Stop Smoking Easily - Preparing Your Mind
Preparing Yourself For Your
Stop Smoking Session
Times have changed, but as a Hypnotherapist, I used to be asked: What's your success rate at stopping people smoking?Several years ago I surveyed all the people who had consulted me to stop smoking over twelve months and had gone on to take part in the treatment session itself. The results indicated that a little over 98% of people were now natural non-smoker. Those who didn't stop smoking admitted that their heart had not been in it.
The results confirm common sense, correct? A person cannot be compelled to do anything they do not want to do, and that taking part in any treatment designed to help them is not a passive process. The benefits from the treatment are as much to do with the person wanting to change their behaviour as any therapist, support worker or well-meaning friend.
The results confirm common sense, correct? A person cannot be compelled to do anything they do not want to do, and that taking part in any treatment designed to help them is not a passive process. The benefits from the treatment are as much to do with the person wanting to change their behaviour as any therapist, support worker or well-meaning friend.
Stopping smoking is one of the behaviours a person can change with ease when they are in the right frame of mind.
I know that sounds like a sales pitch, but I promise it is not.
Stopping smoking is easy for you to achieve when you have the correct mindset to do it.
If you have already come to see me for an initial consultation to discuss stopping smoking, you will know that I ask: Why hypnotherapy and why now? We both want to be sure that it is the right time for you and you're ready to stop.
It is clear from the study of human behaviour that our intentions are not a good predictor of future outcomes. Think about new year resolutions, and you can see that most people start the year with great enthusiasm for their newfound goal in life, only for that positivity to wane as the weeks pass.
When someone wants to stop smoking, they must want to for themselves. Often friends, family, and their doctors will have told them to stop. All good are good intentions, but it doesn’t help a person change their behaviour unless they want to for themselves, and they are ready to do it.
Why would it matter?
We want to do it correctly. This time you are going to stop for good. This time you are going to stop smoking for good, so we want to optimise the mental conditions that make it easy.
Let’s prepare your mind for what is going to happen. Let’s get your mind in training so that when you attend your stop smoking session, it’s even easier for you to be a natural non-smoker.
Our thoughts and the self-talk that we engage in are behaviour suggestions to our unconscious mind. Through mental priming, you can begin the process of changing the behaviour instructions regarding smoking. This change is achieved through thinking and imagining specific scenarios and using self-talk.
All that sounds far more complicated than it is. The following is how you achieve it:
Let’s prepare your mind for what is going to happen. Let’s get your mind in training so that when you attend your stop smoking session, it’s even easier for you to be a natural non-smoker.
The Preparation (Typical Duration 7-10 days)
The preparation uses the principles of mental priming. We are priming your mind to expect what is going to happen. We are priming your unconscious to view what is happening: you are a natural non-smoker.Our thoughts and the self-talk that we engage in are behaviour suggestions to our unconscious mind. Through mental priming, you can begin the process of changing the behaviour instructions regarding smoking. This change is achieved through thinking and imagining specific scenarios and using self-talk.
All that sounds far more complicated than it is. The following is how you achieve it:
Dwelling On A Bright Future
During the days before the stopping session, you need to dwell on what life is going to be like when you are a natural non-smoker. Spend time imagining how your life is going to be when you are a natural non-smoker. How will you feel? As you go about your day-to-day business, daydream and imagine what it will be like when you are free from smoking.
Important! Dwell on what it IS going to be like, rather than how it will not be.
Rather than thinking: I am not going to be out of breath when I climb those stairs at work, or I am not going to smell of cigarettes anymore, you need to re-phrase them in your thoughts as a positive statement of what you DO what to happen. Something IS going to happen.
For example, imagine yourself walking up those stairs at work, breathing in an easy deep breath and smiling to yourself. You might think to yourself: I am so much healthier now. I am a natural non-smoker. I am going to have so much energy and feel so happy now I am a non-smoker.
Can you see the difference?
We can superpower those thoughts. Phrase them as if your goal has already happened. Notice that those suggestions above assumed that it had already happened: I am a natural non-smoker. Notice you added an emotion so you were thinking about how you were going to feel.
During the days before the stopping session, you might picture yourself putting on your jacket for work and stopping for a moment to breathe in and noticing how clean and fresh your clothes smell. Dwell on it in the most exaggerated possible. Walking down the street knowing you smell fresh and clean because you are a natural non-smoker.
For example, imagine yourself walking up those stairs at work, breathing in an easy deep breath and smiling to yourself. You might think to yourself: I am so much healthier now. I am a natural non-smoker. I am going to have so much energy and feel so happy now I am a non-smoker.
Can you see the difference?
We can superpower those thoughts. Phrase them as if your goal has already happened. Notice that those suggestions above assumed that it had already happened: I am a natural non-smoker. Notice you added an emotion so you were thinking about how you were going to feel.
During the days before the stopping session, you might picture yourself putting on your jacket for work and stopping for a moment to breathe in and noticing how clean and fresh your clothes smell. Dwell on it in the most exaggerated possible. Walking down the street knowing you smell fresh and clean because you are a natural non-smoker.
Each time you dwell on what IS happening, you are priming your unconscious mind to make your behaviour match what you imagine.
All of this is achieved purely by thinking. It is unnecessary to say it aloud (although you can if you want to), just think it in your thoughts. The key is to be repetitive during the preparation period. Remember you're priming, training and positively preparing your mind for what is happening.
During the preparation period, I would like you to keep saying to yourself:
Now, this may seem silly, but you need to trust me that during the preparation period, it doesn’t matter if you are saying it while you are smoking, as long as you keep saying it. You are priming your mind and aiming to make your unconscious mind develop an expectation of what IS about to take place.
Keep saying it: I am a natural non-smoker. I am a natural non-smoker. Write in your diary so you can see it or jot it down on a post-it note and stick it to the bathroom mirror. Whatever works best for you, remember we want it rattling around in your thoughts.
When you follow the preparation advice, you realise it gets easier and easier as each day goes by. You know it’s easy to be a natural non-smoker.
You should expect that you know what is about to happen, you are going to be a natural non-smoker, and the session with me is purely a formality because you know it is about to happen. It is going to be easy, so much easier than you ever thought possible.
That’s it! Spend a week or so priming your thoughts, suggesting to yourself and becoming excited about what is about to happen, and you are ready.
Remember that this is your part of the process, and it is important that you have completed the above.
All of this is achieved purely by thinking. It is unnecessary to say it aloud (although you can if you want to), just think it in your thoughts. The key is to be repetitive during the preparation period. Remember you're priming, training and positively preparing your mind for what is happening.
Be Direct And Make A Statement
Using your imagination in the way I have described above is what we might call an indirect suggestion. You have created pictures and fantasies which illustrate how your new positive behaviour is going to be. You have coupled them with some direct suggestions where you stated in your thoughts an instruction of what you know is about to happen.
So, let’s be more direct with our suggestions and state, without any doubt, what is happening.
During the preparation period, I would like you to keep saying to yourself:
I am a natural non-smoker. I am a natural non-smoker.Over and over again, I want that statement rattling around in your thoughts. You can say it out loud or think it in your thoughts, but say it over and over again. Say it or think it with conviction. It is a direct statement of what is taking place, so say it to yourself with the importance and positivity it deserves.
I am a natural non-smoker. I am a natural non-smoker.
Now, this may seem silly, but you need to trust me that during the preparation period, it doesn’t matter if you are saying it while you are smoking, as long as you keep saying it. You are priming your mind and aiming to make your unconscious mind develop an expectation of what IS about to take place.
Keep saying it: I am a natural non-smoker. I am a natural non-smoker. Write in your diary so you can see it or jot it down on a post-it note and stick it to the bathroom mirror. Whatever works best for you, remember we want it rattling around in your thoughts.
Get Excited
Overall I want you to be excited about what you are doing. You have made a decision that you are going to be free from that habit of smoking. Be excited and proud that you are taking charge of behaviour that previously has seemed so difficult to stop and now is ridiculously easy to be free from.When you follow the preparation advice, you realise it gets easier and easier as each day goes by. You know it’s easy to be a natural non-smoker.
You should expect that you know what is about to happen, you are going to be a natural non-smoker, and the session with me is purely a formality because you know it is about to happen. It is going to be easy, so much easier than you ever thought possible.
That’s it! Spend a week or so priming your thoughts, suggesting to yourself and becoming excited about what is about to happen, and you are ready.
Remember that this is your part of the process, and it is important that you have completed the above.
Have you followed the advice consistently? Are you excited and believe in your success as a natural non-smoker? If the answer is yes, you are ready and I will take care of the rest.
Need a little more time? That’s OK, it is. Re-book your stopping session and keep going with the preparation. Feel good that you have been honest with yourself and you are ready to get it right. Keep going and you will see how you do get excited because this time you are a natural-non-smoker.
I look forward to seeing you at your session!
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