Nasia Davos

Smoking Triggers: All You Need to Know About Your Triggers & How to Crush Them

Perhaps, if you’re like me, you’ve dreamed of quitting smoking while on vacation or wished there was a rehab for smokers, where you could escape your smoking triggers and the stresses of everyday life.

But what happens when you return home, and your triggers are there waiting for you?

In this article, you’ll learn:

The 4 types of smoking triggers.
How your triggers stop you from quitting smoking.
If you should avoid your smoking triggers when you first quit.
And how to crush your triggers with the CBQ Method.

Smoking Triggers: What Are They?

The smoking triggers, or else cues, are all the situations that remind you to smoke.

Some common triggers are: anxiety, boredom, driving, taking a break, finishing a meal, having a drink, feeling upset, or even celebrating.

You’re connected to your smoking habits through your triggers.

Because your triggers spark your desire to smoke and intensify your cravings.

At first glance, it may seem that after facing a trigger, you end up smoking – almost automatically.

But as we explain in the third quit smoking stage of the CBQ method, there’s a chain reaction (mostly subconscious) that leads to you picking up a cigarette and smoking it.

That chain reaction starts with a trigger.

For example, you experience stress (trigger). This trigger causes you to think “I need a cigarette to relax” (craving thought), which makes you feel like smoking (emotion) so you eventually smoke (behavior).

Your triggers affect your thoughts, your thoughts affect your emotions, and your emotions affect your behavior.

Trigger -> Craving Thought -> Emotion -> Behavior

You can learn more about this in my TEDx talk.

How Different Situations Turn Into Smoking Triggers

For every smoker, eventually, smoking becomes part of your routine and it becomes a coping mechanism that’s present in everything you do. (When I was a smoker, you could hardly find a photo of me without a cigarette between my fingers.)

So with time everyone and everything seems to make you smoke.

Because while you smoke and nicotine goes to your brain and releases dopamine, you’re doing certain things and activities; you’re living your life.

So your brain has learned to link smoking to certain activities, routines, habits, and people. And with time, all these situations become triggers.

For example, if you usually smoke while talking on the phone, then after a while talking on the phone will trigger your cravings.

Or if you smoke when you’re bored or stressed, then your brain has learned to expect a dopamine release when you feel that way.

So after a while feeling bored or stressed is an instant reminder for you to smoke.

If you don’t, your self-talk, your craving mind comes in and tells you:

“You need one.”

“If you don’t smoke you won’t be able to cope.”

“Just one cigarette.”

Why Does Your Brain Insist You Smoke?

Simply because nicotine has hijacked the dopamine pathways in your brain and makes it believe you need nicotine to survive – just like you need food.

Of course, you don’t need nicotine to survive and your brain is not working against you on purpose.

Your brain just has outdated information.

But whatever the brain can learn, it can unlearn it. I’ll show you how in a bit.

The issue is that by constantly linking your emotions, situations, moments, and people to smoking, it’s easy to think that without nicotine, you can’t relax, socialize, enjoy life, take a break, drive or concentrate.

It’s easy to think that without smoking your cigarettes will magically take away with them your capacity to enjoy life and cope with your problems.

But the truth is that you just don’t know how to live as a non-smoker – yet.

But everything you do as a smoker you can do better as a non-smoker.

The 4 Types of Smoking Triggers

1. Emotional Triggers

All smokers smoke either to boost a good emotional state or to escape from a bad one. These are emotional triggers.

When you’re drinking your coffee, you smoke to enjoy your coffee even more. —that’s a Boost.

When you’re bored or anxious, you smoke to alter that state.—that’s an Escape.

Or when you feel depressed, you will smoke to feel better. —again, an Escape.

When you are with your friends, colleagues, or partner, you smoke to connect and enjoy their company. — that’s a Boost.

Which emotional states are you trying to escape or boost by smoking? Make a list if you can.

See, there are many ways to quit smoking. But none of them will work unless…

You discover new ways to manage your emotions without smoking ….before you quit.

Let me explain.

If you had never smoked in your life, you wouldn’t be relying on cigarettes to calm down. And you wouldn’t be more anxious as a person. You would have found different ways to relax when you are stressed – just like non-smokers do.

But now, you are just used to relaxing by smoking. That doesn’t mean that you can’t relax in other ways.

You can!

You can learn 3 ways to manage your emotions without cigarettes here.

2. Social Triggers

Social triggers can social occasions and people.

Social occasions

For example, if every time you’re at a party, you smoke…then after a while you may think you can’t enjoy a party without smoking.

Because in your mind having fun and smoking are one and the same. Other social occasions can be:

a wedding
vacation
your birthday
dinner

But the strongest social triggers are…

People. If you habitually smoke with your partner, your best friend, your colleagues, or your neighbor, then after a while you may find it challenging to maintain a conversation with them without lighting up a cigarette.

You will feel that something is missing.

And when the people we see or love the most, are the people we smoke with…

… then we unconsciously fear that quitting smoking will damage our connection with them- even if that’s far from the truth.

In this short video, I show you how to enjoy social occasions as a non-smoker.

3. Environmental Triggers

Environmental triggers are all the places you have linked to smoking. It can be your:

Home.
A friend’s house.
Your workplace.
Certain walking distances you make every day
A bar.
Or your car.

Research shows that context and environment play a huge role and can strengthen or break any habit.

So if you habitually smoke while driving, then after a while getting in your car will become a trigger that reminds you to smoke.

4. Double-Habit Triggers

I call this category double-habit triggers because what reminds you to smoke are other habits you have.

Drinking coffee or alcohol, watching tv, eating and even talking on the phone are all habits.

If you usually smoke while drinking your coffee, it may seem that you can’t enjoy your coffee unless you smoke. And if you quit, life won’t be as fulfilling or enjoyable without cigarettes. But as you’ll see in a bit, that’s not the case.

All 4 Types of Smoking Triggers Can Happen at the Same Time

Many times you can encounter all those types of triggers at the same time.

Imagine you quit and you’re going out to see a friend who smokes. Social trigger.

You meet at a place you used to hang out when you were a smoker. Environmental trigger

You’re having a drink. Double habit trigger.

And you feel drained from the day, stressed and tired. Emotional trigger.

Should You Avoid Your Smoking Triggers When You First Quit?

You may have heard “experts” telling you to avoid your smoking triggers when you first quit.

But is this realistic?

Is it sustainable?

Most importantly…is it helpful or harmful?

According to the CBQ Method, you should never avoid your triggers.

Now I’m not saying to force yourself to face your triggers if you’re not ready, but don’t avoid them either. Just go on about your day, go on about your life.

Why?

Because when you stop smoking your brain starts breaking the associations between your triggers and smoking.

How to Weaken Your Smoking Triggers with the CBQ Method

When you put yourself in situations where you used to smoke and you don’t… and you are relaxed in these situations… you’re actually allowing your brain to get new information.

Because you show your brain that you don’t need smoking to enjoy and cope in these situations (which is what it used to think.)

You show your brain that nothing happened because you didn’t smoke.

This new experience creates new non-smoking memories and therefore, new neuropathways in your brain.

That’s how you crush your triggers, rewire your brain, and rewrite the script in your mind of how to be a non-smoker in different situations.

It’s important to expose yourself to your triggers while feeling good.

If you encounter a trigger and you feel bad, this actually gives your brain the opposite message. It tells your brain that it should keep reminding you to smoke so you can feel good. We don’t want that.

