This is a blog that I wrote  a few years ago but since we are starting a new year and many people are focusing on making improvements to their lives I thought I would re-post this.

If this blog helps one person quit smoking, it would be worth the effort. I’m not an expert on quitting anything, but I did quit years ago and I never started again.

I was a pack a day smoker in my early twenties; a slave to a disgusting habit. The plan was always in the back of my mind to quit, but I was never able to go more than a day without giving in and lighting up.

I had bought a book on how to talk to women; it was one of those advertisements that said you will have women flocking all around you if you follow these secrets that this book will reveal.

When I got the book it was based on the principles of self hypnotism and contained some daily mental exercises designed to place subliminal messages in your brain to make you more comfortable around women, which in turn would make it easier to talk to them.

Some years later I was trying to quit smoking and I remembered the book. I thought, why couldn’t I apply the same technique to help me quit? So I did and it worked!

The mental exercises are very simple and you can do them in a lot of places. All you  really need is a quiet place to kick back and relax for 5 minutes.

If possible, do this 3 or 4 times a day. Find a quiet place where you can recline or put your feet up, you don't want to lay completely flat, prop your head up a little.

Command your body to relax. Starting with your toes and moving all the way up to your head, rid yourself of any distractions.

Once you have done that tell yourself, I don't want to smoke, cigarettes (tobacco) are bad, I am not a slave to this, I won't let this ruin my life, and form a mental picture in your head of you not smoking, maybe refusing a cigarette when someone offers you one,  all the extra money you'll save by not buying them. Imagine anything that would be a positive outcome. Continue this for about 5 minutes before commanding your body to wake up.

This really worked for me, I didn't have any major cravings and I never picked up a cigarette again!

If you're really trying to quit, give it a try! What do you have to lose?

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