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Ease Your Way Into Yoga And Meditation
Many people buy books on yoga and meditation, but never get into the regular practice of these methods. It is not only true for yoga, there must be millions of self-help and self-instruction manuals of all types gathering dust on shelves around the...
Making Excuses
I edited and re-edited my article. I had to make sure it was just so. Then I procrastinated on writing the query letter to get my article published. The house needed cleaning, I ran out of stamps, the letter wasn't quite right. Delivering the...
The History of Yoga
The history of yoga is long and steeped in tradition. Contrary to what some people may believe, yoga was not developed as the newest way to slim down so they could fit into a smaller pants size.
The history of yoga goes back 5,000 years. It...
Yoke Hatha Yoga with the Raw Foods for Superb Health
Since writing my two books, Beautiful On Raw: UnCooked Creations and Your Right to Be Beautiful: How to Halt the Train of Aging and Meet the Most Beautiful You, about my exploration and acceptance of the raw food lifestyle, I have added another...
Finding Peace: A Taste of Mindfulness
When we are ill and dont know it, we are in a state of ignorance or delusion. We dont view ourselves as sick, so we dont believe its necessary to go to a doctor or take any medication. We fail to recognize our own need for care and support....
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Quit Smoking: Why People Do Bad Things (even When They Know They Shouldn't)
Do you do Bad Things? Even though you know you shouldn't?
It's not your fault. It really isn't. You know you should stop doing it, but no matter how much you know that, and how much you try, you just can't stop!
Everyone knows how to lose weight. Don't eat fattening foods. Exercise. Everyone knows how to give up smoking. Dont light the cigarette. Yet having this knowledge just isn't enough. Sometimes even having the desire isn't enough! Time and again I hear about people who get really close to quitting smoking. They can get all the way down to one or two cigarettes a day, but just can't give up those last two. Many even make it all the way down to zero, but the cravings, oh the cravings! They are wretched, those cravings. Most will go back to smoking within the first few days. They can cut away most of the "stuff" that keeps them glued to the cigarettes, even not be addicted to nicotine anymore(!), but there is just something deep in their core that magnetically pulls them back in, like two lovers who know they are bad for each other but just can't help themselves.
What is this thing? What is at this core?
Let me take a step back for a moment. How many adults do you know who are happy? I mean really, truly happy? Think that question is foolishness? Let me ask you this. How many people do you know who love their work? I'm talkin' jump out of bed in the morning, can't wait to start. Sadly, the percentage is very small. Why is this?
We live in an interesting quick-fix culture. People don't really have to deal with their issues. We've got:
television
movies
shopping
toys
and hitting the gym
to distract us and make us feel better. Even more than that, many people's issues are quite buried. Think of dreams that were squashed when we were young. "An artist? You could never make a living at that! You should be a doctor!" People often forget what their dreams once were.
As a result, I see an awful lot of unhappy, unfulfilled people walking around. They don't know what is bothering them, they just have that gnawing feeling that there must be more. Advertisers pray on this, selling us more and more bottles and gizmos to give us that ever elusive Happiness.
True inner needs? People either:
think they're impossible to fulfill
are too scared and resigned to fulfill them
or are so disassociated from those needs that they don't even know what they would be even if they had to guess!
All those "bad" things -- smoking, overeating, gambling, alcohol,
the list goes on and on -- are easy ways to fill the void. Smokers will be able to relate to this one -- if you've just had a fight with your family, what do you do? You go for a smoke. Smoking makes it feel like the problem goes away. (I call this the "smokescreen." Har har!)
I'll let you in on a little secret--the real reason it's so hard to quit is not the nicotine. It's this void-filling. When you quit smoking (or any bad habit), you're suddenly faced with real life. All those stresses and needs that you've been avoiding? There they are, pulling at your coat tails, yelling, "Pay attention to me! Pay attention to me!" If you got in touch with your real inner needs and took baby steps to start fulfilling them, you would actually have little desire for cigarettes. It's true! I see it happen time and again in my Stop Smoking Coaching practice.
How do you do that, you ask? Here are some baby steps that you can start trying out now:
Next time, instead of taking that quick fix--stop.
Have a little quiet time and listen to what your insides have been trying to tell you.
Try journaling -- don't edit your thoughts, just write.
Some people find meditation and yoga to be great accesses.
Try deep breathing.
Go for a quiet, leisurely walk by yourself.
Personally, I find it easiest to just start noticing where in life I seem to be avoiding things the most, or if I want something more immediate and active, doing a mindmap (a word drawing) to figure out what I'm really thinking.
For each person, the key to figuring out your needs is different. Play around with it, don't give up! You'll be glad you did!
Jill Binder is a Stop Smoking Coach with a 90 day program to show people how to quit smoking forever, with a 100% success rate. She has appeared on radio, television, and newspapers across Canada, including The Winnipeg Sun, C-FAX, and CFRA. You can sign up for her newsletter, "YourTurn - Turn Your Weaknesses Into Your Perfect Life" at http://www.StopSmokingCoach.ca.
You can sign up for her newsletter, "YourTurn - Turn Your Weaknesses Into Your Perfect Life" at http://www.StopSmokingCoach.ca.
About the Author
Jill Binder is a Stop Smoking Coach with a 90 day program to show people how to quit smoking forever, with a 100% success rate. She has appeared on radio, television, and newspapers across Canada, including The Winnipeg Sun, C-FAX, and CFRA. You can sign up for her newsletter, "YourTurn - Turn Your Weaknesses Into Your Perfect Life" at http://www.StopSmokingCoach.ca.
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