What about Alcohol?

The only exception to the rule of facing your triggers after you quit is alcohol.

Of course, you can socialize and unless you’re recovering from alcohol addiction you can have a drink.

However, it’s best to pace your drinking until you feel comfortable in your smoke-free life. It would be a good idea if at first, you had just one drink while socializing or had a glass of water in between drinks.

Summary

Triggers are all the situations that remind you to smoke. Over the years, your brain has learned to associate all these situations with cigarettes, and eventually, those situations become triggers.

To break the associations and weaken your triggers with the CBQ method, you need to expose yourself to your triggers while having a good experience.

Because every time you experience a situation as a non-smoker, you’re rewiring your brain and break past associations with smoking.

Just like your brain learned to expect nicotine, it can learn to not expect it and be content and happy without it.

After all, you were born a non-smoker, so you can return to that state; it just takes some practice.

Like we said before, the key to rewiring your brain is feeling good while facing your triggers.

So how can you do that? You need to change how you think about smoking and overcome the mental addiction, which is what the CBQ method is all about.

Over the last decade, the CBQ method has reached and helped millions of people quit easily by overcoming their mental addiction and changing how they experience smoking. And it can help you too.

You can get the free foundational video of the CBQ Method + the CBQ starter guide with tips for every quit smoking stage, an overview of your journey, and everything you need to start overcoming the mental addiction.

Get the foundational video of the CBQ Method here.

7 Ways to Avoid Smoking Relapse This Time

by Nasia Davos

Do you want to quit and avoid any future smoking relapse so you can finally break free from this addiction?

Perhaps you’re worried or afraid that your next quit attempt might fail.

Maybe you have failed in the past, and you don’t want this to happen again.

Or maybe you quit before but started smoking again in an unexpected moment of weakness; you had a bit too much to drink, a friend offered you a cigarette, or worse, you got some bad news, and you didn’t know how to cope.

If any of the above has happened to you, then this article is for you.

Because I will show you how to avoid smoking relapse so you can stop smoking for good.

No matter what happens in your life.

See, I also failed to quit many times.

And it was only after creating the CBQ method, that I was able to quit smoking successfully and understand why we relapse, and how to prevent that.

The reason we relapse is this: we don’t prepare adequately for our attempt.

And because of that, we don’t know how to protect ourselves in vulnerable moments.

Now I am not saying there won’t be vulnerable moments after you quit. Life gets hard for all of us, and we can’t avoid that.

But what we can avoid is to start smoking again.

And there are 7 ways to do that.

7 ways you can prepare for your next attempt so you can quit and dodge a quit smoking relapse.

Some of these ways are exercises and techniques while others are different ways to think about smoking.

But all of these practices come from the CBQ method; the quit smoking method that has 94% success rate.

So I know that if you apply all seven, you will stop smoking naturally and never feel tempted to smoke another cigarette in your life.

How to Avoid Smoking Relapse

1. Don’t Quit for the Rest of Your Life

Wait. Isn’t that the point?

Well, yes.

The point is to quit for the rest of your life. And to never miss cigarettes again.

But.

If you say to yourself “I am quitting smoking forever; for the rest of my life,” chances are that you will feel overwhelmed.

Thinking “I will never smoke again” probably makes you feel deprived.

I mean, “forever” or “never” are big words that make your goal to stop smoking seem unattainable.

And nobody needs this extra stress when quitting. Right?

But what if you broke down your goal to stop smoking to more approachable steps?

Wouldn’t this make quitting seem easier, more achievable and permanent?

It would!

How to Quit Without Feeling Overwhelmed

You need to take it one day at a time.

Here’s what I mean: If you set your intention to stay smoke-free one day at a time… then quitting smoking becomes much easier and a quit smoking relapse becomes much harder.

You get to celebrate every day you are smoke-free.

And you go to bed at night feeling proud of yourself.

Now if you think you’re going to crack without smoking during the day, tell yourself “I can have a smoke in an hour or so if I really want one.”

By that time, you’d probably have forgotten about it.

Something else you can do is to calculate the money saved each day you don’t smoke. Click here to calculate how much money you will save by quitting smoking.

2. Make a Real Decision to Quit

If you don’t really decide to stop smoking, then it is very likely to encounter a relapse.

Here’s what I mean.

Saying: “I should stop smoking” or “I will try and see how it goes,” is not making a firm decision to quit.
Really now, how many shoulds do you say every day?
“I should eat healthier.”
“I should exercise more.”
“I should call that person.”

But how many of these shoulds do you actually do?
Probably none.

The same applies to quitting smoking.

Knowing or saying that you should quit is not enough to make you take action.

Your logic just can’t overpower the emotional connection you have with your habit.

You know you want to quit – but there is still something tempting you to smoke.

What’s tempting you is that you haven’t REALLY decided to quit.

Making a firm decision overcome this addiction is the first quit smoking stage of the CBQ method, called “Choose to Quit.”

If you smoke your last cigarette before completing this first stage, you will relapse the moment you feel tempted.

But if you follow this stage and decide to stop smoking the right way, then nothing will stop you from succeeding.

3. See Yourself as A Non-Smoker

Being able to visualize your smoke-free self will motivate you to kick this habit permanently.

But at the moment, being a non-smoker, it is out of your perception.

Or even worse, it is a painful image!

And why on earth would you want to go through a painful process to achieve a painful result?

You wouldn’t.

If you have no empowering and compelling way of seeing yourself as a non-smoker…

And if you can’t imagine how good it feels to be a nicotine-free…

How can you actually quit?

It’s hard.

How to Visualize Yourself as A Non-Smoker Even If You’ve Recently Started Smoking Again

You will stop smoking and avoid any potential smoking relapse if you create a compelling yet realistic image of yourself as a happy non-smoker.

You have to like the idea of being healthy more than the idea of having a smoke with your coffee.

Really.

You must be able to feel all the benefits you will gain by stopping smoking:

•be healthy once again

•get your peace of mind back

•breathe better

•have more energy

•stop worrying about how smoking might be harming your health

•get rid of the cigarette smell

•stop wasting a fortune on cigarettes

•reclaim the lost youth from your appearance

•and live a long life with your loved ones.

•Or maybe just you are sick of being controlled by a nicotine stick.

Just imagine all the benefits of quitting smoking.

Imagine yourself being free.

And keep this image in your mind every time you feel like starting smoking again.

4. Believe Quitting is Possible for You

I’ve seen confident and persistent people believing they can do anything… except quitting smoking.

Or even worse, they try to quit without having a deep empowering and encouraging belief that they will be successful.

The problem?

If deep inside you believe that you are going to smoke again, then that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

Believing that you can’t quit smoking for good, is a limiting belief.

Limiting beliefs are all the things we think we can’t do.

Sometimes we believe we’re not good enough or strong enough to achieve our goals.

Other times we believe other people who tell us we can’t do certain things.

Has anyone ever told you that you couldn’t achieve a goal you set?

How did that affect your psychology and your belief in yourself?

If you believe you can’t quit smoking, then you will always feel that something is making you go back to smoking- and that’s your own beliefs.

Nothing more.

But if you have faith in yourself, then it will be easy to remove all the fears and obstacles that prevent you from becoming a happy non-smoker.

That’s why the second quit smoking stage, “Change Your Mindset,” is all about strengthening your belief that:

That it is possible to quit.
AND that you can do it.

