Psych Yourself Away From Smoking

Quitting smoking isn't easy by any means. Plenty of products are available to help, but isn't one of the reasons you want to quit the annoying expense of cigarettes? So doesn't it figure that you don't want to have to pay more to give up this nasty habit. Here are some FREE psychological methods that will support your efforts to quit.

1. Get in touch with the gross tactile aspects of the cigarette. Hold it in your fingers and roll it back and forth. Feel how cheap and light-weight it is? It's full of garbage! Look at that nasty fake filter. Smell it -- does it even smell good? Be real. It doesn't. Every time you feel like lighting up, pause and simply stare at the thing. Notice how ugly and small and useless it is.

2. Think about how small they are. Cigarettes are shorter than your finger, and even thinner. How can you allow something this small to have power over YOU, a full-grown person? You are not going to let this miniscule, evil object have power over you any longer. Imagine stomping on cartons and cartons of your favorite brand. Ripping boxes of them to shreds -- there are so many, and they are so small and easy to "kill"! It's so much fun to destroy them in your imagination, because they are trying to destroy you. Your life is SO MUCH BIGGER than this teeny, tiny cigarette. It's a wimp. A shrimp. A total loser. Laugh at how small and powerless it is.

3. Say aloud the reasons you want to quit, every time you want to smoke. Say three things, and THEN light up, IF you still want to or absolutely have to. But those thoughts will be on your mind, and you will find the cigarette to be really gross. Say: I want to live to a ripe old age and NOT suffer breathing problems. Say: I don't want my breath to smell. Say: Cigarettes dull my sense of taste. Say: I hate the way my living room smells from the smoking. Say aloud all the bad things about smoking you can think of. Repeating it to yourself will make it a mantra.

4. Smoke in front of a mirror, and watch yourself. Watch yourself smoke the whole thing. Do you look cool, or do you just look stupid and unhealthy? Honestly. It looks pretty unattractive, doesn't it? Is that the person you want to be? Watch this person (you) inhale and exhale poisonous smoke. Think, wow, that person is really harming themselves. If how you look to others is a motivator to you, this should help. You look awful when you smoke! You also have that guilty smoker face: "I know I shouldn't be doing this, but...." Look at yourself with that burning cigarette in your hand and say, No more!

5. Put a handful of butts in a plastic baggie, and carry this around in your pocket. When you feel like smoking, pull out the baggie and feel the butts through the plastic. Smell the baggie. Examine how disgusting those butts are, all bundled together and full of the poisonous residue from smoked cigarettes. Is this what you want to be putting in your wonderful living body? Use this physical tool to remind yourself of the gross byproduct of smoking, the ugly dirty butts. You don't want to be a person making the world an uglier place by contributing these nasty butts to the world, do you?

6. Pick up other people's butts from a favorite park or public area you frequent. It sounds disgusting, and it is. But, if a broader picture method works for you, put on some rubber gloves and literally pick up the butts from the ground. Think, in a broad sense, of the billions of butts floating around out there, and how you will not be contributing any more to this mess on our ground. The process of scooping them up will be a meditation, and you'll be so sick of butts after thirty minutes that you'll really, really desire, even more strongly, to kick the habit once and for all.

Never give up! The quality of the rest of your life is at stake. Shed your smoker self like a snake sheds its old skin, and look forward to a longer, healthier lifespan!