Many people at some point in their lives develop unwanted annoying habits. Anything from smoking, nail biting, alcohol, food, or drugs can be seen as addictive.
Smoking generally starts during the teenage years with a need to fit in, or look cool, be rebellious, or grown up. People who smoke may remember that they actually had to work really hard at it to begin with. It's not a comfortable sensation inhaling smoke into your lungs for the first time!
Over time habits tend to go through a period of satisfying the need, to then becoming tedious, boring, uncomfortable or dangerous for our health. They generally start from a place of overwhelm, perfectionism, anxiety or stress in a desperate attempt at finding a coping mechanism. Over time our brain pattern matches to the substance convincing us that it will calm our nerves or take the edge off the day.
If you've ever smoked you may recall that first puff that you believe eases your stress as you inhale deeply with a lengthy exhale. The deep inhale/lengthy exhale calms you for sure, but nicotine sends our heart rate and blood pressure soaring so it's exactly the opposite of calm!
You may have found yourself taking the first sip of alcohol and breathing a sigh of relief saying "that's better" even though the alcohol hasn't even hit your blood stream. This is just the perception we have a learnt, a faulty pattern match that we have taught our brain, almost tricked it by creating the habit.
For many people it's the expectation of what the substance will give them that keeps them going back for more. The belief that they will somehow feel better, calmer, reassured after the smoke, the cake, the alcohol. The truth is that no where on a packet of cigarettes, a cake wrapper or alcohol does it say that it calms your nerves or relieves stress. In fact most people feel worse afterwards but their brain draws them into the present moment almost in a "trance like" state where they can't think about anything else.
If they were able to visualise the future then they would feel very differently about the habit as they would be able to see the consequences of their present action.
One useful tip to pull you out of that narrowed focus of attention is to visualise, or experience the feeling of, after you have had the substance, before you do it.
For example you are about to smoke, feel the cigarette between your fingers then stop, imagine lighting it taking in some deep breaths. In five minutes that cigarette would be finished. In five minutes you may with practice, be able to distract your mind to the feeling of after the cigarette.
When you are ready to cease a habit Strategic Psychotherapy and Clinical Hypnotherapy can be really helpful in breaking the pattern and maintaining the change.
And just an interesting fact to finish on. During the Vietnam war many US soldiers took heroin to deal with the stress of war and being away from their families. The US government spent millions of dollars on a rehabilitation programme in preparation to help the soldiers on their return.
To their disbelief they found that when the soldiers were back in their familiar surroundings and were having their emotional needs met by being back with their loved ones, very few needed the programme at all. Of the one's that did many already had a history of taking drugs or alcohol.
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