5. Learn How to Manage Your Emotions Without Cigarettes

There is no doubt that smoking helps you cope when you’re feeling stressed or down.

Every time you light up a cigarette you do it either to boost a good emotional state or escape from a bad one.
Think about it.

When you are stressed, you will probably light up a cigarette or two to relax.- escape
When you are happy, you will smoke to complete that fulfilling moment- boost
When you are depressed you will smoke to feel better- escape

Cigarettes have become your comfort and your friend because they are always available to you when you need them.

That’s why it might be hard to avert a relapse after quitting smoking.

The only way to stop smoking permanently without feeling anxious and deprived is to go through the 3rd quit smoking stage.

During the third stage of the CBQ method, which is “Change your Smoking Pattern,” you learn how to relax, cope with boredom, socialize, concentrate and enjoy life better without cigarettes.

Just imagine how it would be like if you didn’t need your smokes to go through your day.

Learn how to apply the 3rd quit smoking stage. Just enter your name and email address so that I can send you the link to the video of the 4 quit smoking stages of the CBQ method.

Moving on…

6. Think Before Lighting Up

Behind every cigarette you smoke, there is a smoking trigger.

Smoking triggers are all the emotions, states, and situations that make you light up- instantly.

Most triggers are common to all smokers, but you also have your own smoking triggers that come from your lifestyle.

For example, drinking coffee, finishing your meal or feeling stressed… will probably trigger a cigarette craving.

Or if you habitually smoke in your living room, then after a while just being in your living room will be enough to increase your craving for a cigarette.

The problem is that when you encounter any smoking trigger, you light up without second-guessing it.

This automatic response is what makes your habit strong. That’s how you relapse.

And since there will always be a smoking trigger to remind you of your habit, the only solution is for you to take control over your triggers – instead of them controlling you.

That’s why one of the crucial steps in avoiding quitting smoking relapse, is being aware of your triggers.

And when you want to smoke, take a moment before you light up.

At first, wait for 10 seconds.

After a while, start waiting for 15 seconds, then 20 seconds and so on.

Extend the waiting period for as long as you can.

7. Have an Alternative

What smokers usually do is they try to resist smoking with willpower hoping that the desire to smoke will eventually fade away.

And it doesn’t.

On the contrary, the more you resist smoking, the more you intensify your urge to smoke.

Because you think about it more!

The reason this happens is simple: You can’t just suppress or forget something you’ve been doing at least 20 times per day for decades.

It’s impossible.

The only permanent way to break free and be safe from any future smoking relapse is to find healthy habits to replace smoking.

The 4th and last quit smoking stage of the CBQ method, “Condition Your Smoke-Free Life,” shows you how to remain a non-smoker by replacing smoking with another healthy habit.

Not another crutch or addiction. But with a beneficial, healthy habit.

But be careful. This new habit has to:

1. Satisfy the same emotional needs that you currently fulfill with smoking.

It has to fight boredom, stress and offer you relaxation and pleasure.

2. Occupy your mind and hands at the same time.

As long as your new habit follows the above parameters, it will help you find satisfaction and connection in other things instead of smoking.

Conclusion

The easiest and safest way to avoid quit smoking relapse is to quit while applying these 7 principles:

And if you have recently started smoking again, then try to quit again using these 7 ways.

But do it now that you still have momentum.

Each of these 7 practices to fend off smoking relapse comes from a quit smoking stage of the CBQ method.

To access the exclusive video of the 4 quit smoking stages, click here.

Just enter your name and email address so I can send you your video.

These 4 stages are the complete process that takes you from a smoker who enjoys cigarette to a non-smoker who doesn’t need them.

Get the 4 quit smoking stages now.

The 3 Tricks Your Mind Plays On You When Deciding To Quit Smoking

by Nasia Davos

The Clash of Minds

“I have to quit smoking.” You’ve probably said this many times when deciding to quit smoking.

Maybe you wake up in the morning coughing and feeling nauseous because you were chain smoking the night before.

Perhaps you catch yourself running out of breath at odd times.

Or maybe a loved one pursued you to stop and you thought you should give it a go because deep down you know they are right.

And although you have the best intentions about quitting….you still find yourself lighting up a cigarette after a few days.

Now here’s where it gets interesting.

People go back to smoking even they’re using nicotine gums, patches or pills.

They light up a cigarette even if they know how much it’s harming their health.

They smoke one cigarette after the other even if they know how many money problems, restrictions, and family arguments smoking is causing them.

BUT WHY?

Why would you keep on smoking, even though you know you shouldn’t?

Smokers are not crazy. There’s a pretty simple explanation as to why they don’t quit.

And it has to do with, what else?

This complex machine called “mind.” Our mind has more or less two aspects.

Our logic and our emotions (remember that our emotions are part of our brain, too).

Sometimes our logic and our emotions work together. Other times, they don’t.

For example, just remember the last time you attacked a delicious cake, even though you’d promised yourself to go on a diet (or is it just me?).

What happened there?

Your logic wanted you to go on a diet, but your emotions wanted you to eat and feel good at that moment.

There was a clash of minds. Your logic and your emotions were not on the same page.

Well, that’s exactly what happens with smoking.

Let me explain.

Deciding to Quit Smoking: Logic vs. Emotions

So your logic says you must stop smoking because you are harming your health, your pocket and the feelings of those who love you.

On the other hand, your emotions may not be on board.

Your emotions might be telling you that you need smoking to feel relaxed, happy and fulfilled.

As a result, you feel worried about becoming cranky without a cigarette. Or about what you’re gonna do with your hands when you’re bored.

Or about how you can relax without smoking.

And let’s face it: if you feel bad about quitting, then your decision to quit will not stick with you.

Know what I mean?

That’s why we only use the CBQ quit smoking method. Because this is the only method that removes your desire for cigarettes. Here I show you how to stop desiring cigarettes with the CBQ method.

But how exactly do your emotions affect your psychology and your decision to quit smoking?

The answer is simple. Your emotions play some mind tricks on you that make you postpone quitting.

These are not vague, wishy-washy, wizard-of-Oz kind mind tricks. No. I hate these things.

These mind tricks (or as they’re called in Psychology, cognitive biases), happen to all of us for all kinds of things. It’s just how our mind works.

The good news is that once you know these mind tricks, something great will happen:

You will be able to make your emotions work for you and help you quit smoking.

Yes, knowing about these mind tricks gives you power over them. Because when you know how your emotions work, you can change them so you can quit smoking and feel GOOD about it.

Always remember that you are in charge.

Ok so here are the 3 most common mind tricks that your mind plays on you when you try to quit smoking and what to do to avoid them.

Ready?

Let’s roll.

The 3 Mind Tricks

Mind trick #1. “I will quit later. Nothing will happen to me.”

How many times have you said “I will quit on Monday”, or after Christmas, Summer, a promotion or any stressful event….

…but when that time came, you postponed quitting for another time in the future?

It just wasn’t urgent enough to quit at that moment.

If that has happened to you, is because of a very common mind trick, called “The Present Bias.”

What’s this Present Bias?

The present bias makes us care ONLY about what’s happening now.

While living and enjoying the present moment is good and healthy, it sometimes leads us to ignore our future.

And that’s a problem when it comes to quitting smoking.

Because not worrying about the future, makes you:

Feel invincible.
And focus only on the instant gratification you get from a cigarette.

So you stop thinking about the consequences of smoking.

