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Long Term Smoking Cessation
Clear Out the Mental Addiction to Smoking

By , About.com Guide

Updated November 13, 2006

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Terry Martin

Use affirmations.
While you’re working with your thoughts, plug some affirmations into your daily routine. Think of them as fortification. I’ve used them for years - they work.

Affirmations help me change my shoulds into musts.

There are two rules I use with affirmations:

1. I always affirm in the present tense.

For instance, I'll say:

I am a healthy non smoker!

Instead of:

I will be a healthy nonsmoker.

Your actions will fall in line with what you’re telling yourself more quickly when you think of your affirmations in the present rather than the future.

2. Repeat, repeat, repeat!

Affirmations are strengthened with repetition. I write them in my journal, and I speak them out loud as well. Repeat your affirmations while looking in a mirror. It may sound corny, but your words carry more clout when you look yourself in the eye and speak them out loud.

Use affirmations to move you toward what you want to change in your life.

Use them to change what cigarettes mean to you.

*******************************************

Today, three years after I quit smoking, I’m not just 1095 days away from that last cigarette I smoked, treading water and forcing myself not to smoke. I am free of the habit that I was chained to for so many years. I’ve changed what cigarettes mean to me, and in the process, I’ve also learned that I can control any event in my life with a shift of attitude. If the shift doesn’t come easily, I use the techniques above and work it until I have the effects I want.

Don’t let cigarettes steal your power. Work your quit and you’ll be rewarded with benefits and a richness of life that you’ll refuse to give up once you have it. Take the time to clear the mental addiction you have to your cigarettes now, and you won’t be plagued with wistful thoughts of smoking in the years to come.

If you want to change your life, change your mind!

Terry's Smoke Free Milestones:
Terry's Quit Smoking Story
Terry's 1 Year Milestone
Terry's 2 Year Milestone
Terry's 4 Year Milestone
Terry's 5 Year Milestone
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