Addiction To Smoking

[uriel india]

So i was surprised when I wanted to write about my addiction to smoking both tobacco and pot, When I realized that "addiction" is listed under the "serious emotional problems" category in the forum.

OK, so maybe i need to start realizing that my addiction is infact a serious emotional problem. 

So i smoke many cigarettes and at least 3-4 joints every day.

The last year has been extra hard, had financial stress, a roller-coaster relationship, and a lot of depression, stress, and the beginning of recognizing the victim mentality that I have and taking first steps in trying to put some order into my life.

So in the last year I tried several times to stop smoking and I keep stopping and then getting back to it after 2-3 weeks. It's amazing to see how I feel after a week of non-smoking... I can feel extremely dizzy, I feel anger rising  inside of me over little day-by-day things, and I never seem to pass 3-4 weeks before I take one here and one there and before i know it I have a cigarette  in my mouth 15 minutes after i wake up and sometimes a joint by 11am.

I think I made some steps as for self-improvement but it's only my very-very-very beginning and I think that on one hand i'm committed to some new things like never before, on the other hand I think that i need to beware not to cling to those new additions to by life hoping that they are enough. 

In other words, It's a nice start that I've been meditating 20 minutes a day, a daily work-out, and practicing my guitar for an average of 2 hours a day..it's truly nice and it's the first time in my life that i'm making all those small commitments and i've been keeping it up for 2-3 months, but lets just say that i'm not there yet.

So i broke up with my girlfriend after a year together, and that was a month ago, I started smoking 3 days later and been smoking since.

I don't want the smoking to be covering deeper emotional issues that are trying to elevate up to the surface... (if that's even the truth).

Sometimes i tell myself that tomorrow i'll stop, then I survive for 2-3 hours max.

it's interesting to see that i used my relationship for trying to stop, and now that i'm alone- I feel like... weaker... like there will be no one there for me when it's going to start to get hard, but i know i'm not thinking right, and i know that I want to continue climbing up this self-actualization mountain and not to be a slave of addictions.

Ideas?

Thank a lot

Uriel 

[Guest]

Addictions will not stop you climbing up to "self-actualization" mountain. However, you should do it for your health sake. And for the first step of enlightenment which is loving yourself. When you love yourself you wouldn't smoke one more time again.

I quit smoking almost 1 year and 2 months ago. I was smoking 1 pack of cigarettes with high nicotine. I was in love with smoking. But it was slowly killing me. I was ill all the time. I was 89 kg (now I am 65). I didn't have free time to relax. I was always in control of chemicals in my blood. I was stressful. I suddenly quit smoking and never smoked again. What I experienced is after 7 days you stop craving for it. You'll do it if you love yourself and body. 

[Hatfort]

In self development it seems important to think in long term, and if you do it, you won't find good reasons to smoke. You can read Allen Carr's famous book to quit smoking, I think it has some good points that can help, although you'll have to do the effort for yourself. For me, it was so difficult the first week, and less next months. Now, it's some years since, I don't miss it at all.

About pot, smoking everyday sure affects your productivity and development and you don't need it. Think about the benefits you'll get if you quit.

[xXxXx]

Don't torture yourself and try quitting cold turkey, substitute with other sources of nicotine. I smoked for 10 years, there were times where i smoked almost a pack per day. Then i got myself a e-cigarette, it is important that you don't under dose the nicotine, your body has to feel that it gets the nicotine it needs from e-cigarettes/or other sources as well.

You are addicted only to nicotine, but the severe effects on your health are caused by the 10.000+ chemicals forming when tobacco and cigarette paper are burned. If you substitute well, you can minimize the effects of withdrawal, most problems in quitting occur here, if you dose the substituted nicotine too low, you get withdrawal symptoms and you want to smoke again.