As a result, the “I will quit tomorrow” becomes “I will quit next week”, next week becomes next year and next year becomes never.

Another way to spot the present bias mind trick is by noticing if you have thoughts like:

“I know smokers who lived up to 90 years old”

or “Yes, smoking causes cancer, but I don’t think this could ever happen to me.”

This mind trick is responsible for most of our bad habits – unhealthy eating, drinking and yes, procrastinating.

But like everything else, you can easily overcome it.

What to do:

To overcome the present bias mind trick, you need to create a vivid image of how your life will be like in 10 or 20 years from now if you keep on smoking.

Let’s do this here.

Ok, so the craving strikes.

STEP A: Close your eyes and picture your life 10 years from now as a SMOKER.
Where are you?
What are you doing?
Who are you with?
How is your health?
Make this image really detailed and keep it in your mind for a few moments.

STEP B: Visualize yourself 10 years from now as a NON-SMOKER.

See yourself in the future looking vibrant, healthy and energetic.

You are healthy and strong. You don’t worry about how smoking might be harming your health anymore.

You feel free.
Feel how it feels like to take full uninterrupted breaths.

What are you doing with all the money you have saved by quitting smoking?

Picture yourself enjoying your life with your loved ones. And hold on to that beautiful image for a few moments.

Moving on…

Mind trick #2. “I will lose my only comfort.”

While quitting, you might have thoughts and worries about what you’re gonna lose or miss by quitting smoking.

Your mind might tell you that you have too many things going on in your life. And that smoking is your only way of coping; your crutch.

It will tell you that you can’t give up smoking. Because if you do, you will be so anxious and irritated that you might fight with your loved ones or your coworkers.

Yes, every time you have a craving, your mind will pop in only to remind you of all the emotional comfort you will lose by quitting.

Does this sound familiar?

If yes, you are not alone.

This mind trick is called “The Loss Aversion Bias.”

The WHAT?

This mind trick comes from our strong innate desire to avoid losing something.

In fact, we prefer NOT to lose something we already have than to gain something new.

Think about it.

The pain of losing $200 from your wallet is greater than the pleasure of winning $200 in a lottery.

Well, the same applies to quitting smoking.

The fear of what you will LOSE by quitting -your habit, a stress-aid, your crutch-… overshadows all the things you will GAIN by quitting.

Think about it.

These are some of the benefits you think you will lose by quitting smoking. You probably believe that smoking helps you:

Relieve your anxiety
Socialize
Enjoy life and its pleasures
Take a mental break
Keep your hands busy
Cope with boredom
Concentrate
Enjoy your “me-time”
Or even control your weight.

And these are only a few of the benefits you will GAIN by quitting smoking. You probably want to:

Be healthy once again
Get your peace of mind back
Breathe better
Have more energy
Stop worrying about how smoking might be harming your health
Get rid of the cigarette smell
Stop wasting a fortune on cigarettes
Reclaim the lost youth from your appearance
And live a long life with your loved ones.
Or maybe just you are sick of being control by a nicotine stick.

What this all boils down to, is that your mind tends to ignore all the benefits of quitting smoking.

But the truth is that all of these benefits are there. You just have to focus on them.

The benefits of quitting are real. The benefits of smoking are an illusion.

What to do: Make a list of all the things you will gain by quitting smoking.

Every time you have a thought about what you will lose by quitting smoking counterattack it with a thought about what you will gain by quitting smoking.

After a while, your mind will naturally focus on the benefits of quitting, and you will start WANTING to quit like never before.

Mind trick #3. “I can’t be happy without my smokes.”

If you’ve ever felt too attached to your smoking habit or if you’ve ever felt that quitting might take some happy moments away from your daily life…. again, there is an explanation for this.

This mind trick is called “The Familiarity Bias.”

What’s that now?

The familiarity bias is when our emotions tell us to stick to what we know.

We are creatures of habit, so keeping a routine that’s familiar to us, makes us feel stable, safe and in control.

Fact is, we tend to choose familiar things over unfamiliar ones, even if we have all the evidence that it’s not the BEST choice.

For example, we tend to buy a well-advertised product than risk trying something new. When we like a specific brand of milk, we stick to it.

Also, we like the people who are similar to us because they feel familiar.

It’s human nature.

We feel safer doing what we know- even though our habits might be destructive to our health and well-being.

And the same thing applies to smoking.

Although your logic knows it’s the worst option for your health, your familiarity bias mind trick keeps you stuck to what you know – your habit.

But of course, you can overcome it.

What to Do when Deciding to Quit Smoking:

The key here is becoming familiar with the idea of being a non-smoker. Sounds simple. And it is.

What you can do is find 1 or 2 people who have quit smoking and ask them how their lives have changed since then.

(It can be someone you know from your social circles or even someone’s story you found on the internet.)

Ok, so you know the 3 most common mind tricks your mind plays on you when you think about quitting. What’s next?

What comes next, is knowing what are the 4 quit smoking stages. Following these 4 stages will help you quit smoking and never miss it for the rest of your life.

They are simple and they work for all smokers because they follow the exact 4 stages that our brain gets attached or detached from a habit or an addiction.

Click here to access to the video of the 4 quit smoking stages.

All you need to do is enter your name and email address so I can send you the link to your video.

Get the exclusive video of the 4 stages now.

6 Things to Do Instead of Smoking that Knockout Your Cravings

by Nasia Davos

Why do you need things to do instead of smoking?

One of the biggest side effects of quitting smoking is the cigarette cravings.

Cravings can be extremely overwhelming. They create anxiety, agony, frustration… And the more you resist a smoking urge with willpower… then more you want to smoke!

But what makes a craving SO overwhelming?

Truth be told, a craving is nothing more than a physical sensation just like hunger. There is no physical pain.

No spasms, no cramps, no aches.

So what is it?

What makes the need to smoke so overwhelming is the mental and emotional agony that this need will never subside…. unless you give in and smoke.

But what if.. when you felt like smoking… you did something else instead?

Then you could feel better. And feeling good would make it easier to stay away from cigarettes.

Right?

In fact, adopting new healthy habits to replace smoking altogether is what you do during the 4th and last stage of the CBQ method, “Condition Your Smoke-Free Life.”

Think about it. You can’t just forget or suppress your smoking habit, which has been a part of your life for decades.

You have to replace it with another healthy habit.

That’s what the 4th quit smoking stage is all about. Now there are 3 quit smoking stages before that, and 94% of smokers who follow these 4 stages, in the right sequence, quit successfully.

But for now, let’s focus on the 4th quit smoking stage and see what to do instead of smoking so you can occupy your mind and hands during the 3-minute period of a craving – and feel relaxed in the process.

6 Things to Do Instead of Smoking

1. Practice Gratitude

Practice WHAT?

You might wonder what gratitude has to do with cravings and anxiety.

Well, research from The Heart Math Institute and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), shows that regular practice of gratitude can dramatically change your body’s chemistry and reduce stress. Amazing, right?

And here’s the thing: IT’S VERY EASY to practice gratitude so you can feel good without needing cigarettes.

But before I get into that, let me tell you why practicing gratitude can help you beat stress when quitting.

Why Practicing Gratitude is One of the Best Things to Do Instead of Smoking

Gratitude makes you happier.

In a study, scientists asked a group of people to keep a daily journal of all the things they were grateful for. And they asked another group to record all the things that annoyed them.

