There is a natural way to give up smoking, I managed it. First I recognized that I needed to feel a degree of inner strength and self esteem. Then I recognized that the reason we feel irritated and angry when we first give up, is because smoking is an emotional suppressant. I then, formulated a few survival techniques that I could use to win through.

Self esteem creates a recognition of the need for self nurture and self care. When one values oneself, the body becomes valuable too and contaminating it with cigarette smoke doesn't feel right. Remember every hour, then day, then week that you get through is an achievement and you deserve to pat yourself on the back.

Smokers light up instead of letting of steam, so emotions such as anger, disappointment and frustration are suppressed and held onto. Holistically, this is why the heart centre, which is the lung and heart area, is so affected in smokers. The area is blocked by unexpressed emotion.

My survival techniques were as follows:

Herbal cigarettes:
I gave myself permission to smoke as many of them as I wanted for the first three months. As long as there was no nicotine, I could still go through the motions without feeding the addiction. It was easy to just stop buying them after a few weeks.

Imagining I was having a cigarette:
This was a highly successful technique. When I wanted a smoke, I would imagine what I would do with a cigarette if I had one. I imagined the taste, the lighting up and the drawing in of the first puff. I noticed that after the initial imaginary puff, I forgot about the rest of the cigarette and so I then realized that it is the wanting of the ciggie that makes the smoker obsessive. Overcoming that need to have a fag, by imagining what I would do with one, if I had one, turned out to be a very effective strategy.

Deep Breathing:
Just breathing deep into my lungs, relishing the fact that they were still functioning after 30 odd years of smoking. Just try counting ten deep breaths; you'll find that your perspective has changed and there is no longer a major focus on the need for a ciggie. You can practise this anytime

Chocolate Icecream:
This was my treat, chocolate because of the calming effect it has and ice cream because it is lovely to eat slowly, relishing each mouthful.

Permission:
I gave myself permission to feel angry, irritated and anxious, recognizing that I was going to feel out of sorts. I also gave myself permission to nurture myself through the transition from smoker to non-smoker. I knew stuff would come up and I permitted myself to either think things through or bury them again til I felt stronger.

Action:
Being active, especially when one is craving. A cigarette takes approximately ten minutes out of your schedule. Finding something to do with that ten minutes is a fun challenge. Who knows, if you wrote the paragraph of a novel each time you fancied a cigarette, you'd probably have a book by the end of the three months.

Moving on from cigarette addiction is easier than you think, when you take control and nurture yourself through it. Have a list of 'tools' and plenty of chocolate ice cream! Know you're going to feel emotionally wrought, but it is a temporary situation and nowhere near as bad as being told you're seriously ill would be. Remember also to remind yourself that, in the long run, a few weeks of discomfort will be better than months of suffering from some awful health problem.

Learn more about this author, Wendy Bradley.
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