SolveYourProblem eLearning Series: Smoking
I'd Rather Not Die From Smoking
Learn The Harmful Effects & Quit Smoking Now
( 27 pages )

Control The Urge To Smoke:
Try Music and Meditation

The main priority when you quit smoking is to find a substitute for it. I will list out several ideas that you can try, but remember to select ideal thing for your lifestyle.

Music

Music is a wonderful way of getting your mind off that urge to smoke. If you have fixed times for getting a smoke like after meals or during the coffee break you could try playing something very soothing using a walk man and head phones so that you do not disturb others though you might attract attention. Another thing you can do is that you can play music on your computer if you have a work station all to your self.

Music is a wonderful stress reliever. I do not want to emphasize any particular type of music because tastes differ.

Meditation

Meditation is also an excellent way of helping you to get better control over your mind. Anybody can learn the art with a little bit of practice. Now pardon me while I digress a bit from our topic and give you a few essential points on how to meditate. This, as I see it, is the best method of helping you to gain better control over you mind and thereby get over that urge to take in that puff of smoke.

The simplest method of mediation that you can practice by yourself is to sit in a very comfortable position with your eyes closed. In the initial stages you may find your mind drifting, but gradually you will learn to focus more and more. The idea behind meditation is not to cut out all the forces around you, but to become one with them. I have seen people plug their ears with cotton to shut out sounds. But that is not what you want to achieve. On the contrary, I want you to focus on the sounds around you.

Be aware of them, listen to them. First listen to the bigger sounds around you like the traffic or machines or even loud music from your neighbor’s apartment. Then, listen to the softer sounds like the drone of the refrigerator, or the A/C. Then bring your attention to the sound of your own breathing. If you can actually hear yourself breathing then you have arrived and this is what you have to keep doing.

It is helpful if you can try to focus on some inner picture that you conjure up in your mind. By inner picture, I mean an image that you can concentrate on. For example: the flame of a lighted candle or a single flower on a plant. Try and see how long you can keep your mind focused on such an image. If the image blurs immediately and is replaced by something else, then you need to work on it. Gradually you will see that you can keep your mind focused on the same thing for more than ten minutes.

That means that you have arrived. You are in a meditative state. Once you have reached this stage and have begun to practice it without fail, you will see that it can give you immense mental strength. So, the next time you get an urge to smoke, all you have to do is sit still wherever you are, close your eyes and meditate. The urge will have vanished by the time you open your eyes. Meditation not only drives away the urge, but gives you control over your mind.

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