Setbacks and smoking

Probably appropriate to look at set backs on Halloween. Ghosts might be an excellent metaphor for unwanted thoughts leading to unwanted behavior. Lets take a look at smoking. The origins seem innocuous enough:shamanistic rituals as early as 5000 bc in the Americas.Jean Nicot introduces tobacco to France in 1560 from Spain.In 1950 Richard Doll publishes research in the British Medical Journal that there is a link between smoking and lung cancer.

There are now 1 billion smokers on the planet . According to the WHO tobacco kills up to half of its users;of the 7 million who die each year from smoking around 890000 die from second hand smoke.

The facts are scary but many well informed people smoke. If someone chooses to smoke a cigarette that might be considered a choice even if many would say it is a bad one. Smokers report that smoking becomes a compulsion. The premise of this site is that humans feel happy when they have control over their lives. Clearly if you feel compelled to smoke that control has been compromised. I argue that the compulsive thoughts in relation to smoking can be overcome. Firstly obsessing over these thoughts should be avoided.By giving the thoughts more attention it is possible that we reinforce them. Secondly it is important to have thoughts and behaviors which are linked to other rewards. For example eating great food, exercise such as running and sex can have great positive reinforcement qualities.. Nature abhors a vacuum. I do not think smoking can be controlled merely by omission.

Anyone trying to change unwanted thoughts/behaviors such as those linked to smoking is likely to experience set backs. You tend to see a lot of people smoking outside bars and nightclubs. Alcohol by effectively paralyzing certain parts of the frontal lobe lowers inhibitions and the ghosts of compulsive thoughts such as "I want to smoke' are likely to command greater mental attention. I will consider alcohol separately.

The point about set backs using the 'code your mind' principle is to strengthen the original positive instruction you gave your brain. Think of the competing thought as like a wandering ghost. If the commands you have created for your mind are strong enough the ghost might be 'seen' but not allowed to interfere with those commands.

As with writing goals it might be useful to write down accounts of times when unwanted thoughts and behaviors temporarily dominated. Such record keeping could be seen as part of the process of becoming more conscious of thoughts and actions.