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

Nicotine Cravings

Some smokers quit and never feel compelled to smoke again, whilst others feel they need constant vigilance to prevent resuming their smoking habit years after they quit. Usually tobacco cravings will often begin within the first 6 to 12 hours after quitting. Those people who have  to fight the strong urge to smoke again are comparable to the alcoholic who lives from day to day fighting their addiction. In these instances cravings can continue for a while after quitting. This often happens when some part of the non concious mind does not want to quit smoking and a further hypnosis […]

Some Facts About Nicotine

Smoking fosters a situation of nicotine dependence that usually occurs over a number of years. Withdrawal symptoms can include headaches, irritability, anxiety, fatigue, depression and weight gain. Nearly everybody experiences at least some of these symptoms but they are mostly temporary.

Smoking creates a chemical dependency for nicotine. Nicotine can act either as a stimulant or a sedative, depending on the amount taken. The smoker’s body finds an acceptable level of nicotine in order to experience the pleasurable sensations associated with smoking. Nicotine increases the release of dopamine which is the chemical that causes the sensation of pleasure. The first cigarette […]

Smoking – How Sweet It Is

Tobacco products are one of the few products that are not required to put the ingredients on the packaging. Contrary to popular belief cigarettes, pipe tobacco and cigars do not just contain tobacco. There are many different products in tobacco and one of the biggest is sugar. When tobacco is cured it is cured to achieve the highest possible sugar content as sugar aids in the taste of a cigarette. To increase the sugar content even more sugar is aften added to the tobacco, one of the more popular forms is molasses. Cigarettes contain between 20 – 30 % of sugar […]

Its in Your Values

A lot of people come to me feeling frustrated and beating themselves up because they can’t
quit smoking by themselves. They try willpower, patches, acupuncture, hypnosis
etc but still continue to smoke.

This is often because health is not at the top of their value system and they really do
not want to give up. Let’s look at the value system first:

Everybody has their own unique set of values and we all live our lives trying to fulfil
our values. If something is high in our value system we will do things to try
and fulfil it easily and will be focused. If that something is […]

I’ll Get Fat if I quit

A lot of people are afraid of quitting smoking because they feel that they will gain to
much weight when they quit. Most people who quit smoking gain on an average of
2 to 5 kg in the long term. What is clear is that the health benefits of not
smoking far exceed any health complications with the weight gain.

It is popularly believed that smoking decreases body weight by supressing the appetite. Studies
have shown that smokers do not eat less than non-smokers or ex-smokers and, in
fact they tend to eat slightly more.

Eating consistently increases in the first weeks after stopping smoking, but will […]

Want to Age and go Bald – Smoke

When talking of the dangers of smoking things such as cancer, emphysema and heart
problems are always mentioned but there are some more insidious effects from
smoking. This is primarily around blood circulation and oxygen uptake by the
blood.

Nicotine when smoked causes the blood vessels to constrict and this reduces the amount
of blood to supply nutrients to the cells. This is especially pronounced with
the small blood vessels that nourish the skin. The blood also takes up the
carbon monoxide from smoking rather than oxygen so the blood of smokers has
less oxygen to give to the cells.

The net effect of this is that the cells […]

Smoking Helps You to Survive

From the age of 12 to about 25 the urge to fit in and be accepted can and will override
the consequences of our actions.

The urge to fit in and be accepted is translated by the brain as a survival mechanism.

The habit of smoking often starts in the early teens as a way to fit in, this habit is
translated as a habit that helps survival and that is why the habit of smoking
can be hard to give up.

The brain is a wonderful organ but it can still be quite primitive. In the past if we
worked together and in a group we […]

Smoking and Triggers

Smoking is often associated with an activity in life. In other words people will smoke when they are doing certain tasks, these are called triggers. To Quit Smoking successfully these triggers have to be identified and then broken. A common way of breaking smoking triggers or dissociating smoking from activities is to use hypnosis and NLP. Some of the more common triggers are:

Smoking after a meal
Smoking with coffee or tea
Smoking whilst driving
Smoking when stressed or bored
Smoking at parties
Smoking when drinking
Smoking after sex
Smoking whilst talking on the phone

[…]

Gratefulness

Life dealt me a lesson today in being grateful for what I have. I have had challanges in painting a ceiling and was somewhat grumpy when I went to the pool shop with my broken chlorinator. The owner of the shop informed me that my repair bill would be over $ 600 which really made me grumpy. When I told the owner I could not afford it he told me that his new forklift had been stolen and as a result had put his back out having to load bags of salt into t been he shop. After buying some salt I was […]

You have to Want To

Recently I had a client come to me to quit smoking. I explained to her that the secret of quitting smoking is that you have to want to, not need to. If you do not want to quit smoking , hyptnotism, patches or chemical gums will not work. I explained this to the client as well as telling her that the two words, hope and try have to come out of her vocabulary. Saying I hope this will work or I am going to try this is just saying that you are not commited. The client said that she wanted […]

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