Changing
I don't know if this will mean anything to you, but here goes...I always picture the act of thinking to be like stepping into a river...
In the first instance you think the thought, and then stop and in stopping the thought you step out of the river...Now the next time you begin to think the same thought, you are stepping back into the same river again, however, the perceptions that you now have about that thought have to be different, because you are stepping into the same river, but its not the same water, as the river is in constant motion.
And so it is with you...As you move further along, your perceptions concerning the addiction change, just like the water changes as it flows in the river...In the case of nicotine addiction "the truth really does set you free"...the struggle is in allowing our rational minds to accept the fact that sucking down 4000 chemicals is not a particularly good thing to do...The fact that that statement is so simple and true is a testament to the power that our addiction holds over us, it convinces us that that statement is false...However, any school child could tell us otherwise...
Your perceptions of the same thoughts (smoking) change and so it is with our addiction...As you practise not smoking, your perceptions of the process change...you still have the same thoughts, but your not stepping into the same water...Your perceptions of these things begin to soften as you realize that you are not giving anything up...On the contrary, in the future as you think of these things you will be very joyful, because your thoughts and your physical sense of well being will tell your mind that you are gaining great things and giving up nothing at all...You are giving up the illusion that is at the heart of our addiction...
Sorry for the rather esoteric explanation, but its the way I think about these things and it helps me a great deal to understand that as long as I am addicted to nicotine, I will be accepting as true that which is a very obvious lie...
Stay well, you do not have to fight this thing as much as you must come to accept the great gift that not smoking truely is...
nonic
[B]My Milage:[/B]
[B]My Quit Date: [/B] 12/25/2006
[B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 68
[B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,639
[B]Amount S