And guess what?! The people who wrote down the things they were grateful for were MUCH happier, determined, enthusiastic and energetic than the group of people who were focused on the negative aspects of their lives.

2. You cannot feel grateful and stressed at the same time.

It is practically impossible! Also, while feeling grateful you can’t feel depressed, cranky, or angry- which are common when stopping smoking. We can’t experience negative feelings when we feel grateful. Doesn’t happen.

Think about it like this: your stress is like a small child that’s easily distracted. When a child cries and you give them a toy, they will get distracted and stop crying. The same way, gratitude is like a toy that will instantly end any anxious thought.
You will be surprised by how much the practice of gratitude will reduce your anxiety and improve your relationships.
Let’s see how to do it.

Do the following exercise in a quiet place so you can relax and stay away from your smokes.

Step 1. Rate your stress levels

I want you to rate how stressed, worried or anxious you feel, on a scale from 1 to 10. 1 for “relaxed”, and 10 for “I’m freaking out. I need a cigarette now”. This is important, because at the end of this technique we want to see how much you have reduced your stress.

Step 2. Focus on what you have

Close your eyes and begin to focus on something that you have in your life right now. Something that you feel a genuine sense of appreciation for.
If you allowed yourself to be grateful for something, what could it be?

Start by looking at the small things in your life- someone holding the door for you, a conversation with a stranger, a child’s innocent smile, a beautiful day, the fact that you are alive and can see, walk, talk and feel!

As you go on, focus on the bigger things you’re thankful for in your life. It can be your family, friends, work, your home or an adversity you were able to overcome.

It doesn’t matter what you feel thankful for. Remember, you are after the feeling of gratitude. And when you get it, you will feel an immense sense of relief.

If you need some inspiration, click here to listen to these gratitude affirmations.Sometimes, I start my day by listening to this video and it helps me tune into a positive mood. You can find many similar videos on Youtube.

After spending a few minutes on this step, move on to step 3.

Step 3. Write 3 things you are grateful for

Take a piece of paper, a notes app on your phone or a notebook and write 3 things you are grateful for. It doesn’t matter how many things you thought about during step 2. Just select 3 and write them down.

For example:
I am thankful for…
I appreciate…. in my life
I am grateful I have….

Later you may want to expand and write why you are thankful for those things.
Tip: Writing will help you keep your hands busy so you can avoid smoking.

Note: Don’t worry about what you write. Your journal is for you.

Here are some examples of gratitude journal.

Step 4. Rate your stress levels again

Stop and check. On a scale from 1 to 10, how stressed do you feel now?

I promise you this: If you do all the above steps, your stress will drop at least 5 points.

So that’s it. Sometimes we are too bothered by the things we don’t have, that we forget to see the things we do have.

So I invite you to do this exercise. It will give you instant results. And if you do it often, you will soon find yourself escaping any stressful feeling in a matter of seconds.

You will be able to do this exercise with your eyes open while driving, while sitting at your desk, before you sleep at night or even while arguing with someone.

2. Visualize the Healthier You

Ok, so the craving strikes.

STEP A: Close your eyes and picture your life 10 years from now as a SMOKER.
Where are you?
What are you doing?
Who are you with?
How is your health?
Make this image really detailed and keep it in your mind for a few moments.

STEP B: Visualize yourself 10 years from now as a NON-SMOKER.

See yourself in the future looking vibrant, healthy and energetic.

You are healthy and strong. You don’t worry about how smoking might be harming your health anymore.

You feel free. Feel how it feels like to take full uninterrupted breaths.

What are you doing with all the money you have saved by quitting smoking?

Picture yourself enjoying your life with your loved ones. And hold on to that beautiful image for a few moments.

Now tell me, which image is more compelling? The first or the second?

The second, of course!

This comparison will help you see past your momentary desire to smoke.

Instead of focusing on the cigarette that’s in front of you… you focus on the big picture and the benefits of quitting smoking: improving your health, having more quality time with your children, watching your grandchildren grow up, and living your life feeling free from cigarettes. You can see what happens when you quit smoking, here.

Booster Tip: While doing this visualization exercise, play around with a stress ball or fake-smoke a straw so that you wouldn’t feel your hands empty without a cigarette.

3. Keep Your Hands Busy

One way to keep your hands busy without smoking is by playing any musical instrument.

Music has a healing effect on our nerves, mind, and soul. Actually, Research shows that music can reduce your quit smoking anxiety.

But playing a musical instrument might have even more to offer when you are stopping smoking.

Because you can keep your hands and mind busy at the same time.

In a nutshell, playing an instrument can help you avoid smoking for 2 reasons:
1. It calms you down and eliminates any quit smoking anxiety
2. It keeps your hands and mind busy.

What instruments can you play?

Any musical instrument will work! If you have a piano, go for it! The cheapest and easiest option is the harmonica. You don’t have to take lessons or anything. Just start playing every time you feel like lighting up.

Not into playing music? Moving on…

4. Grab a Book

Pick a book and get immersed in it.
It can be a fiction, biography, comics, romance, history, poetry, crime or self-development book – whatever makes your heart sing!

And when you have a cigarette craving, start reading and shift your focus to the characters of the book; imagine yourself living inside the book.

The duration of a craving equals to 5-6 book pages for an average reader. So reading will help you avoid smoking easily and effortlessly.

I can promise you this: focusing on the content of the book instead of a cigarette, will reduce your stress.

What kind of book? Any form of a book – physical or digital- will do as long as you hold something while reading. That way, you will occupy your mind and hands at the same time and therefore, avoid smoking.

And since I’m talking about books…

5. Write it Down

Destress by writing down your thoughts.

You can keep a journal of your daily impressions, memoirs, or to-do lists. You could write about your quit attempt. Or you could jot down anything that’s happening in your life.

Expressing yourself will help you discharge negative thinking, worries, and stress.

To sum up: When you have a cigarette craving, take a pen or your phone and start writing your thoughts. Any thoughts on any subject. This is one of the best habits to replace smoking, and it will definitely keep you busy until the craving is over.

Remember that it doesn’t matter what you write or how good your writing is. The important thing is to keep your hands and mind busy so that you wouldn’t smoke.

Booster Tip: While writing your journal (or reading your book)…. sip on a tea. Drinking something will give you oral satisfaction, so it will be even easier to keep cigarettes away from your mouth.

If you want to know how to quit smoking without gaining weight and while keeping yourself busy, let’s go to the next point.

6. Move Your Body

According to this study published in the journal Addiction:

“Relatively small doses of exercise should be recommended as an aid to managing cigarette cravings and withdrawal symptoms.”

This could be riding a bike, jogging, playing tennis or even releasing your tension to a punching bag. Or even taking a 10-minute walk!
Really, anything will do as long as you move your body.

While your heart is pumping, you won’t even realize you have a craving! It’s science.

Also, by exercising you are:

Letting go of your daily stress by releasing toxins and increasing the feel-good chemicals in your brain. If you are worried that you will have increased anxiety after quitting smoking, then make sure you add some exercise to your weekly schedule.
Burning calories. Not only you won’t need to resort to food to distract yourself from smoking… but you will also get slimmer!

One more thing: my sincere advice is to make these activities habitual. Because the more cigarettes you avoid, the more confident you feel about quitting smoking once and for all.

Is Knowing What Things to Do Instead of Smoking Enough to Help You Quit?

Ok, listen.

