You do not want to give up smoking now because you are terrified of how you will feel when you stop.

If you have given up before, you will know that you will experience certain feelings, certain sensations in your body. 

You will feel empty, deprived and insecure. 

You will feel even lonely, as if you have lost an 'old friend' (more like a wicked witch in disguise!).

It is important to realize that when you give up smoking under this method, you WILL still experience these same feelings and bodily sensations - but it is at this point that this method differs radically from the old way.  

	The old way said that the secret to success was 'old fashioned will-power'. It acknowledged that you would feel lousy when you stopped and that the only way to succeed was to endure this unavoidable suffering.
It advised you to keep your mind off your desire to smoke by changing your routine or by substituting something else for the cigarette.

It promised you that if you had 'ENOUGH' willpower and 'fought' off all the terrible feelings when they came  - with time and patience, you would finally defeat the enemy - and succeed.

And many people did use that method and succeed - but at what price ? 

They have linked forever in most people's mind the idea that giving up smoking and pain are inexplicably linked.

But I hear you say : "They are. I have tried to give up before and it was hell".

I do not disagree with you. 

Giving up smoking can be hell. 

But the hell - the pain - does not come from giving up smoking but how you deal with the feelings you get when you give up  smoking.

Please underline the following in your mind: 

When you give up smoking, the feeling itself is not bad. It's only a temporary, RESTLESS, EMPTY feeling. 

The  pain that people associate with giving up smoking comes from RESISTING - from trying to deny or fight the feeling you get when you realize you can't smoke.

KEY IDEA

  

When you give up smoking the 'feeling' itself is not bad. The pain comes from worrying about and trying to resist or push this feeling away because you believe it is 'bad' or 'unbearable'.  

This is one of the most important concepts in this course.

When you give up smoking, again and again you will get that strong feeling which simply translates itself as : 'I want a cigarette.'

This is a real and tangible feeling. We all know it. It is OK. It is valid.