Self-hypnosis: does it work?

[BobbiSueEllen]

After my latest experiment, I can tell you with much confidence that it can. Let me explain...

Two months ago, due to the stress of personal events, I picked up smoking again. The habit was ten cigarettes per day. Some may rationalize it a bit by saying that as long as that rate of habit cost only $2 per day (i.e. $4 per pack), that much wasn't a problem. But it was; before I got "back on the pack", I'd enjoyed 11 cigarette-free months.

So...time to start over. But how?

I did the usual things...

• Self-spoiling: went out to Harbor Freight and "flexed the plastic fantastic" (credit card), bought a 4-drawer rolling tool chest in green; I told myself this should help as an incentive. Nope...3 days later, I was back on;
• Slowing the pace: every pack I got, I told myself I'd wean off gradually. That obviously didn't work...
• Just stopping: that lasted for four days. Nope.

After mulling it over a few days, one day I was online here, contemplating the debate here about hypnosis: my own experience with it came to mind as I read. A few minutes later...I wondered: Could this work if adapted to cigarettes? How would I go about doing it? What would I do to make it stick...if it could stick? So I set about experimenting with it in what some would call a "nonstandard, nonclinical manner"...

I got up, fetched a cigarette and went out to the back deck: here in Kentucky, the view is very scenic, very beautiful: rolling, distant hills with trees everywhere. All around. The weather was balmy & warm...and the sun had just gone behind the western hills, leaving its trademark orange-to-yellow-to-white-to-blue gradient in the sky. Very picturesque, very relaxing. I lit the cigarette, took a couple of puffs.

Then, calmly but intentionally, I focused on the treetops a mile away; not concentrated...just focused. All else around me was an unfocused blur. I'd relaxedly move my eyes about just a tiny bit to look at the other trees around that one group...not much visual deviation...just a little. I continued smoking...and asked myself what part of smoking I hated. That was easy: the hot, smoky taste. One would think that alone, plus the cough factor, would make anyone stop...but they don't call this a habit for nothing. Still focused on the trees a mile off, still smoking, I calmly told myself "You dislike the taste. It's hot, it's smoky, it sticks with you a long time after the cigarette's gone. From now on, you hate the taste, the flavor. You can't stand it".

I stayed focused on the trees, kept smoking...

I then asked myself about the urge to smoke; I then calmly told myself "If you ever feel the urge to smoke again, your mind will suddenly stop thinking about it and go elsewhere, just as before". The cigarette was much lower. I then told myself "You can stop looking at the trees now".

And so my focus returned to the immediate environs: the deck, the surrounding trees, the grass, neighbors' homes. My cigarette was still in-hand with 3/4 of an inch left to filter. I wondered what it was doing in my hand, held it out past the deck, rolled it between my fingers to crumble & expel the tobacco. Then I went inside, back to TV, browsing here, relaxing as the twilight turned into darkness.

Before long, the urge hit again...but just as I was reacting to it by getting up...something happened: as I twitched to get up, something inside my head twitched, too...and the urge left. Vanished. Gone. I sat there, wondering what happened, shrugged...laid back down, kept watching TV. Then bedtime arrived, another customary smoke-break time. No urge at all. But as I began getting into shorts for bed, the urge did hit...and, just as soon, disappeared.

I reveled in what I was experiencing: with a few cigs left in the pack, my urges weren't dominating me anymore. Off went the light, down went my head and as I relaxed, I wondered to myself "What will I do if I go back on the pack?"...and told myself that if it did happen, I'd try the procedure again just as before...and keep at it until I noticed positive results, if at all. And I drifted off to sleep.

Up the next day: again, that tiny twinge inside my head as an urge came along. After I removed middle seats from the minivan and packed things in, breaktime arrived: no urge at all. Got extra stuff put inside, finished up...an urge did hit and quickly vanished. I was liking this. But now...road-trip time to Elizabethtown to get some hardware, then Walmart for last-minute Cinco de Mayo stuff, then stop for some $2.88/gallon gas (!!!). Almost got involved into a traffic accident going home, some idiot decided to stop his pickup hard in the middle of the lane because someone/something crossed in front of them...I successfully dodged it. That was a key urge moment. Guess what? The urge vanished.

Once I got home & parked, a typical smoke-break time, especially after the tricky trip home, I was still a tad shaken...but no urge. Even after all that Cinco de Mayo food. Shortly afterward...no post-meal smoke. I didn't want it at all. Why kill a great food aftertaste with icky smoke? The day ended completely tobacco-free.

As I write, only one urge hit...and then fizzled. I'm willing to call it a success for the now. I'll keep an eye on it over time and repeat it necessary. But so far...I'm enjoying the results and marveling at how it all came to be. I just don't want to nit-pick analyze it. Remember the old saying: "Never question a miracle". And certainly don't tear into it. I won't; I'll enjoy it instead.

Now, if I can just get to 180 pounds. But that number 200 is taunting me...

 

[ade]

Tried bits of self-hypnosis (or whatever the English term is; can't bloody remember ) throughout the years.
Found good use for the waking up at certain time trick, obviously. Oh, and convincing yourself not to hate the taste of certain foods (doesn't work on spinach and turnips, though ). Of course, on that last note, a lot of our intense food dislikes seem to be self-induced, if based on a little truth.

 

[AJFan2020]

I would say that self-hypnosis works to some degree, but it is not 100 percent effective.

For example, I was able to reduce my test/exam anxiety enough to get through high school and college, but it never completely went away.

If you want to give self-hypnosis a try you could check the books about it on Amazon and see which ones have the best reviews. It’s been over twenty years since I have read a self-hypnosis book so I can’t really suggest any good ones at this time, but maybe someone else on here can.

 

[Kirisin]

I know hypnosis works still trying self hypnosis see if it works would be better if I stuck with it I think

 

[dogboy]

In a way, concert musicians do this to a degree so we don't get nervous when we have to play a concert. The brain is capable of a lot of amazing things.

 

[BobbiSueEllen]

It works for me: last Thursday, I was desperate to get my smoking cessation off to a good start but was having trouble doing so...so I went out back, lit one up, got into it, focused of how bad it made my breath, came up with the suggestions...snapped out.

Guess what? It worked! No cigs since and every time a craving or urge hits...it pops out of my mind. Still very happy on the success.

 

[PaddedRita]

I'm sure that was a great feeling for ya BobbieSueEllen !! Hang in there your doing fantastic !!

 

[ElPulpo]

I just can't get over the thought of a toddler girl smoking ten cigarettes a day.

I've heard about people visualizing their goals, thus enabling them to happen. For breaking habits, your self-hypnosis sounds like an impressive approach. I ought to give it a try for motivating me to exercise.

 

[dogboy]

It works for me: last Thursday, I was desperate to get my smoking cessation off to a good start but was having trouble doing so...so I went out back, lit one up, got into it, focused of how bad it made my breath, came up with the suggestions...snapped out.

Guess what? It worked! No cigs since and every time a craving or urge hits...it pops out of my mind. Still very happy on the success.

Having cigarette breath back when I was smoking was one of the big reasons that made me want to quit. I was having a coughing fit one day and my wife gave me the "raised eyebrows" and I said, "You don't think I can quit, do you? and she said, "Well?" I crumpled my pack of Marlboros, threw them in the trash and never had another cigarette. I did struggle for the first two weeks but after that, the nicotine was out of my system and I never looked back. It's hard to quit because they're so addictive. I should add that I started smoking when I was 8 years old, having it forced on me by the older boys I hung out with.