Keeping yourself busy during a craving and replacing smoking with another habit is very important for your quit smoking success.

But all that happens in the last quit smoking stage: “Condition Your Smoke Free Life”; the stage where you make sure you remain a non-smoker and you don’t relapse.

Before this last stage, there are 3 more stages that you need to go through.

If you don’t follow all the 4 stages of quitting smoking, then you might quit feeling deprived, or think that you are not ready or even struggle with quit smoking symptoms like loss of concentration, sleep imbalances or irritation.

But you don’t have to!

If you go through the 4 stop smoking stages, then you will quit smoking easily, naturally and permanently.

Click here to access the free exclusive video of the 4 quit smoking stages.

All you need to do is enter your name and email address so I can send you the link to your video.

Get the exclusive video of the 4 stages now.

It is free, and you will love it! (Plus, there is a surprise waiting for you at the end of the video.)

Why Stop Smoking Aids Don’t Work, and What to Do Instead

by Nasia Davos

If you’ve failed to quit smoking using different stop smoking aids or if you’re thinking of trying quit smoking methods like the nicotine patch, nicotine gum, stop smoking pills or vaping…

…then this article is for you.

Because here you will learn:

What are the common quitting smoking aids.
Why most smoking cessation aids don’t work. (I am going to reveal to you what many organizations out there don’t want you to know- you’ll understand why.)
And what is the easiest quit smoking method.

See, most people think that they are not strong enough or committed enough to overcome their addiction.

But the truth is this: they fail because they use the stop smoking aids that simply don’t work for them.

What happens (or has happened) to all of us, is that we waste our hope, time and money on methods and quit smoking products that don’t give us what we need:

fewer cravings
less anxiety
and a life free from the thought of nicotine.

The worst part?

After trying and failing, you end up thinking “I can’t quit smoking. Nothing will ever work for me.”

But it’s not your fault.

And after reading this post you will know why.

But before you read any further, I need to clarify this: I am happy when people quit smoking- no matter how they do it because only good things happen when you quit smoking.

What I want to illustrate in this post is WHY most people:

Can’t quit.
Relapse.
Experience painful withdrawal symptoms.

Let’s dive in. Shall we?

The Common Stop Smoking Aids

Here’s a list of the quit smoking products available to you.

Stop smoking patches with nicotine
Nicotine gum
Nicotine lozenges
Nicotine inhaler
Stop smoking pill containing varenicline
Vaping or else electronic cigarettes with nicotine and without nicotine

Why Nicotine Replacement Therapy – Nicotine Patch, Gum, and Lozenges – Doesn’t Work

First, let’s see how nicotine affects us.

Every puff of cigarette delivers a small dose of nicotine to your brain that causes your blood pressure to rise.

Nicotine has a short-term effect so your bloodstream levels fall within 45 minutes after your last puff.

That’s when you have a craving, meaning that most smokers have a craving every 45 minutes and twenty major cigarette cravings a day.

That’s also the reason a pack contains 20 cigarettes.

Nicotine replacement products like stop smoking patches, stop smoking gum, nicotine lozenges, and nicotine inhaler do exactly the same thing.

They feed you with nicotine.

And they cause you to have cravings.

You tell me:

Would you tell the cocaine addict to quit by chewing cocaine gums? Or would you tell the cocaine addict to detox by spraying more cocaine in his mouth?

Of course not.

It doesn’t work that way.

Then WHY use the same stop smoking aids to cure the nicotine addiction?

It doesn’t make any sense!

The result?

1. One of the nicotine gum and nicotine patch side effects is getting addicted to them.

2. If you still believe that smoking is something pleasurable that gives you relief, calmness, and happiness… then no matter what you do to stop, you will always go back to smoking when you face a challenging situation.

…Even if you cover yourself with nicotine patches from head to toe.

Why?

Because it’s this repetitive familiar movement that you do with your hands, that gives you comfort when you’re stressed.

The repetition gives you the illusion of stability and takes you back to your safe place.

Gregory Connolly, director of the Centre for Global Tobacco Control at Harvard School of Public Health and his research team, concluded that the nicotine gum and nicotine patch designed to help smokers quit aren’t effective for longer than a few months.

And even then, the need for cigarettes is not eliminated. (Read more about this study here)

… That’s what I call: a short-term remedy.

Why Stop Smoking Aids of Varenicline Don’t Work

Chemical tablets like Champix and Chantix are drugs of varenicline.

Pills containing varenicline affect the brain and minimize your withdrawal symptoms.

By taking this medication to stop smoking, you don’t supply your body with nicotine and you don’t reinforce your smoking behavior.

Sounds good, right?

Is there a catch?

You bet.

Unlike the CBQ quit smoking method, varenicline pills don’t show you how to deal with the mental aspect of your addiction.

I mean, you still don’t know how to address your everyday struggles AND how to find satisfaction in things other than smoking.

PLUS by taking varenicline you experience worse psychological problems.

“Psychological problems like depression, hostility and suicidal thoughts”, said Dr. Curt Furberg, professor of Public Health Sciences at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

Note that in 2009, the FDA placed a warning label for Chantix and another drug, Zyban.

In fact, The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), has received over 1,513 reports of adverse reactions, including 62 reports of suicidal feelings.

In the UK alone, Champix was the cause of 80 deaths from 2006 to 2011.

Half of them were suicides.

But the side-effects of varenicline are not just psychological (as if that’s not enough).

Stop smoking drugs like varenicline have been connected to cardiovascular problems and vision lapses.

But what happens after you stop taking these quit smoking products?

People go back to smoking to cope with … depression!

Moving on…

Why Vaping Doesn’t Work

Electronic cigarettes or vaping is a battery-operated device that looks like a cigarette and turns liquid from a cartridge into an aerosol, or as they prefer to call it: vapor.

E-cigarettes are a 21st-century take on smoking. (We’ve seen them on television, celebrity photos and magazine ads).

Vaping seems trendy (since you can change how it looks and tastes)…. and although people think it’s one of the innocent quit smoking aids…

…vaping is still a delivery system for nicotine; the chemical that makes cigarettes addictive.

Vaping is not a quit smoking method.

What this all boils down to, is that you can’t really quit smoking if you keep putting nicotine in your body in other forms.

And if you think vaping is healthier for your lungs, keep reading.

Scratchy throat, high blood pressure, compromised immune system, and inflamed lungs to name a few of the side effects of vaping.

Vaping causes inflammation of the lungs. A study in the journal Cancer Prevention Research found that just one month of vaping altered the lungs of people who never vaped before.
E-cigarettes harm lung cells and make you less able to respond to infection says the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse .
Vaping contains acrolein (a herbicide) that can cause lung injury, COPD, asthma, and lung cancer.
Aerosol from JUUL (an e-cigarette brand, partly owned by Phillip Morris) impairs blood vessels the same way normal cigarette smoke does.
Vaping can change your lung biology, even if it’s occasional or second hand. In this study, healthy non-smokers were exposed to e-cigarette aerosol. After only 20 puffs, vaping altered the expression of 60 genes (including genes predisposing you to inflammation).

In a study on mice, researchers found that e-cigarettes generate toxins and cause lung inflammation and immune system dysfunction.

Other scientists have found that vaping emits formaldehyde, which is also carcinogenic.

And now a recent study by Harvard concluded that the chemical flavorings used in e-cigarettes are responsible for severe lung damages.

