Harbouring Thoughts
My psychologist said to let the thoughts of cravings exist. But to stop associating bad emotions to them. She said to make space for them. Let them exist. Without intent I might find they go away. She said I am skilled at quitting and that I should trust myself.
I have actually done just that with a craving I used to get when I had a medicinal drink at night. I got sick of the negativity I was placing on the craving I had. I decided to not action the craving but also to let go of bad emotions to just enjoy my drink. It has been two weeks and the feeling is the opposite. Now I feel so secure that I don't want a smoke with my drink. Altered Attitude.
Hi penelopejane
Altered attitude is great. Hope you are so secure and strong to avoid the nicotine. It will bang at your door, for sure. Don't let it in. Shut the door on it.
I think we on the road to putting down the last smoke must spend much energy wrestling with those thoughts until we are totally warn out and are totally defeated by them that we surrender and that's when we stop fighting and the last smoke gets put down.
so in part I agree we must have the thoughts , put simply its a war in the mind of good v evil , smokes v no smokes, what ever you want to call it , never seen many addicts give up without a huge fight that goes on inside and can be seen externally also if we look.
nothing that has ruled for such a long time gives up without a fight and we may think its the nicotine that we are fighting but its not, its our will to keep smoking, the addiction is nothing without the addict :)
offer a smoke to someone who doesn't smoke, they just say no and there is about .0001 of a second of thought goes in to it for them and they sure don't feel any pain about say no.
my point is the smoke in and of itself has zero power I can look at on the table for the rest of my life and it can not hurt me, so what gives it power my mind and thoughts and most of all my will I want it, then it has power, but it only got that power from me.
so the smoke is harmless unless I smoke it, and there my friends is the problem "I" and so my mind is the problem not the smoke.
IC
Perhaps laughing at it when it comes knocking on your door will help. In the film Labyrinth, she turned to the goblin king and said "you have no power over me" - it's not a bad mantra to have, first watch the film though - it's genius and will make you laugh.