Easy Way to Stop Smoking (24 page)

Remember, you never decided to fall into the smoking trap. But that trap is designed to enslave you for life. In order to escape you need to make the positive decision that this will be your final cigarette and that you will never again force yourself to do something that makes you feel so awful.

Remember, the only reason you have read this book so far is because you would dearly love to escape. So make that positive decision now. Make a solemn vow to yourself that when you extinguish that final cigarette, come what may, you will never smoke another.

Perhaps you are concerned that you have made vows like this several times in the past but are still smoking, or that you will have to go through some awful trauma. Have no fear, the worst thing that can possibly happen is that you fail, and so you have absolutely nothing to lose and so much to gain.

But stop even thinking about failure. The beautiful truth is that it is not only ridiculously easy to quit but also extremely enjoyable. Instead, why not focus on the wonderful gifts you are about to receive as a non-smoker? Health, life, happiness, freedom…the list is endless!

Why make it hard on yourself? Why not choose the EASYWAY! All you need to do is follow the simple instructions I'm about to give you:

1.
Make the solemn vow now and mean it.

2.
Smoke that final cigarette consciously, inhale the filth deeply into your lungs and ask yourself where the pleasure is.

3.
When you put it out, do so not with a feeling of: ‘I must never smoke another', or ‘I'm not allowed to smoke another', but with the feeling: ‘Isn't it great! I'm free! I'm no longer the slave of nicotine! I don't ever have to put these filthy things in my mouth again.'

4.
Be aware that for the next few days, the ‘little monster' will be inside you looking to be fed. At times I refer to it as a slight physical craving for nicotine. Strictly speaking, this is incorrect, and it is important you understand why. Because it takes time for the ‘little monster' to die, some ex-smokers assume that it is necessary to suffer cravings during this period. You will be glad to know that this is not the case. The body cannot crave nicotine. Only the brain can crave. Physical withdrawal creates a slight physical feeling a bit like hunger that up to now your brain has interpreted as ‘I want a cigarette'. You need to replace this ‘conditioned response' with a new one, based on the facts. So when that slight feeling comes, respond by saying to yourself, “YIPPEE, I'M A NON-SMOKER!” and focus on all of the wonderful gifts you are giving yourself by breaking free from the slavery of smoking. Brush that feeling off as if it were a bit of fluff that had somehow landed on your sleeve. In this way, you can be happy about your decision to become a non-smoker, and you can stay happy for the rest of your life. At this time, you can also reflect on the fact that cigarettes only ever brought misery, stress, fear and slavery to your life, and that every smoker on the planet would rather be a non-smoker.

5.
Willpower quitters do not recondition their ‘I want a cigarette' response and therefore continue to crave cigarettes. Because they want to smoke but can't, the feeling of sacrifice and deprivation grows. This requires the use of willpower, which in turn leads to the feelings of panic, anxiety and stress that so many smokers who use the Willpower Method experience. No wonder they feel so miserable. They spend the rest of their lives desperately moping for something that they hope they will never have. No wonder so few of them succeed and the few that do never feel completely free.

6.
It is the doubt and the waiting for nothing to happen that makes it difficult to quit. So never doubt your decision, you know it's the correct one. We could go through the pros and cons of smoking and a thousand times out of a thousand we would choose to be a non-smoker. Having made what you know to be the right decision, don't doubt it. If you do, you will put yourself in a no-win situation. You will be miserable if you crave a cigarette but don't have one and even more miserable if you do smoke it. So why bother? What would it do for you? Many people believe that the difference between smokers and non-smokers is the cigarette. This is only part of the story. The real difference is that non-smokers have
no desire
to smoke. With no desire to smoke, it takes no willpower not to do so. With no desire to smoke, there are no cravings. Why would you crave something you don't want? This is completely within your power to achieve. As soon as you make the decision, you become a non-smoker. If you are happy about your decision, you will become a happy non-smoker.

So, you need to make the decision once and for all, get 100% behind it, and go with it. Be clear in your mind that you only have two choices: you can go through the rest of your life having to smoke all day, every day, never being able to stop, living a life based on fear, misery, disease, addiction and slavery. Or you can break free, take control of your life back and build a future based on health, happiness and freedom from the slavery of smoking. The choice couldn't be easier. This isn't difficult. This is the easiest, and best, decision you'll ever make. Why not let yourself be happy! You deserve it!

YOU ARE ALREADY A HAPPY NON-SMOKER!
And you will remain a happy non-smoker provided:

1.
You never doubt your decision.

2.
You don't wait to become a non-smoker. You've already won! You are free!

3.
You don't try not to think about smoking. Think about it as much as you want and every time, celebrate that you have broken free. “YIPPEE—I'm a non-smoker!”

4.
You don't use substitutes. Who needs a substitute for the biggest cause of preventable death in the world?

5.
You see all other smokers for the drug addicts they are. Don't envy drug addicts. The truth is that they'll be envying you!

6.
Whether they are good days or bad, you don't change your life just because you've recovered from the disease called nicotine addiction. Having recovered, you can now really start living! As the days go by and your health, both physical and mental improves, the highs will appear higher and the lows less low than when you were a smoker.

7.
Whenever you think about smoking during the next few days or the rest of your life, think: YIPPEE, I'M A NON-SMOKER!

N
o smoker, given the chance of going back in time to before they started smoking, would choose to become one again. Many of the smokers who consult me are convinced that if I could help them to stop, they would never dream of relapsing, yet a small percentage of them do fall for the same trap again.

I trust that this book will help you to find it easy to stop smoking. But be warned: smokers who find it easy to stop can sometimes be prone to relapse, because they think it will be easy to quit again.

