A CONSPIRACY. We all know the stereotype. The main character in the TV show decides to give up smoking.   We see him in bad-humor, walking up-and-down the room being torn apart by some intangible force. Soon we see him in a mood where he will virtually kill to get a cigarette - as he jumps up and down tearing his hair out. Who in their right mind would want to face that kind of agony ? And what better way could you get to persuade people NOT TO EVEN TRY   I wonder if it is only a coincidence that many of the early American TV shows where this MYTH first originated were sponsored by tobacco companies ? Enough said.   THE POWER OF A MYTH. What is really infuriating about this myth, though, is not only that TV and Film companies continue to perpetuate it but that people who genuinely want to give up are put off and frightened by these images. And as a result put off the day ( if it ever comes at all !) they will stop in order to avoid this pain - AND IT IS ALL AN ILLUSION. But because people BELIEVE IT IS TRUE IT AFFECTS THEM ACCORDINGLY. A belief may not be true in reality - but if we believe that it IS - then it will affect us deeply as if it were true.   WHEN THE EARTH WAS FLAT .......... A startling example of this is that for CENTURIES people believed that the earth was flat - and so for centuries, people were afraid to cross the sea where the sky and the sea met in case they fell off the earth ! Even though, at that time this belief was obviously incorrect the FACT that people BELIEVED it was TRUE AFFECTED their whole lives in regard to travel   Even though, at that time this belief was obviously incorrect the FACT that people BELIEVED it was TRUE AFFECTED their whole lives in regard to travel. All their attitudes, feelings and plans about traveling to different places were colored by this belief. It took one courageous man to challenge this belief and to prove it was nothing - to prove to people that there was no need for fear and terror if they wanted to sail around the world. Immediately, when people realized this was true their  attitude to travel was transformed. All their fear and apprehension at the prospect of traveling vanished. You, too have this false belief and fear that as you "sail" towards the horizon of giving up smoking permanently that  terrible pains and horrors await you. And because you have believed this for so long, like the travelers of old you begin to really feel terribly fearful if you have to give up smoking.   A STORY....... Imagine you were alive at the time when the world really  believed the earth was flat. Imagine: you still believe that if you travel  too far out to sea you could fall off the edge into oblivion; when, suddenly, because of circumstances beyond your control you are asked to sail out to sea  to find the king's lost money. And you are given no  choice. Now it is the night before sailing................. How do you think you would be feeling? Tense ? Anxious? In fact, probably pure simple dread because like everybody else you believe that if you sail too far out you might die and never be heard of again. Then, suddenly next morning, you hear the exciting news that has just reached your area and you can't believe it. A foreign sailor has sailed around the world and discovered that the earth is round and that sailing is one of the safest forms of travel available. In one instant, your whole attitude to your journey is transformed and now you are full of excitement and joy at the adventure ahead of you. As a smoker, the old belief that the journey ahead of you will be hard and terrible is false but if you continue to follow that old belief, you will feel the same fear and emotions as the travelers of old.   KEY IDEA   The old belief that the journey ahead of you must be hard and terrible is false but if you continue to follow that belief you will experience the same old fear, pain and uncertainty.   Thousands of us have ALREADY made the journey and we have already made the  great discovery:  if you approach the journey, in the right way there is nothing ahead of you but success, joy and freedom as you reach the land where non-smokers flourish. The only thing between you and that reality is a core belief that says that giving up smoking must  agony and should be avoided.

copyright New Era Publishing 1996  nicotine addiction