Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking - Allen Carr [71]
Next was launched by the world’s biggest tobacco company, Philip Morris, in 1989. It was touted as a nicotine-free cigarette and the nicotine was removed by using high-pressure carbon dioxide in a process similar to the method used by coffee companies when making decaffeinated coffee (they were referred to as “de-nic” cigarettes internally at Philip Morris). Smokers hated them though. After experimenting with them, it began to dawn on smokers that there is no point in smoking apart from to get the nicotine, and that there was no pleasure in the physical act of smoking for its own sake. The product flopped and was withdrawn.
Once you can see that there is no aspect of smoking that is remotely approaching pleasurable, you will have no more need to stick a cigarette in your mouth than you would in your ear.
Whether the pang is due to physical withdrawal or the psychological trigger mechanism, accept it. There is no physical pain and with the right mental approach you can brush it off as if it were a bit of fluff on your sleeve.
Instead of feeling fearful and anxious about pangs, embrace them. Say to yourself: ‘I know what this is—it’s the ‘little monster’ dying. This is what smokers suffer from their whole lives and that’s what keeps them smoking. Non-smokers don’t get these pangs. Isn’t it great that I am breaking free from this awful addiction and looking forward to a life of freedom?’
Don’t focus on the pang, but on what it represents—the death not of a friend, but of a terrible enemy. One that enslaved you for years and stole your health, your money, your self-respect, your courage and confidence, all the time trying to kill you.
Think of the next few days and weeks as a game of poker where you have a Royal Flush and your opponent doesn’t even have a pair of twos. You have the better cards and will crush him, so he’ll try to cheat and trick you. Whatever he throws at you doesn’t matter because it doesn’t change the facts. You have the winning hand. You are going to win and at last be able to claim the prize you so richly deserve—a life of health, happiness and freedom.
You have him just where you want him. You have used facts to see through the confusion and fear that he has created to try to keep you trapped. As every minute passes, he becomes weaker. It’s over. You have won. You are free.
Whatever you do, don’t try not to think about smoking. This is a tactic used by people who are quitting using willpower. They try not to think about smoking, but of course this makes them think about it even more. Soon they are obsessed and can’t get the cigarette out of their mind. You will think about smoking—but it’s what you are thinking that it important. Whenever you think about smoking, think how wonderful it is that you have broken free. SAVOR EACH THOUGHT AND EACH MOMENT. REMIND YOURSELF HOW WONDERFUL IT IS TO BE FREE ONCE AGAIN AND CELEBRATE THE PURE JOY OF NO LONGER BEING A PRISONER, A SLAVE AND AN ADDICT.
As I have said, with this mental approach, pangs that would torture a willpower quitter will become moments of pure pleasure and achievement for you. You will be amazed at how quickly smoking becomes a total non-issue in your life.
Willpower quitters frequently doubt their decision to quit because they still suffer from the illusion that they enjoyed smoking and this causes the sense of deprivation we have already discussed at some length. You, on the other hand have removed any doubts and as a result can focus on enjoying the process of breaking free and remaining a happy non-smoker.
If one of your smoking friends offers you a cigarette, you can be proud to say, “No, thanks” safe in the knowledge that he will be envying not only the fact that you are a non-smoker, but such an obviously happy one. It’ll hurt him to think that one more smoker has broken out of the prison, but at the same time