As a smoker living in a democratic society you have every right to fill your lungs with smoke. Notice that I said YOUR lungs. Your lungs, throat and mouth are your own personal property and only you have the last word as to how that living tissue will be budgeted and spent. But in fairness, base that decision to put your body at risk on TRUTH and not on skillfully crafted LIES. See clearly through the haze of smoke at what is looking back at you.
TRUTH #1
Smoking is an amazingly clever commercial venture that lures you, the consumer, into giving vast sums of money to corporate executives who are taking home paychecks considerably larger than yours and mine combined. Your habit will continue to keep them in silk ties, summer homes, fast boats and fat portfolios.
TRUTH #2
Tobacco company executives are at this very moment searching for an unsuspecting consumer to replace you when you die. That new consumer may well be your child or your grandchild. Not one of those executives will be there to comfort your loved ones when you go and it is probable that you will be gone years or decades before your time.
TRUTH #3
You may feel the need to continue smoking for important personal reasons and that is your decision. Smoking may be your body's effort to break a shallow breathing pattern. Smoking may be a socially acceptable excuse for taking a break from your long hours of difficult work. The habit may be tangled in with your need for companionship. Man has long socialized around tobacco and alcohol.
TRUTH #4
Smoking has absolutely nothing to do with clear mountain streams, sunny days at the beach, rugged independent cowboys or smiling women in velvet gowns. If you are waiting for cigarette smoke to enhance your sexuality, you are going to be waiting a very long time . . . that is unless you find bad breath, smelly hair, yellow teeth and a hacking cough sexy.
TRUTH #5
Smoking is not "grown-up." It is "grown-gullible." Smoking does not signify to the world that you are now a man (or a woman). It signifies to the world that you have been rounded up and will be run off the cliff with the rest of the herd. No matter how the tobacco companies label you, you are unique, important and irreplaceable. And thats the truth!
TRUTH #6
Addiction is war and you are hooked on one of the most addictive substances known to man. Nicotine has you by the throat (literally). ADDICTION IS WAR. It is, however, a war that you can and must win. Losing is simply too expensive, too brutally painful and too tragic for you, your family and your country. Fortunately, this is a war that you don't have to fight alone (although you will be the ultimate hero).
When you choose to quit, explore every organization, every online support site and every product available to you. You will also find your doctors to be informative and helpful. If not, find new doctors. You are brave to even attempt to break this stranglehold. You are indeed a David battling a huge and merciless Goliath.
SUGGESTION
While smoking is inseparable from your pulmonary activity and equipment, your breathing nonetheless remains a surprisingly powerful tool (perhaps your slingshot). Mother Nature designed your breathing to bridge your mind, body and spirit so focusing on your breath brings your total being to your defense. Even if you have been seriously addicted for many years you should be able to manage this first small step in the right direction.
Every time, BEFORE YOU REACH FOR A CIGARETTE, sit quietly, eyes closed. Breathe out all your used up stale air by drawing your bellybutton in gently toward your spine. Breathe in by relaxing your bellybutton and sending the fresh new breath into an imaginary small balloon behind your bellybutton. With each outgoing breath, relax the drawstring muscles around your mouth. Relax your jaw hinges and your tongue. Give yourself the luxury of half a dozen breaths. You may still reach for the cigarette (the battle isnt that easy!) but you have put the first stone into your slingshot.
Live long and prosper. Please.
Diane Neuman founded The Yoga Workshop in San Francisco where she taught for 11 years. Neuman wrote and illustrated HOW TO GET THE DRAGONS OUT OF YOUR TEMPLE (Celestial Arts). Currently Neuman writes and illustrates a health blog that draws on her 50 years of studying yoga, advanced breathing techniques, stress management and relaxation exercises. To find her blog and learn a new breathing lesson every week, check into http://www.breathingdeepexercises.com/
