Easy Way to Stop Smoking

ALLEN CARR'S

 

 

US E
DITION

 

 

 

 

 

 

This first US edition published for Allen Carr (USA) by:

Clarity Marketing
c/o Suite #706, 1133 W Broadway, NY, NY 10010

Copyright © Allen Carr 2011
All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electrical, mechanical, photocopying, digital, recording or otherwise, without written permission.

This book is not intended to take the place of medical advice from a trained medical professional.

Printed and bound in the USA

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011933692

ISBN: 978-0-6154-8215-6

Dedication

To all the smokers I have failed to cure personally,
I hope it will help them to get free
.

To Damian O'Hara, in recognition of his fantastic
work in helping spread Allen Carr's Easyway
throughout the USA
.

Also to Sid Sutton
.

But most of all, to Joyce
.

Foreword to the US Edition

Preface

Warning

Introduction

1. The Worst Nicotine Addict I Ever Met

2. The Easyway

3. Why Is It Difficult to Stop?

4. The Sinister Trap

5. Why We Smoke

6. Nicotine Addiction

7. Brainwashing and the Sleeping Partner

8. Relieving Withdrawal Pangs

9. Stress

10. Boredom

11. Concentration

12. Relaxation

13. Combination Cigarettes

14. What Am I Giving Up?

15. Self-Imposed Slavery

16. I'll Save $x Every Week

17. Health

18. Energy

19. It Relaxes Me and Gives Me Confidence

20. Those Sinister Black Shadows

21. The Advantages of Being a Smoker

22. The Willpower Method of Stopping

23. Beware of Cutting Down

24. Just One Cigarette

25. Casual Smokers, Teenagers, Non-Smokers

26. The Secret Smoker

27. A Social Habit?

28. Timing

29. Will I Miss the Cigarette?

30. Will I Put on Weight?

31. Avoid False Incentives

32. The Easy Way to Stop Smoking

33. The Withdrawal Period

34. Just One Drag

35. Will It Be Harder for Me?

36. The Main Reasons for Failure

37. Substitutes

38. Should I Avoid Temptation?

39. The Moment of Revelation

40. The Final Cigarette

41. A Final Warning

42. Over Twenty Years of Feedback

43. Help the Smoker Left on the Sinking Ship

44. Advice to Non-Smokers

45. Finale: Help End This Scandal

Final Instructions

Tell Allen Carr's Easyway You Stopped Smoking

About the Author

Testimonials

Allen Carr's Easyway Centers

Allen Carr saved my life.

I was the smoker everyone said could never quit. I had my first cigarette as a nine-year-old, behind the proverbial bike sheds, to try to impress one of my older brother's friends. That first cigarette was truly disgusting, but it didn't stop me from becoming a heavy smoker for twenty-six years. I rarely smoked less than a pack-and-a-half a day, and if I was in an especially stressful situation at work or out drinking, I would literally chain smoke.

Over the years, almost imperceptibly, smoking came to control my life: it controlled where I went, what I did, who I saw, who I avoided trying to see, where I ate, drank and worked. Of course, I didn't see it that way at all. In fact, like many smokers, I came to see the cigarette as my best friend, my ‘me' time, my island of peace and tranquility in a crazy world, my ever-present companion.

At the same time, like all smokers, I knew it was killing me. For years I watched smoking decimate my family—grandparents, uncles and aunts. The tragedy was incredibly
sad and stressful, and while it definitely made me want to quit, it also made me want to smoke more.

I tried to quit dozens of times. I was what we call a ‘serial quitter'. But most of my attempts lasted just a couple of minutes before I had a ‘nic fit' and found myself rummaging around in the garbage, looking for my smokes. I promised my wife that when she got pregnant I would quit. I didn't. I told her when the baby was born I'd quit. The first thing I did after the birth was to light a big, fat cigar. In fact, things became so bad that I almost gave up trying to give up. I resigned myself to what was a truly depressing thought—being a smoker for the rest of my life.

Then in January 2001, I suffered a terrible bout of tonsillitis. Anyone who has experienced it will testify to the excruciating agony. I couldn't eat, talk, breathe or swallow, let alone smoke. For the first time in over twenty years, I went a whole day without smoking. To my astonishment, my head didn't explode, the earth continued its orbit around the sun and the universe did not disappear down a black hole.

I made the mistake of mentioning this to my wife who promptly suggested that I might think about going to an Allen Carr's Easyway seminar. She had quit back in 1992, just before we met, by reading the first edition of this book. Being the wonderful, thoughtful and caring person she is, she never tried to ram it down my throat, or threaten to leave me if I didn't quit. But she knew that one day I would be ready to quit and I will forever be in her debt for making that suggestion that I attend the seminar. I can only think that the pain meds slightly scrambled my thinking, and I agreed to go.

At the time (January is our busiest period, with all those New Year Resolutions!) there was a long waiting list to attend and so I was notified that I would be attending on February 21st 2001. Of course, by that time my tonsillitis was long gone, I was back smoking heavily and had no intention of quitting.
On the morning of the seminar, I told my wife that I was thinking of not going, but the look on her face told me otherwise (if you knew my wife you would know that when she gives you ‘the look', you don't mess with her). Eventually I agreed to attend, but I told her I was attending not to quit smoking, but to get our money back (all Allen Carr centers offer a money-back guarantee). “Whatever”, she said, giving me the look once more.

