meeting tonight?

Helpers have frustration tolerance issues too.  Helpers in order to truly help should only work as hard as those who are quitting work to quit!

So though I have been meeting weekly with my friend who says she is trying to quit...i felt that I was working harder and being more conscientious then she was...evidenced by 3 + months of talking about the first goal to smoke no more than 10 cigs per day to no avail...not once could she make 7 days straight with only 7 cigs...with no good reasons, just a little sloppy, careless, lack of focus mostly on the weekends????

so...

i made the decision to withdraw my help for now and not meet again until this goal is reached!

2 hours or more

you must be sure to smoke only when you physiologically must smoke!!!!  Though this plan is to reduce to a set number of cigarettes a day..that does not mean you need to smoke that total number of cancer sticks...

if the goal is 10 but you spread them apart either by specific 2 hour intervals or by physiological need and only then smoke  8...then great!!!!

you should NOT be squeezing in an extra cig at 7 pm because you have not smoked them all ?????
who fooling who here? whats being accomplished????

if attempting to decrease intake of nicotine..the idea is to stretch the self destructive behavior as far apart as possible...

if you set specific time frames you WILL smoke less...you will feel your body experiencing withdrawal symptoms...these mildly unpleasant symptoms are a positive indication that your body is trying to help you adjust to a lower level of nicotine...work with your poor body as hard as it is working for you to be healthy!

keep increasing your time intervals and you WILL smoke less. however remember to only smoke when you physically NEED to smoke to minimize withdrawal symptoms...

your reduced levels of nicotine will decrease the withdrawal naturally and increase interval times before withdrawal symptoms occur....

great now do it!

Automatic pilot

Smoking and taking those so ever loved smoke breaks become habitual.  Yup...30 years of 20 cigs a day will become an automatic thing ...so what to do??
well if you really want to quit smoking...breaking this habit, just like any habit, will require making changes in behavior...changing what you do first.  you will also have to make changes in awareness..meaning that you must find ways to remain conscientious of your smoking cessation goals at all times throughout the day!
Some behavioral ideas could include:

• keeping cigarettes in a different place than you usually do so that retrieving them to go for a smoke break will require more thought and effort
• only smoking in places that are unfamiliar or at least not your usual places 
• not smoking when on the cell phone or in the car at all which are common problem areas of habit.
• find replacements for hand occupation, like fake cigs or chewing something...
• remove ash trays
• put up reminder signs

Cognitive efforts could include:

• positive thinking regarding this positive change you are trying to make
• reminding self hourly that you are committed to quitting and you do NOT want to smoke
• associating reminders with with regular hygiene...flossing, brushing teeth, washing hands...etc 
• tell yourself you are removing the discoloring and odor of the cancerous smoke from your teeth and fingers!
• remind yourself of the negative health risks hourly or at meals

The idea is to spend time figuring out what you can do to make smoking as inconvenience or as unpleasant as possible...you are trying to be more conscious how much you smoke and how often you are taking time to harm yourself.   Unpleasant habits will be broken easier than pleasurable habits...

do them all ! find more ways that work for you to stop this terrible habit!