These warrants MUST be taken seriously especially from those who suffer from COPD and have switched from cigarettes to e-cigarettes.

After all this, no wonder why the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended that e-cigarettes should be banned indoors.

Vapors emit chemicals, as dangerous as cigarettes, harming both active and passive vapers!

You can learn more ways e-cigarettes affect your lungs and make you susceptible to respiratory infections like coronavirus here.

Vaping instead of smoking is like inviting a burglar into your home just because they’re wearing a fancy outfit.

What All the Above Stop Smoking Aids Have in Common

All these unhealthy and ineffective methods to stop smoking have 4 things in common:

Short-term effect of quitting.
Side effects (including the withdrawal side effects of the nicotine patch and gum that are similar to those of cigarettes).
Further psychological distress and complications.
You have to keep on buying these quitting smoking aids indefinitely!

Think about it.

You have to keep chewing gums and using the nicotine patch.

You have to keep vaping.

And you have to take the varenicline pills for 12-24 weeks.

So you never really have the chance of getting detached from the habit.

You never really have the chance to be free.

Because if you did, you wouldn’t need to buy the substitutes and the smoking cessation aids anymore.

The masterminds behind these stop smoking aids aim at your weak point: your fear of giving up smoking at all levels… physically, mentally and behaviorally.

And I understand that letting go of a 30-year-old-habit is scary if you don’t know how to do it…

So what happens, is that you’re bouncing back and forth from the tobacco companies to the quitting products…

This has to stop!

What about going cold turkey or using the willpower method?

Ask anyone who has succeeded in stopping that way:

“Was it hard?”

“Do you miss the occasional cigarette?”

“Were you depressed during the withdrawal period?”

They say yes.

To make matters worse, most of these people relapse within a year.

Why? Because they feel deprived.

When we use our willpower to stop smoking, what we are actually doing is this:

We first stop smoking and then wait for our desire to smoke to magically fade away by itself.

But it doesn’t.

Instead, we feel deprived and the thought of a cigarette becomes even more precious.

And the more deprived we feel, the more we tend to rationalize our thoughts of having “Just one cigarette”.

We think we need it.

We believe that one puff won’t hurt us.

Sometimes we even conclude that we chose the wrong time to stop smoking and that we should postpone it for another less stressful time in the future.

So eventually we have that precious cigarette.

That’s what I call: the cigarette of despair.

You know, the one cigarette that you hate yourself for lighting it.

But at the same time, you feel relieved because you smoked it.

That kind of disappointment makes you look for stop smoking aids.

But both willpower and stop smoking aids make quitting hard.

Why Stop Smoking Aids and the Willpower Method Make Quitting Hard

All the above quit smoking methods can only stop you from smoking cigarettes for a short period of time.

The stop smoking aids don’t remove the fears that keep you lighting up one cigarette after the other.

All the reasons you want to smoke, are still there.

For example, how can you be a happy non-smoker if you still feel like smoking while watching TV? You will still have cravings.

Or how can you remain smoke-free if you don’t know how to relax without a smoke?

You’ll go back to smoking.

And how can you quit without missing smoking if you feel your hands empty without a cigarette?

You will either turn to food for comfort or smoke. Or both!

The outdated stop smoking aids don’t show you how to feel relaxed and enjoy life without cigarettes.

That’s why most smoking cessation programs fail.

Don’t get me wrong. The common methods to quit smoking have helped many smokers quit.

This doesn’t mean, though, that they are the easiest and most successful stop smoking aids.

It’s like catching a cold and trying to find the right cure. I am sure there are many ways to fight a cold.

But would you rather use an outdated medicine that has helped few people in the past?

Or use the newest discovery that guarantees you will be cured in the easiest and most effective way?

The second of course!

And quitting smoking is no different.

So you see the problem is not that you can’t quit smoking.

The problem is that you’ve been using outdated stop smoking methods.

How to Quit Easily Without Stop Smoking Aids with the CBQ Method

The new way to quit smoking is this:

You stop desiring a cigarette BEFORE you actually stop smoking.

When you no longer desire smoking then you don’t even notice the physical withdrawal from nicotine.

And when you no longer need cigarettes, you don’t need to use willpower to resist smoking. Because there is nothing to resist.

The secret is learning to be happy without a cigarette. That’s the easiest way to quit smoking.

And that’s exactly how the CBQ method works.

With the CBQ you FIRST stop wanting to smoke and THEN you break the habit of smoking.

This is the solution you’ve been looking for.

The CBQ is a natural quit smoking method that doesn’t harm your health.

And it works BETTER than the common ways to stop smoking because it removes your need to smoke.

Why?

Because it follows the 4 stages that our brain gets attached or detached from a habit or an addiction.

You went through 4 stages when you become addicted to smoking and now you have to go through the same stages again to break free from the nicotine addiction naturally and easily.

Without needing stop smoking aids.

I explain everything in the Foundational Video of the CBQ Method.

In this free video, you will learn:

How and why the CBQ method works.
Exactly what happens in each of the 4 stages.
And you’ll get the RIGHT tips to get started on each stage.

This is 100% free.

All you need to do is enter your name and email address so I can send you the video.

(And make sure you watch all of it because there is a free gift at the end of that video.)

Get the Foundational Video of the CBQ Method now.

How to Train Your Brain to Decide to Quit Smoking

by Nasia Davos

Finding it hard to decide to quit smoking?

The answer may have a lot to do with your brain.

Deciding to quit smoking can be hard.

Not because you are not sure if it’s good for you.

But because our brain HATES CHANGE.

So you see there is a problem here.
On the one hand, you want to quit smoking. On the other hand, your brain resists.

Why does this happen?

You see, you weren’t born a smoker.

And in the beginning, you were smoking consciously.

You probably started smoking on social occasions: “a cigarette sounds like a good idea right now”.

You didn’t need, and you didn’t even like the cigarette at that point- just the idea of it.

However, as the frequency of your cigarettes was increasing, smoking became part of yourself and your life.

So mind stopped questioning why and if you should smoke.

So now…

You naturally feel you want, need or even love cigarettes.

And you might be wondering…

“If smoking is now part of myself and my life, am I doomed to stay a smoker forever?”

The answer is: definitely NOT.

The same way your brain learned to need and want cigarettes, it can now learn how to stop desiring them.

And it’s incredibly easy to do that. Especially, when you follow the CBQ method. The ONLY cutting-edge method that helps you stop desiring cigarettes and learn how to feel better without your smokes.

The CBQ method has 4 quit smoking stages that take you from where you are now to a happy non-smoker. Click here to request access to the exclusive video of the 4 stages.

How to Train Your Brain to Decide to Quit Smoking

Decision-making is a skill.

Not just for stopping smoking, but for every big change you want to make in your life.

The decision process is a muscle we have to exercise like any other muscle in our body.

When someone wants to become physically fit, what do they do?

They exercise their body’s muscles – their abs, triceps, biceps and so on until they get the result they want.

The same way you have to exercise and stress your decision making muscle (that’s in the prefrontal cortex –the part of your brain responsible for rational thinking and decision making).

Once you do, you will find yourself having control over your impulses. Effortlessly .

As a result, you will feel confident to take an iron-clad decision to quit smoking. And you will feel confident to never ever doubt your decision to quit in the future.

Or any other decision for that matter.

Maybe it’s an abusive or boring relationship in which you stay because you are afraid to make a change.

