Quit Smoking with EFT.

Tobacco plantation

It's widely known that nicotine is the addictive chemical in tobacco that makes giving up smoking so difficult. In fact this chemical is a deadly poison, the tobacco plant's natural defence against insects, but it is present in the leaf in such small quantities that human beings can tolerate it. By chance, unfortunately for us, it is also chemically very similar to substances that are naturally present in the human brain. This similarity allows nicotine to form chemical bonds within the brain, altering brain chemistry in a way that quickly results in a chemical addiction.

Once our systems have adapted to a constant input of nicotine, any interruption to this supply is likely to trigger feelings of anxiety and depression. The smoker now has to continue to take nicotine to prevent feeling bad. Fortunately nicotine is expelled from the body quite quickly, so if someone stops smoking the blood is free of it after about 72 hours (3 days). It is at this time that withdrawal symptoms are likely to be at their worst, but after this they begin to decline.

Time to stop? So the actual chemically addictive properties of nicotine, though strong, are relatively short lived. However the psychological effect of the addiction can last for much longer. We often hear of people who give up smoking for weeks or even months, only to resume long after the chemical addiction has ended. How then can EFT help to overcome the addictive qualities of tobacco and the habit of smoking?

Very often when we want to do any activity that has some negative element, it is as though part of us wants to do that thing, but there again, part of us does not. When the part that is in favour of taking the action is significantly stronger we are able to do it. If this is the weakest part then unsurprisingly no action is taken. When quitting smoking the nicotine withdrawal symptoms are soon felt and when they are it is quite possible that the part of us that did not want to quit grows and becomes the stronger, with obvious results.

The first thing that we need to do then is to strengthen the desire to quit smoking and weaken the part of us that does not want to. I suggest that anyone will quit smoking successfully when the desire to quit completely dominates their resistance to do so and that is what we set out to achieve. Simply by acknowledging that this negative part exists takes away some of its power, trying to pretend that it isn't there does not work. EFT is used to explore the reasons for becoming a smoker in the first place and for continuing to smoke, uncovering the beliefs that support the behaviour.

As we have seen the absence of nicotine can be expected to start triggering negative emotions within the first few hours of quitting. It is therefore important to think about those issues that are likely to come up during this time and pre-treat them with EFT so as to reduce their impact when they do come up, an impact that would be stronger due to withdrawal effects if this were not done.

The time is always Now At any time after quitting cravings can and almost certainly will develop. EFT can be used very effectively to collapse such cravings. What happens if you get a craving when there are other people around that you can't get way from, won't they think you are crazy if you start doing full rounds of tapping in front of them? Well yes, they might well do, but fortunately you don't have to run this risk. I'll show you how to collapse a craving discreetly!

With the passage of time cravings will occur less frequently, but they can happen long after quitting. If you didn't give into them when they were stronger and more frequent you are unlikely to do so now, unless something happens that temporarily upsets your emotional stability. It's a fact that in life such things happen from time to time, but with EFT you can deal with them yourself. It's important to remember that EFT is there to give help whenever you need it.



To find out how EFT could help you: