Quitting smoking ... any advice?

[sean]

I'm quitting smoking on New Years. It's the third or fourth time I've quit. The last time I quit was for two friggin years without a single drag. Another time was for over a year. But I get to a point where I think I'm "above it now" and can have just one cigarette. Usually it's the alcohol talking. :roll:

 

Anyway, if anyone has any good advice on any aspect of the quitting process, wether it be getting through the first days, detoxing, and especially with figuring out how to stick with it long-term ... I'd love to hear it.

 

Thanks,

Sean.

[harmonious]

I had to quit drinking for a few months in order to get rid of cigs. I was lucky about 6 months later, I bought a pack, lit up and opened my car door and yacked all over the pavement. Haven't been tempted sense. Don't get me wrong, it took two years of really trying before I actually quit. Probally helped that I smoked alot of reefer. Not a suggestion, just my experience. Now I've quit smoking pot and again gave up drinking (both over a month now), hopefully both for good. Its been a hell of lot easier than the nicotine. If I ever do either again, I hope its a very, very sporadic thing. Of course do lots of lung chi kung and I think that will help. I do arm swings (in front to chest level and back as far as I can go) , first with straight legs, then sinking onto the heels bent knees, then real gentle slight motion for a long time, all the while loving my lung shen and smiling. Good luck

[peter falk]

the hardest thing in quitting smoking is that when yer trying to quit, part of you is trying not to. leads to an internal battle and disharmonius state. since dao is the effortless way, it didn't make sense to me to got hru this struggle. so i decided to let it happen naturally on it's own. i strated by cultivating intent, desiring harmony, and trusting the dao. adn you know what? it did happen, very naturally and without effort. i started not liking it, than not wanting it, then it just petered out.

 

interesting note: wheni had a physical done notlong ago, the doctor pegged me as a nonsmoker due to the clarity and health of my lungs. qigong? neigong? daoist magic? go figure......

[peter falk]

the lesser kan and li has some very specific and powerful tools for working on that--working wiht the five shen and empowering it with yuan qi, etc. the fusion has similar practices that may help. though i never focused specificaly on smoking with any of htose tools, the applications are apparently obvious.

[sean]

the hardest thing in quitting smoking is that when yer trying to quit, part of you is trying not to.  leads to an internal battle and disharmonius state.  since dao is the effortless way, it didn't make sense to me to got hru this struggle.  so i decided to let it happen naturally on it's own.  i strated by cultivating intent, desiring harmony, and trusting the dao.  adn you know what?  it did happen, very naturally and without effort.  i started not liking it, than not wanting it, then it just petered out.

You know, I tend to look at things this exact way. But taking your idea further I think can lead to an infinite regress from which there seems no escape. For example, now that I've read this I feel like a part of me still wants to quit on New Years, while another part wants to try your way.

 

I think this is samsara. And I think it applies to nearly anything consciously decided, at least from my limited viewpoint. The Latin root of the word decision itself means "to cut off from alternatives". So built into the very nature of the way we think about making decisions is a form of aggression against what is, and against possibilities other than what you think you want. Our spiritual seeking itself seems built on the premise that we are somehow unique from the Truth, as if somehow we have become separate from God.

 

When I contemplate nonduality it leads me to wonder whether anything is really fundamentally distinct from the Tao (as well as whether anything is fundamentally united with the Tao but that's another story). Perhaps it's arguable that some behaviors are typically not a common expression of an individual's harmony with the Tao. For example, my struggle with quitting smoking. But perhaps this only appears to be a struggle at odds with the Tao when, ie: the aggregates of my mental phenomena are dancing in such a way so as to occlude the perception of fundamental unity and nonduality, etc.

 

So, short response, here's my logic:

I think it will improve my health, well-being and spirituality to quit smoking now. Waiting for complete harmony with the Tao before I begin may take more than this lifetime and will continue to lessen the quality of this one. I hope through tools like hypnosis and spiritual practice I can bring the parts of myself into harmony with this decision after the fact.

 

Thanks for the info on Kan and Li and Fusion practices. I'm working through Winn's suggested sequence linearly and am itching to start Fusion which is next. If no one has it to lend to me soon I will just purchase it.

 

Sean.

[...]

you are only physically addicted to the nicotine for a few days, until it is out of your system. then it is all mental.

 

my only problem I have ever had with smokes, is when I first started. I was 17, I picked up the habit at work. it was when I really wanted a smoke but had no means of getting them that got at me. becuase you dont ststop thinking about how good one would be at that moment.. so I kept searching... try an pass off my ID (that said I was 17) and that worked only rarely. at worse I would actually drive to work and try to bum one off a coworker.. they were usually generous.

 

and when I 'quit'... it is like peter says, not all of me wanted to quit. so I would quit for months at a time until I decided I WANTED to smoke again, because I thuroughly enjoy it, and buy another pack.

 

I smoked my brains out before basic training... went cold turkey.. it was no problem... I am going to have to quit for 14 weeks again in a couple days, so I am going to smoke my brains out.. Im not worried about it..

 

this is all irrelevent... Iwant to say that not all of you honestly WANTS to quit, like peter says. if you fail, it is just you being weak minded.

 

of all sorts of people out there, those of us at taobums.com should have the easiest time overcoming these minor life ordeals.