Smoking ~ Do you think you choose to smoke or what?

Today is National No Smoking Day! 

I'm sure for many smokers, they think . . . here we go again!
Everyone telling us about the harm smoking causes & why we should stop smoking.
Probably for some it's a day they forget to remember, as they are happy to continue enjoying those cigarettes and perhaps even think that it's their choice . . .
they choose to smoke . . .
or do they actually choose at all?

You see the thing about choice means YOU are in control, which also means you can take it or leave it. And if you can do that with your cigarettes, then yes you are in control of the choices you make ~ but for nearly all smokers, they are far from being IN control, in fact the habit, addiction and cigarettes control them. So what might start as a choice thing, something which you choose to do, then gradually as the addictive and habitual aspects of the cigarette and nicotine kick in, what actually happens is that you no longer choose to smoke . . . the cigarettes and nicotine are now controlling you . . . and your freedom of choice as to whether you can take it or leave it . . . has gone!
Because if you were totally in control, then if you wanted to stop, or choose to go without smoking for as long as YOU wanted to, then you would have that sense of indifference about your cigarette, something you could take or leave. . . maybe forget even, if you chose to.
But what most smokers find is the minute they think they can't have a cigarette or may have a time without them, those mind games start . . . they may have extra cigarettes (to top up) beforehand, so they don't miss out . . . or they may smoke like a chimney afterwards to make up for it . . . but what all will find is that they keep thinking about them . . . craving them . . . planning when or where the next one will be . . . etc etc and that cigarette has got control of you.

As a Cognitive Hypnotherapist, I'm fully aware of the struggles that smokers go through to stop smoking, the ups and downs, the highs and lows, the previous failures, the mental torture . . . and this is why actually having hypnosis can really support a smoker through the process of getting back into control, being more able to forget about cigarettes more and more, to overcome cravings, and learn others ways to relax and de-stress. Which helps to make the process of stopping smoking much more accessible and dare I say more comfortable (especially by helping to reduce the mood swings).

So to read more about it then see my link here on the benefits of hypnosis to stop smoking today ~

http://www.mindbodywellbeing.co.uk/Cognitive+Hypnotherapy-Kettering-Stopping+Smoking-22.php

Because ultimately we all want to feel like WE are in CONTROL of our lives and the choices we choose to make. . . don't we?