After about 6 months smoking e-cigarette with nicotine doses appropriate to the doses i consumed through cigarettes i cycled the dose down, i am now clean since a year. Maybe this works for you too.

edit:

And in terms of pot: i switched to vaporizing, it eliminates the association with smoking and helped me to stay off the tobacco

Edited February 11, 2016 by Locooig

[A way to Actualize]

 

 

this will be an off the wall solution. Works extremely well.

[Kelley White]

On 2/9/2016 at 2:12 AM, uriel india said:

So i was surprised when I wanted to write about my addiction to smoking both tobacco and pot, When I realized that "addiction" is listed under the "serious emotional problems" category in the forum.

OK, so maybe i need to start realizing that my addiction is infact a serious emotional problem. 

So i smoke many cigarettes and at least 3-4 joints every day.

The last year has been extra hard, had financial stress, a roller-coaster relationship, and a lot of depression, stress, and the beginning of recognizing the victim mentality that I have and taking first steps in trying to put some order into my life.

So in the last year I tried several times to stop smoking and I keep stopping and then getting back to it after 2-3 weeks. It's amazing to see how I feel after a week of non-smoking... I can feel extremely dizzy, I feel anger rising  inside of me over little day-by-day things, and I never seem to pass 3-4 weeks before I take one here and one there and before i know it I have a cigarette  in my mouth 15 minutes after i wake up and sometimes a joint by 11am.

I think I made some steps as for self-improvement but it's only my very-very-very beginning and I think that on one hand i'm committed to some new things like never before, on the other hand I think that i need to beware not to cling to those new additions to by life hoping that they are enough. 

In other words, It's a nice start that I've been meditating 20 minutes a day, a daily work-out, and practicing my guitar for an average of 2 hours a day..it's truly nice and it's the first time in my life that i'm making all those small commitments and i've been keeping it up for 2-3 months, but lets just say that i'm not there yet.

So i broke up with my girlfriend after a year together, and that was a month ago, I started smoking 3 days later and been smoking since.

I don't want the smoking to be covering deeper emotional issues that are trying to elevate up to the surface... (if that's even the truth).

Sometimes i tell myself that tomorrow i'll stop, then I survive for 2-3 hours max.

it's interesting to see that i used my relationship for trying to stop, and now that i'm alone- I feel like... weaker... like there will be no one there for me when it's going to start to get hard, but i know i'm not thinking right, and i know that I want to continue climbing up this self-actualization mountain and not to be a slave of addictions.

Ideas?

Thank a lot

Uriel 

Good Morning @uriel india.

I had an issue with smoking cigarettes and I quit several months ago.  I actually quit during a very stressful time of my life.  I don't know if this will work for you or not.  I found when I really realized I was doing something harmful to me as a reaction to stress?  It seemed illogical.  Then I just focused on how smoking a cigarette made me feel.   Once I brought into my awareness how I felt as I smoked?  Even though ti was something I thought I enjoyed I realized I did not like the taste, I could feel my muscles stiffen, my blood sugar drop.  I would crave sugar or caffeine.    Then I noticed it actually made me feel ill.  I eventually quit when I had a cold and lost the desire altogether.  Now I just remind myself when I get that craving I can just say, "oh, that is a random thought, interesting, I haven't craved one for awhile.  What's that about?" Then I let it go and do something else.

Marijuana, that is an individual preference and each person has to do what they feel best.  I know folks who are not productive when they smoke.  Myself, I am productive when I smoke.  I have a medical card, I'm under the care of a doctor, I stick to a specific dosing.   It works better for me then anti-depressants without the side effects.  It also helps me eat, since most of the time eating is not even a priority for me. 

For you?  It might be an issue and you might want to address it.  Have you spoken to a few doctors, done any research?  You might do that.

Have you observed a difference in your behavior for the worse when you smoke versus the better? 

I remain open; I talk to my doctors.  If some day I get to a place I no longer seem to need medicine of some sort, we can take steps to go there.   Like you, I don't seem to be at that place yet,  So I can either beat myself up or accept where I'm at. 

