Self-hypnosis...don't give up after a few failures

Of those who have failed (and the percentage is small) one complaint has been that they didn't know what to do with the time or the physical action previously used in lighting and smoking a cigarette. They failed to understand the importance of the concentration break.

Others have said that in a crowd, and particularly after only a few days' trial, they missed smoking. They failed in understanding the pseudo-prestige of smoking. Some have said that the smell of cigarette smoke tempted them back to smoking. They hadn't sufficiently established the stimulus of clean, sweet air as a response to the habit of not smoking.

A few have said, "Who cares?" They deliberately closed their minds to the consequences, and are the type of people who are afraid to entertain the thought of failure.

In every case where there has been a failure (and again I emphasize that they have been few), it was caused, I feel, by being in a rush to stop smoking before the pre-conditioning process with self-hypnosis had been completed. Actually, one can hardly argue with this since the stronger pre-conditioning will take precedence in any circumstance.

Just remember, as you begin, that the only known way to rid oneself of an unwanted habit is to substitute a new habit in the place of the old one. The nail-biter who fails once, and finds himself/herself nibbling at his/her nails, doesn't have to give up his resolve to quit. You don't stop driving if you happened to have an accident. And the golfer with a slice in his drive needn't feel his game is ruined forever. Practice will improve any habit or skill.

POSSIBLY YOU'LL STOP THIS WEEKEND

When you have established your new mental habit pattern with self-hypnosis, and when you have practiced the three deep breaths to stimulate it-nothing can defeat you. You've got to succeed, because the primary law of psychology, beginning with the most primitive urges of survival, is that a stimulus to the deepest preconditioning must take precedence over any other habit pattern.