Continue to let your mind expand…….Be totally honest with yourself.
Maybe your inner dialogue will continue as follows…..:
"Yes….. I might let myself consider giving up.
Wouldn't it be great…… ?
But really deep down, I still feel afraid…….
I'll miss them ……. I know it sounds silly ……… but they have always been with me in the good and the bad times ……
I think the truth is: I'm afraid I won't be able to cope without them ……… but could I ?
Oh, I wonder, I wonder …….that is the question ?
Up to this…. I have NEVER even considered this as a possibility.
But maybe ….. maybe …….
If I did choose NOT to smoke what is the worst that could happen to me….. ?
OK, for a while I would probably feel different ……. lonely and lost ……. as if I had lost an old friend.
But, hold on — wouldn't I also get those terrible cravings to smoke – that terrible nebulous feeling – 'I must have a cigarette' ………?
Ah, yes, I forgot about that …………… Damn it!
Ah well, what's the point …….. I don't want to go through all that again, do I ?
But, wait, hold on – what was that I read in Lesson 6…… Surely that can't be true ?
Yes…… it accepts that how I felt in the past when I tried to give up was true and valid – but it claims that the pain and discomfort which I definitely felt came NOT from the feelings themselves but how I responded to them.
Yes, now I remember:
When I give up I should welcome whatever feelings I get – not fear them or hope they won't come up or try to escape from them………..
The pain comes if you fall for the old LIE that they are too overpowering and you won't be able to handle them, so you try to get rid of them or change them in some way.
I must admit this sounds true to me ……….
All I have to do is to ALLOW them ……… NOT get involved in them ….. NOT get frightened or anxious over them ……… to simply put them in context ……….. they are only temporary ………… and when stripped of the power and fear which I have unconsciously projected on to them, they are really insignificant.
Yes, yes, of course that is it …..
And it has been these feelings – or rather my FEAR of these feelings and, my belief that I would not be able to cope with or tolerate them if I gave up smoking that made me not EVEN want to consider the possibility of giving up.
But now, maybe .. .maybe …….. it can be done and easily ……I must admit I'm beginning to feel a bubble of delight and excitement and smell the incense of success ………. and the choice of real freedom.'
A NEW BEGINNING
Maybe similar thoughts are flowing through your mind now.
Again let me repeat: I know it is hard to believe but you really can quit smoking now – and for good — and actually enjoy the process.
Just allow yourself to make that final irrevocable decision to stop when you are ready.
Remember, millions have already successfully done it.
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They are getting on just as happily with their lives now and are able to ENJOY all those occasions which you presently believe are impossible to enjoy without the opportunity to smoke.
They saw through the illusion.