DO NOT FALL INTO THIS TRAP?

No matter how long you have been a non-smoker or how confident you are that you could never get hooked; if you smoke again you will instantly become re-addicted.

Make it a rule of life that you don't smoke tobacco. No exceptions. Ever. Period. This is not a game. There are some things in life that you don't mess around with, and this is one of them.

If you do light a cigarette at some time in the future, what would it do for you? You would lose all of the wonderful gifts of health, happiness and freedom you have earned, and for what? So you can return to a life of fear, misery and slavery? By making the decision to break free from smoking, you have just won life's lottery. The prize is life, happiness, health and freedom. Money cannot buy these gifts. Protect them with your life.

S
ince the original publication of this book over twenty years ago, I have been lucky to receive an enormous amount of feedback.

Originally it was a struggle: in the early days the majority of the major players in the tobacco control establishment were critical of my method (most of them without taking the trouble to look at it in detail, I'm sad to say). Over the years, as they have seen the success of the method with their own eyes, this attitude is beginning to change and today some of our most enthusiastic supporters are frontline medical professionals who themselves work with smokers. Throughout Europe, where both the book and the seminars enjoy great success and a wonderful reputation, EASYWAY is considered by many in the field to be the most effective quitting technique available.

As I write this, we are in the process of reaching out to the tobacco control community and building and expanding our network of centers in the US so that smokers across North America can also have access to the EASYWAY method.

The EASYWAY program is also now available over the internet so that smokers who do not have access to a seminar center can attend a seminar in webcast form.

I'm no do-gooder. My war—which, I emphasize, is not against smokers but against the nicotine trap—I wage for the purely selfish reason that I enjoy it. Every time I hear of a smoker escaping from the prison I get a feeling of great pleasure, even when it has nothing to do with me. You can imagine the immense pleasure I obtain from the tens of thousands of grateful letters and emails that I have received over the years.

There has also been considerable frustration. The frustration is caused mainly by two categories of smoker. First, in spite of the warning contained in the previous chapter, I am disturbed by the number of smokers who find it easy to stop, yet get hooked again and find they can't succeed the next time. This applies not only to readers of the book but also to a few attendees at our seminars.

A man phoned me a few years ago. He was distraught; in fact, he was crying. He said, ‘I'll pay you $2,500 if you can help me stop for a week. I know if I can just survive for a week, I'll be able to do it.' I told him that I charged a fixed fee and that was all he need pay. He attended a group session and, much to his surprise, found it easy to stop. He sent me a very nice thank-you letter.

The very last thing we say to ex-smokers leaving our seminars is: ‘Remember, you must never smoke another cigarette.' This particular man said, ‘Have no fear, Allen. I'll definitely never smoke again.'

I could tell that the warning hadn't really registered. I said, ‘I know you feel like that at the moment, but how will you feel six months on?'

He said, ‘Allen, I will never smoke again.'

About a year later there was another phone call. ‘Allen, I had a small cigar at Christmas, and now I'm back on forty cigarettes a day.'

I said, ‘Do you remember when you first phoned? You hated it so much you were going to pay me $2,500 if you could stop for a week. Do you remember you promised you would never smoke again?'

‘I know. I'm a fool.'

It's like finding someone up to his neck in quicksand and about to go under. You pull him out. He is grateful to you then, six months later, dives straight back in.

I admit to feeling sad, angry and frustrated at such smokers, but this quickly turns to sympathy when I realize that they are feeling ten times worse than I. If you find yourself in this situation you need to accept responsibility for your actions, give yourself an almighty kick in the pants and focus on how to clean up the mess.

If re-reading this book does not help, contact our US office on 1 866 666 4299. And do it quickly.

Ironically, one of the problems with my method is that some people find it too easy. This makes them lose their fear of smoking because they figure that they can smoke when they want and find it easy to quit again. EASYWAY doesn't work that way. It is easy to stop smoking, but it's impossible to control it.

Just one cigarette led to the years of addiction and slavery you had to suffer. And just one cigarette will do it again. Do you really want to be a smoker for the rest of your life? Haven't you already decided that this is the
last
thing you want? The only essential to being a non-smoker is not to smoke.

The other category of smoker that causes me frustration is those smokers who are too frightened to even try or, when they
do, sabotage themselves at every turn and therefore find it a great struggle. The main difficulties appear to be the following:

1. Fear of failure
. The point is that as a smoker, you are already a failure. You therefore have absolutely nothing to lose and potentially a tremendous amount to gain.

2. Fear of the panic feeling and of being miserable
. These fears are caused by the cigarette. Non-smokers don't have them.

One of the sweetest things about not having to smoke is to be free of these fears. If you do begin to feel uncomfortable, slow your breathing down and take a couple of nice, big, deep breaths. Focus on the key thoughts: there is nothing to ‘give up' apart from a life of fear, misery and slavery; every smoker is envious of you as a non-smoker, because every smoker would rather be a non-smoker; that the little monster is dead or already dying. If you go back to smoking you are guaranteeing a future of feeling panicky and miserable. Is that how you want to go through the rest of your life? No one can stop time. Every second that passes, the fear recedes. Enjoy your inevitable victory. If you want to shout, scream or cry then do so. These are all perfectly natural ways to relieve tension. Remember—you are not feeling this way because you stopped smoking, but because you started in the first place. You cannot and will not fail because your life and your future depend on your success.

3. Not following the instructions.
Incredibly, some smokers say to me, ‘Your method just didn't work for me.' They then go on to describe how they ignored not only one instruction but practically all of them. (For clarity I will summarize these in a checklist at the end of the chapter.)