or financial consequences of smoking for 25 or 30 years. That's fine - everybody can choose to live their lives as they see fit. For all the rest of you this article will aim to get you one step closer to quitting smoking for good.

There are some important issues to present here before we start. Firstly, smoking is a choice. This choice then becomes habit and like all habits they can be a difficult thing to break. The more often we do something the stronger that habit becomes. It could be chewing gum, spitting, playing with our hands or smoking. Our brains become accustomed to smoking and develop associations between smoking and relaxation or smoking and pleasure. The point is that the more you choose to smoke the harder it can be to break the habit of smoking.

Smoking Is An Addiction

The next thing to take into account is that smoking is by and large a psychological addiction. I acknowledge that there are folks out there reading this who couldn't disagree with me more. They'll want to stamp their feet declaring that "...nicotine and heroin/morphine are equally addictive". That, I'm afraid, is the worst kind of pop pyschology and amateur misdiagnosis possible. How then can some smokers simply quit the habit and get on with their lives in a matter of hours or days? The psychological addiction definitely leads to a physical dependence and the withdrawal symptoms can be extremely severe based on that. That ,however, is the power of the mind at work. You can quit smoking overnight if you choose to do so. It can be that simple.

How Do You Choose To Stop Smoking?

So how do you go about developing a quitters mindset? It may all sound very complicated and give you the impression that it could take days and weeks to develop the mindset that you need to quit smoking. The really good news is that developing a quitters mindset takes just about as long as it did to read this sentence. The method is simple - You need to want to quit smoking for yourself and nobody else. You need to educate your brain to the fact that you no long wish to smoke. All of our habits (good and bad) are composed of thought patterns we've developed over time. If you cannot establish that thought pattern in your mind then no pill, hypnosis session, book or doctor can help you permanently quit smoking. You must, must, must want to quit smoking for yourself. If you truly do then stopping smoking is something you can achieve with practically no withdrawal symptoms and zero cravings.

Make the choice to quit smoking today. Make it your mantra. Once your mind understands that you mean business it will start to build the neural pathways (thought patterns) required to allow you to stop smoking for good.