At one o'clock that day I found myself sitting in Allen Carr's center in Raynes Park, near Wimbledon, just outside London along with seventeen other terrified smokers. I could barely see Cris, the facilitator, through the blue fog of smoke (in those days attendees were able to smoke throughout the session, today, due to smoking by-laws, the sessions now feature regular smoke breaks).

Five minutes into the session I remember thinking ‘If I'm stuck in this room for the next five hours, I may as well listen to what these guys have to say.' I listened to Cris talk about smoking, about quitting and about nicotine. There were no scare tactics, no pictures of diseased lungs and no guilt trips. Despite thinking that I already knew everything there was to know about smoking, many of the concepts he explained were completely new to me—I had just never really thought about smoking this way before. I found myself agreeing with everything he said. As the day wore on, I found my desire to smoke faded. By the time Cris instructed us to smoke our final cigarette, I could barely light it.

But I was dreading leaving the seminar because I knew that as soon as I got in my car to drive home, the terrible cravings would come—after all, I used to chain-smoke in my car. The cravings didn't come. I remember thinking that was odd, but not all that surprising because I had just spent five hours smoking heavily. After dinner, I thought—that's when they'll come. They didn't.

As I smoker, I used to light a cigarette as soon as I woke up, then stumble downstairs to spark up some coffee. I wasn't even human until at least my second coffee and my third cigarette. The following morning I didn't even think about smoking. Lighting a cigarette literally did not occur to me. I was stunned.

Smoking had gone from being the center of my life to being a total irrelevance in just five hours. I couldn't believe it, and neither could my family, my friends and colleagues. The only person who wasn't surprised was my wife, who just shrugged her shoulders and said: “See, it's easy!”

The changes in my life came thick and fast. I felt truly free and truly happy for the first time in years. I had more energy, I lost weight. I was able to concentrate longer and harder. Instead of looking for excuses to be away from my family so I could smoke, I felt re-engaged with them. It was fantastic. I'm ashamed to admit it now but stopping smoking enabled me to be a better husband and a much, much better father. I was shocked to notice the extent to which smoking had controlled my life and relationships.

Three months after attending, I wrote to Allen to thank him for helping me escape and to offer my help in spreading the word. In September 2001, I was privileged to be chosen to represent Allen Carr's Easyway in North America.

From late in 2001, Allen became a close friend and mentor to me. He was an amazing man—generous, intelligent and funny but also down-to-earth, passionate and approachable.

He was fascinated by the US (he traveled to Las Vegas every year for over twenty years to indulge his passion for poker) and a great student of the American culture and psyche. He always felt that the Easyway method—with its positive, empowering approach to quitting—would especially resonate with Americans. And he was right—Americans took to the Easyway method like a duck to water.

Over the years, Allen and I spent endless hours discussing Easyway in the US and how to further improve its effectiveness by adapting and refining it for the American market. In particular, we discussed the differences between American and European smokers and their responses to the method. This brand new US edition of
Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking
benefits by incorporating not only the core of Allen's unique Easyway method that has worked wonderfully for so many smokers over the past twenty-five years, but also ten years of learning, experience and feedback we have had since starting to work with smokers in North America in 2001.

We thank the thousands of Americans who have successfully used Allen Carr's Easyway for their invaluable feedback in putting this US edition together, and for their continued support in spreading the Easyway message.

On a personal level I would like to dedicate this new US edition of
Easyway
to the two men who have had the biggest influence on my life. My mentor, the incomparable Allen Carr, and my hero and best friend: my late father Jack O'Hara. The world is a poorer place now you're gone, but it's inestimably richer for your having lived.

Damian O'Hara

Allen Carr's Easyway North America

J
ust suppose there were a magic method of stopping smoking which enables any smoker, including you, to quit:

• IMMEDIATELY
  
• PERMANENTLY
  
• WITHOUT NEEDING WILLPOWER
  
• WITHOUT SUFFERING WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS
  
• WITHOUT PUTTING ON WEIGHT
  
• WITHOUT SHOCK TACTICS, PILLS, PATCHES OR OTHER GIMMICKS
  

Let's further suppose that:

• THERE IS NO INITIAL PERIOD OF FEELING DEPRIVED OR MISERABLE
  
• YOU IMMEDIATELY ENJOY SOCIAL OCCASIONS MORE
  
• YOU FEEL MORE CONFIDENT AND BETTER EQUIPPED TO HANDLE STRESS
  
• YOU ARE BETTER ABLE TO CONCENTRATE
  
• YOU DON'T HAVE TO SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE HAVING TO RESIST THE OCCASIONAL TEMPTATION TO LIGHT A CIGARETTE
  

And

• YOU NOT ONLY FIND IT EASY TO QUIT, BUT CAN ACTUALLY ENJOY THE PROCESS FROM THE MOMENT YOU EXTINGUISH THE LAST CIGARETTE
  

If there were such a magical method, would you use it?

Chances are you would. But of course you don't believe in magic. Neither do I. Nevertheless the method I describe above does exist. I call it EASYWAY. In fact it isn't magic, it just seems that way. It certainly seemed that way to me when I first discovered it and I know that many of the millions of ex-smokers who have successfully quit with the help of EASYWAY also view it in that light.