On 2/9/2016 at 2:12 AM, uriel india said:

In other words, It's a nice start that I've been meditating 20 minutes a day, a daily work-out, and practicing my guitar for an average of 2 hours a day..it's truly nice and it's the first time in my life that i'm making all those small commitments and i've been keeping it up for 2-3 months, but lets just say that i'm not there yet.

That is huge!  You made a personal commitment and you stuck to it.  Even though you feel like you are not "there", (where is there by the way?)  how does that feel to be meditating and keeping that commitment to you?

On 2/9/2016 at 2:12 AM, uriel india said:

it's interesting to see that i used my relationship for trying to stop, and now that i'm alone- I feel like... weaker... like there will be no one there for me when it's going to start to get hard, but i know i'm not thinking right, and i know that I want to continue climbing up this self-actualization mountain and not to be a slave of addictions.

As far as self actualization?  Self actualization is a life long process.  Its an internal evolution if you will.  Its not, by my observation, a linear process.   You are here.  That is the biggest step, getting to a space where you can be authentic and do the inquiry for you to arrive at the best answers for you.  I wish you the best of luck and support while working through this.

[Kelley White]

@A way to Actualize  Great share. 

[SmokeAndMirrors]

Hi there,

Quote

 [...] i smoke many cigarettes and at least 3-4 joints every day.

First things first: Don't stress yourself out because of this! Many people do this and live, and many did it and got rid of it. Rather see it as a good place to start improving even more.

I would try to make two smaller problems out of the big "plant smoking problem".  First problem: Smoking cigarettes day in, day out. Second problem: Smoking (too much) Weed. I can hardly help you with problem nr. one, I am a smoker myself (and will definitly watch the video posted, thanks for that!!!)

While smoking weed myself, not daily though, I limit it to the evening and special free time activities during the summer like BBQ in the park. I am strongly convinced that stopping to smoke weed opens up untapped potential though, but let's start small. There is a huge difference between beeing stoned the whole day (first joint at 11 am.) and beeing stoned at night: You just lose a fraction of the day! Besides, you limit the control the stuff has over your life to the evening hours (and a little in the morning, for most people). Let's face it, usually you do not achive much after smoking a joint, right? I would try to implement a simple rule: Weed after 8 pm is fine, before it is not!

A great advantage of this rule vs. stopping altogether is, you do not feel that something is taken away from you (at least not as much). Whenever you "crave" a joint during the day you can look at the clock and say. "just 6/4/2/1 hours to go". After 8 pm you are (at first) allowed to "blow your mind", but what you will find is that 1-2 joints do the job. You can drag out the smoking time for a single joint quite a bit, so there are good chances you will be fine with just one. This way you can have the pleasure and comfortable feeling of weed (and the looking forward to it) while still spending a productive day in advance.

The second big advantage of this aproach is, you will start to see "weed/pot" in a different light, it's not a solution anymore, now it is "just the nice stuff at night". When, at first, you feel compelled to smoke before 8 pm (some shit ruined your day or something) the next joint isn't too far off and you do not have to deal with the problem "forever" (of cause you do, but you still seem to have the illusion that beeing stoned helps). If you postpone the weed smoking, you are forced to deal with the problem for a couple of hours while beeing sober. This will, in the long run, ensure you that this is actually possible! If you stick to that rule it wont be long before you actually look at the clock, it's 9 pm and you didn't even think about smoking weed before. Now you already lost the compulsion to smoke as soon as you are allowed to, and you are on a good way to quitting it altogether (if that is what you wish, by now you can probably already DECIDE if you want to smoke today, or not).

You also will get to enjoy the "clean time" of your day more and more over time. Potheads usually waste a lot of their energy just by smoking weed, to feel that by comparing the evening with daytime, will also contribute to a smarter decision about smoking weed at night. 

So in general it is all about starting to really FEEL the advantages of not smoking weed, while not depriving oneself of it right from the get-go.

