Mind Games Go Both Ways

As smokers, we often think of lighting up as an enjoyable pastime. Cigarettes offer us comfort, entertainment and companionship -- or so we think. At the same time, we relate smoking cessation to feelings of pain, misery and sacrifice, and for most of us, these opposing feelings exist and are reinforced on a subconscious level. They're below the surface of our thoughts, and the result is that we adopt unhealthy and inaccurate beliefs as facts of life when in reality they are only our distorted perceptions of the truth.

I'd like to introduce you to About.com Smoking Cessation forum member, Beth (Nyniane). In the article that follows, Beth helps us learn how to recognize thoughts that don't serve us as we move through recovery from nicotine addiction and reprogram our minds with thoughts that do. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience with others, Beth. Your advice helps us work our way through the smokescreen of faulty thoughts that nicotine puts in our path as we work to quit smoking.

Related:

• What is Junkie Thinking?

• Rationalizations for Smoking

• Nicotine Withdrawal and Junkie Thinking

_{Photo © Beth}