Maybe you would like to move to another part of the country, and you can’t decide if it’s the best option because you don’t know how your life is going to be.

or.. you might want to quit your job, but you are unable to weigh the pros and cons of this decision because you are distracted by the fear of the unknown.

How To Train Your Decision-Making Muscle that Will Help You Quit Smoking.

You have to exercise your decision-making muscle.

Every day.

Every moment.

It will take practice, but it is worth it – I promise.

The success of this exercise presupposes you don’t just read the steps.

You have to act upon them because experiential learning is what challenges your inherent fear of change.

The ASU Strategy

Step 1: bring the decision-making muscle to your Awareness.

Every time you want to smoke, Acknowledge that you are about to make a decision.

Say to yourself: “now I am drinking my coffee, and I want to smoke.”

I decide to take my pack in my hands,

take out a cigarette,

put it in my mouth and light it.”

That’s how you start making your smoking less unconscious and automatic.

For even better results, don’t limit yourself just to smoking. Do it with all your routines.

For example, when you are dressing to go to work say to yourself:

“I am choosing to wear this shirt and these shoes. I don’t want to wear that belt.”

Simple, right?

After feeling confident you can acknowledge most of your automatic decisions, you have to…

Step 2: Stretch the decision-making muscle.

You will stretch your decision-making muscle if you explain to yourself why you made a decision.

Let’s say that you just had your meal. Don’t just take out a cigarette and smoke it.

First, acknowledge your smoking urge.

Then, you have to give a reason for deciding to smoke or not.

Be careful: don’t say: “I choose to smoke because I like it.”

That’s not stretching your decision-making muscle. You have to give an explanation.”

For example, you can say to yourself: “I choose to smoke because I think I can’t digest my meal without it.”

Again, for faster results do this with every chance you get.

Let’s say you are about to check your Facebook page.

Give a reason: “because I want to see the news, because I want to message that person or because I am bored”.

After being aware of your automatic urges and you are used to giving a reason for them (and this might take you a few days of practice)…

Step 3: Use the decision-making muscle.

After doing step 1 and 2 consistently, you will be able to use your muscle and take different decisions.

You will not find yourself weakened by your impulses.

Imagine…

You are driving your car, and you feel like smoking.

You think: “I want to smoke…” (awareness)

…”because I believe driving is boring without smoking.” (explanation)

But since you had been practicing steps 1 and 2, you now have the mental capacity to get perspective and say:

“I choose not to smoke because it’s just a drive, and I can enjoy myself just by listening to music.” (choice)

You always have a choice.

If you are on a diet, and you get a chocolate craving, your internal dialogue will be something like that:

“I now have an urge to eat chocolate.”

“I want to eat it because it tastes sweet.”

And NOW after acknowledging and stretching your muscle you can use it:

“I choose not to eat it because I am on a diet; being in a good shape tastes better than this chocolate.”

Every cigarette you don’t smoke because you acknowledged, stretched and used your decision-making muscle brings you one step closer to taking control over your habit.

And with time, you will be able to speed-pass steps 1 and 2 and go directly to step 3.

Decision making is a skill that will keep giving you value throughout your life. You already know that.

What makes this technique successful, it’s the actual process of observing and managing yourself.

Deciding not to smoke and knowing why you want this, will gradually lead you to take the final decision to quit smoking without feeling pain.

And no matter what’s your individual decision-making style, this strategy will work for you because it is neurological.

And we all have the same nervous system. So it works for all of us.

Do you want to quit smoking in a way that’s easy and permanent?

Then you need to follow the 4 quit smoking stages of the CBQ method.

These 4 stages take you from where you are now to a happy non-smoker. Click here to request access to the exclusive video of the 4 stages.

It’s 100% free.

All you need to do is enter your name and email address. And make sure you watch all of it, because there is a free gift at the end of that video.

Get the 4 stages of the CBQ method now.

Nasia Davos

Smoking Triggers: What Are They?

How Different Situations Turn Into Smoking Triggers

Why Does Your Brain Insist You Smoke?

The 4 Types of Smoking Triggers

1. Emotional Triggers

2. Social Triggers

3. Environmental Triggers

4. Double-Habit Triggers

Should You Avoid Your Smoking Triggers When You First Quit?

How to Weaken Your Smoking Triggers with the CBQ Method

What about Alcohol?

Summary

How to Avoid Smoking Relapse

1. Don’t Quit for the Rest of Your Life

How to Quit Without Feeling Overwhelmed

2. Make a Real Decision to Quit

3. See Yourself as A Non-Smoker

How to Visualize Yourself as A Non-Smoker Even If You’ve Recently Started Smoking Again

4. Believe Quitting is Possible for You

5. Learn How to Manage Your Emotions Without Cigarettes

6. Think Before Lighting Up

7. Have an Alternative

Conclusion

The Clash of Minds

BUT WHY?

Deciding to Quit Smoking: Logic vs. Emotions

But how exactly do your emotions affect your psychology and your decision to quit smoking?

The 3 Mind Tricks

Mind trick #1. “I will quit later. Nothing will happen to me.”

What to do:

Mind trick #2. “I will lose my only comfort.”

These are some of the benefits you think you will lose by quitting smoking. You probably believe that smoking helps you:

And these are only a few of the benefits you will GAIN by quitting smoking. You probably want to:

Mind trick #3. “I can’t be happy without my smokes.”

What to Do when Deciding to Quit Smoking:

Ok, so you know the 3 most common mind tricks your mind plays on you when you think about quitting. What’s next?

6 Things to Do Instead of Smoking

1. Practice Gratitude

Why Practicing Gratitude is One of the Best Things to Do Instead of Smoking

Gratitude makes you happier.

2. You cannot feel grateful and stressed at the same time.

Step 1. Rate your stress levels

Step 2. Focus on what you have

Step 4. Rate your stress levels again

2. Visualize the Healthier You

3. Keep Your Hands Busy

4. Grab a Book

5. Write it Down

6. Move Your Body

Is Knowing What Things to Do Instead of Smoking Enough to Help You Quit?

The Common Stop Smoking Aids

Why Nicotine Replacement Therapy – Nicotine Patch, Gum, and Lozenges – Doesn’t Work

Then WHY use the same stop smoking aids to cure the nicotine addiction?

Why Stop Smoking Aids of Varenicline Don’t Work

But what happens after you stop taking these quit smoking products?

Why Vaping Doesn’t Work

…vaping is still a delivery system for nicotine; the chemical that makes cigarettes addictive.

And if you think vaping is healthier for your lungs, keep reading.

What All the Above Stop Smoking Aids Have in Common

What about going cold turkey or using the willpower method?

When we use our willpower to stop smoking, what we are actually doing is this:

Why Stop Smoking Aids and the Willpower Method Make Quitting Hard

This doesn’t mean, though, that they are the easiest and most successful stop smoking aids.

How to Quit Easily Without Stop Smoking Aids with the CBQ Method

Finding it hard to decide to quit smoking?

You naturally feel you want, need or even love cigarettes.

How to Train Your Brain to Decide to Quit Smoking

How To Train Your Decision-Making Muscle that Will Help You Quit Smoking.

The ASU Strategy

Step 1: bring the decision-making muscle to your Awareness.

Step 2: Stretch the decision-making muscle.

Every cigarette you don’t smoke because you acknowledged, stretched and used your decision-making muscle brings you one step closer to taking control over your habit.

Do you want to quit smoking in a way that’s easy and permanent?