Nonic, How great it is that your non-smoking [i]self[/i] has enjoyed the whole evening out with friends. It's so encouraging! Welcome back to your [i]real place[/i]! mitri [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 2/4/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 21 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 107 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $21 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 22 [B]Mins:[/B] 48 [B]Seconds:[/B] 29

[quote] faith in our non-smoking self to deal with the issues of living. [/quote] That in particular struck me somewhere deep enough to ponder for a while. Excellent post as always, nonic. Continued best wishes to you on your journey. x Todash [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/1/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 54 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,250 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �297 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 4 [B]Hrs:[/B] 13 [B]Mins:[/B] 45 [B]Seconds:[/B] 14

mitri You bet...That old non-smoking self is really taking on the world now...He is much younger now then he was then...And a whole lot smater... nonic

Danielle Thanks...You know I am ever so cautiously feeling that I have the upper hand on this thing now...For the first time since I began this journey I went out with friends last night. It was a Potugese Restaurant where I had spent many smoking nights hanging out with all manner of artists, poets, would be writers and various musicians. I used to spend all night with them eating and drinking and talking about the human condition, secular and sacred. I was a bit nervous about it, but I had been away to long and I think most of my friends just assumed that I had drifted off somewhere or other. Well I am pleased to say that I managed to stay there from 8:00 pm until 4:00 am, playing music and talking and such and never once wanting to smoke...It was the most incredible thing... However, as comfortable as last night and this morning were, I am very very very cautious as I move forward... Thank you for the wonderful job you do on this site, it has kept me going through many a difficult time... nonic [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 12/25/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 62 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,497 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $434 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 11 [B]Hrs:[/B] 14 [B]Mins:[/B] 10 [B]Seconds:[/B] 14

Hello all my friends Thank you all for being out there, I can't tell you how many times, this quit has been saved because I know you are there... This addiction is very much like a dream, a dream, that we have all accepted as a stone reality. Because it is very much a child of our own perceptions, anxieties and fears, it has become a part of us. The struggle is to allow the part of you that has always been a non-smoker to awaken and take charge. It may be difficult to find that part, but I guarantee it is there. You will recognize that self as a pre-teen, teen or twenty-something that once went out to explore the world. Along the way that self got scared, or felt something that made it uncomfortable and in that moment of vulnerability, nicotine was offered as a cure. Being young, we had not yet developed the virtue of patience and so we kept on getting our "quick fix without the mental pics". Problem solved... This was the magical cure all for hurt fear, avoidance, pain, uncertainty, lost faith, and broken dreams. And so as adults we still seek the magical genie...However, the sad fact is that we would have had an easier time of it, had we had the faith in our non-smoking self to deal with the issues of living. The nicotine dream is in reality a nightmare of gargantuan proportions. Since we have rubbed the lamp and invited it into our bodies, it has managed to convince us that it is a benign friend and companion, when in fact it is the purveyor of death...It sells us on the idea that it will ease a broken heart...it will infact squeeze a physical heart until it breaks...It convinced us that it calms us down...in fact it increases our agitation and then when it feels itself dying demands that we ingest more and increase our level of anxiety even higher... The genie does fear one thing though and that is knowledge...Once you wake that non-smoking self in you knowledge begins to flow into your mind again...You realize that ingesting 4000 chemicals is not a good thing to do, you begin to understand that you are capable of dealing with crisis on your own without falling into a nicotine dream...You can be sad without putting your arms around a cigarette... I am so happy that all of you recognize this and are fighting to awaken tha

Todash I believe with all my heart that there is a non-smoking self in all of us...But for some he or she is much like the movie character Rocky...You know the part of the first movie where he is fighting against Apollo Creed and he is just getting hammered...Well he fights back by taking every punch and saying things like "is that all you got", "That don't hurt...That don't hurt"...And in the end being reborn as a champion...That is alot like what our non-smoking selves needs to say each and every time a crave comes along..."Is that all you got" "that ain't nothin'"...Go on hit me again, I ain't goin down" nonic

Nonic, Very eloquently written! Thank you for sharing. Danielle _____________________ The SSC Support Team