As a teenager I was fit, focused on health and ‘pumped weights’ as a power weight lifter for my University.   After University, I was a Medic in the Army, so still fit and health!  I ate plenty of junk food, drank too many ‘brandy and cokes’, in fact Coke was my drink of choice!  It didn’t show on my body as I was so active.

Fast forward a few years, I became a scuba diver, my diet was extremely unhealthy, but still I was fit, slim and looked a picture of health.   To be honest, through all these years, I never thought about the future.   I never thought about the ‘punishment’ my body was taking. Because you don’t do you?  You don’t worry about your health when you are healthy, it is only when something goes wrong, that you start to think… oh, shit, I’d better do something about my lifestyle!

Wake Up!

My wake-up call only came a year or so back…  out of the blue, I had high blood pressure!  WT….

How did that happen?  Well, it didn’t take too long to figure out, too many oversized meals, lack of exercise and a lot of apathy were the culprits!  Time to change my lifestyle, my eating, my exercise!

Have you had ‘Your’ wake-up call?   If not, and you smoke, you know you are going to get one, don’t you?

My clients tell me that ‘the little voice’ is always chattering in the back of your mind – the voice that addresses all your fears!  You push it aside, but the fear still stays there:  the thought that you will die early or have a prolonged and miserable death!  The fear you won’t see your kids or grand-kids grow up!  Scared of getting the ‘Big C ‘ – lung cancer or worse!Choices road sign

The Real Truth.

Unfortunately, it is a real probability!  But it is not just lung cancer that is a concern, in fact only 24% of lung cancer is due to smoking!  Surprising, I thought so!  But 90% of bladder cancer, most throat cancer and virtually all respiratory diseases such as emphysema are directly related to smoking.  Worse is, they are terminal! 

You already know this, but you still smoke.  Why!  It could be that you are in that bubble where you don’t think it will happen to you.  But more likely it is your unconscious mind is keeping you safe by preventing you to quit! Every time you try to quit you sabotage yourself and fail, Right?

Now that really sound bizarre doesn’t it,  but it is true.  You see, the biggest problem with smoking is that it tricks the unconscious mind into associating smoking with safety and survival. Since the unconscious is the most powerful part of your mind it overrides the conscious thought of stopping smoking. Most smokers start smoking to be part of a group, to fit in.  Our primitive brain knows there is safety in numbers, therefore being in a group increases your chances of safety and survival.

Unconscious Thought

What is needed to successfully quit smoking is for the unconscious to change the thinking that smoking is associated with safety and survival.

The most successful technique to use to quit smoking is to change the thought patterns, around smoking and survival, in the unconscious.  The best method to do this is hypnosis. Hypnosis allows you to give suggestions of change directly to the unconscious Mind.  When in Trance the unconscious Mind is like a five-year-old and will accept these suggestions. This is the reason you can quit smoking cigarettes quickly and easily, usually with only one session.

When you decide to stop smoking consider hypnosis,  as it can help you to quit smoking quickly, effectively and easily.

About Steve Gardiner

Stephen Gardiner originates from Rhodesia, (Zimbabwe) then working around the globe before finally settling in Brisbane Australia. As a scientist, Steve always had an interest in human development, especially Mind Plastisicity and how we cope with stress, anxiety and addictive behaviours. Over the past 15 years Steve has assisted many clients to transform their lives by resolving the obstacles holding them back.

Entries by Steve Gardiner