You are a slave to habit simply because you consent to be a slave.
Before reading further you should decide definitely that you honestly wish to quit smoking right now and that you have sought a strong Will to do so.
If faithfully done, the following regimes will destroy the tobacco habit.
Regime 1.
You must waste no time over this ?habit? and must treat the desire, first, middle, last and directly, leaving the habit to take care of itself. Thus, you must banish desire for nicotine by substituting for it desires of other descriptions. Keep the first out of mind. Keep the latter forever in thought.
If you quit for a few months and then start again, many will say that you are hopeless. You clearly do not yet genuinely desire freedom. You continue to smoke because you desire indulgence, or because you do not desire reform. Your appetite is your plea; but your desire lies under your appetite. Were you confronted by a loaded rifle, with the absolute assurance of being shot to death for lifting a cigarette, you would surely defer the indulgence because desiring life is stronger than one smoke. The contrary is often asserted, but it is simply the exaggeration of deluded martyrdom.
Regime 2.
Some physicians recommend for the tobacco habit the incessant eating of peanuts, inasmuch as a condition of the stomach seems to be engendered by them which revolts against nicotine. If you can nauseate yourself every time you crave tobacco you will cease to desire it. It is said that milk has the same effect in some cases.
Regime 3.
Eat heartily plain food, especially any kind which does not seem to agree with tobacco, and keep forever in mind the goal of freedom. Eat peanuts or drink milk instead of indulging your appetite in habit. Fix deeply in your soul the conviction that the difficulty is not insuperable, but will yield in time. This is true, because the entire physical system tends to adapt itself to new conditions. Continue these reform conditions long enough and you will be free.
Regime 4.
Don't talk about your effort and don't dwell upon your suffering. Keep yourself busy and outside as much as possible. Contrive to get a great amount of sound sleep every day. Take a noon nap daily. Flood your stomach with pure water day after day. If the weather permits, perspire freely. Put tobacco out of sight. Keep it out of mind. When the thought arises, banish the suggestion instantly. As you do so, and in order to do so, set the mind upon other matters.
Regime 5.
Don't suffer yourself to fall into the "dead stare", that unconscious standstill of mind which occasionally seizes people who are fighting these battles. Anticipate such spells, and throw yourself into action requiring no concentration of thought.
Regime 6.
Don't pity yourself. Entertain no sympathy for your suffering nor your weakness. Don't play the martyr. Don't class yourself with heroic reformers. Don't nurse your egotism. Don't imagine that you are doing some great thing. Forget all these temptations. People have fought on in battle with shattered arms. You can absolutely forget tobacco if you determine to do so.
Regime 7.
Don't ask God to cure these habits. All such "cures" have been psychological. God is the author of a true psychology and religious experience is psychological, to be sure; but God works through His own laws, one of which, underlying the crowning achievement of moral realms, soul development, is that Divine help is given to no human being in an especial manner or degree who can achieve success by obedience to ordinary principles of right living.
A person once declared that "the Lord had taken away his craving for tobacco." When closely and persistently questioned, he confessed that there had been times at first wherein his throat and mouth had felt "raw," one of the symptoms of tobacco denial. He had forgotten his desire in his intense religious excitement. Here was "Divine assistance," of course, but without any distinctively supernatural element.
A book on curing the tobacco habit, by Mae Levy, has among others, the following "dictums ":
-Having decided to quit tobacco, keep your thoughts upon the grand benefit soon to come, and do not allow yourself to be dissuaded from your purpose.
-Continue with tobacco as usual for two weeks. If you feel that you are making such progress that you can cease the use of tobacco before the fixed time, do not stop completely, reduce the quantity if so inclined.
-Sip all liquids and other soft foods, allowing them to remain for a brief period in the mouth before swallowing. Chew every mouthful or bite of solid or dry food many times before swallowing.
-Avoid foods or drinks that disagree with you.
-Consume eight glasses of liquid, non alcoholic and non gaseous, daily, between meals,
-Practice deep breathing every morning and night.
Faith, conceived as the affirmatively expectant attitude of the whole self, is one of the mightiest powers in this world. It is the fundamental element in auto suggestion.
You are therefore invited to make your entire thought and life a suggestion to your self that these directions, faithfully carried out, will infallibly eliminate from your nature the habits indicated.
But remember, faith without works is merely a 'say-so.' Real faith is confident action toward a goal. The continuation of such action measures the kind and power of faith supposed. You should, therefore, determine to persevere, a thousand years if necessary. But let it be remembered that mere resolution is only one half of real determination. Some people resolve, and then resolve again, never achieving victory. Others put 'bite' into the matter in hand once for all, and do not seem to know how to let go. The only cure for resolution is determination, for determination is just doing the thing resolved upon.
The soul that says, ?I am going to overcome,? will very likely fail. The leverage runs too far into the future. A valiant Will always acts on a short lever. You should, therefore, declare: ?I am overcoming! The thing is now being accomplished! The matter in hand is mastered.? This may seem a trifle false, but it is more than a trifle true if you really mean it. When you swear the needed thing now, it is by so much already done in your Will, and a good deal of it, unknown to you, is accomplished in the concrete.
If there is not enough will left in you to desire reform, you must consult a physician for a "cure"; and if this doesn?t work then to be sure, you must go on as a slave.
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