This strategy did work for me and three of my friends. The last of my pothead friends modifeid it: Just one joint a day, nevermind the time of the day (he has a irregular schedule everyday). We are all experiencing strongly decreasing weed consumption without feeling any loss. The key is that you do not have to give up weed at once to have the benefits of smoking less. But what you certainly HAVE to do is getting your mind to shift the perception of weed from "the way to solve my worries" to "just a nice thing to do".

And last but not least:

Quote

In other words, It's a nice start that I've been meditating 20 minutes a day, a daily work-out, and practicing my guitar for an average of 2 hours a day..it's truly nice and it's the first time in my life that i'm making all those small commitments and i've been keeping it up for 2-3 months, but lets just say that i'm not there yet.

You do a lot more than I do in certain areas of life! 20 minutes a day meditating? That's more than 99.9% of all people on the planet do (including me)!!! A daily work-out? The same thing!!! And how are those things just "small commitments"? You obviously are able to make such commitments, make the next one: Weed after 8 pm is fine, before it is not! 

bye bye

paul

 

[Peter J]

Keep trying! I had the same addiction as you. Today i`ve been 60 days without tobacco and 10 weeks without Hash!
I had a healthy relationship to Cannabis and only smoked maybe once a month. Got serious when my girlfriend broke up with me doh. The feelings where just to heavy, and I started escaping them with Hash. Telling myself it was just for a litle period. That period lasted every day for about 2 years. 
I dont know how many times i quit, then going back to smoking daily. What I realised is that I didnt have a good enough plan.
When i quit for real i started meditating and workout everyday. I also read every day. And I try to get something constructive done in my house every day.
You are meditating and working out which is great!
Good luck!

Edited February 13, 2016 by Peter J

[Free Spirit]

learning to self love... be who you are and not who you think others want you to be.  Be happy with your own company

[Steven]

The pull of the cigarette addiction

Today while I was driving to the library I had a good encounter with the presence of the pull. I’m talking about the bodily cravings for a cigarette. I tried to feel it and examine it, knowing that that it could not be more false for body to need this poison in order to sustain itself. Yet it was pulling like mad. It even generated panic, blood pressure and heart beats giving intense signals that something is not ok. What beast did you let in.

Then I went to the shop and bought tobacco, but instead of smoking it straight away, I put it in the glove box of my car. And wanted to observe this falsity. Then it slowly went away. Felt a great relief. I knew that lighting a smoke would feel just like nothing, as having one after ten or more smokes.

The ego (mind) is a funny, funny thing. It can go everywhere except the NOW. Fuck the mind. Who is the mind to know anything. It can’t do anything useful. It’s always in the past or future. Regretting and wishing for repetition, or craving and fearing. Why is it better tomorrow or a month from now, than right NOW?

[FindingPeace]

On 09/02/2016 at 10:12 AM, uriel india said:

Sometimes i tell myself that tomorrow i'll stop, then I survive for 2-3 hours max.

Another way to reframe this is to say "Today I'm going to stop smoking, but I might smoke again tomorrow". And do it, for the day, knowing that you can start again the next day. Then, the next day, do the same again. The problem comes when people decide they are giving up forever. That is too hard a pill to swallow in the initial instances. Give up for a day at a time knowing that at any time you can come back to it. Yes, it sounds non-comittal, but it is less of a pill to swallow giving up on consistent short-term basis. After all, there is not failure in the occasional lapse provided you try and try again.

It's too easy to think that if you lapse once or twice then it'll never work and it's not worth trying. Keep on picking yourself up and giving up smoking again for whatever time-period you want.

I know someone who did this, gave up on a daily basis but left himself open to starting again the next day. He never smoked again...

 

[zasa joey]

Initially i was able to stop smoking very easily for several months and i have lost desire and everything, but once me and my friends were drinking and i smoked several cigarettes that evening and the next day it started again, but now i dont consider that much of a problem. just relax and dont try too hard. if you wanna be a smoker, so be it. my guess is, when you become more and more self-actualized that habit will go away, good luck on your journey!

[HypSandar]

Here's a thing... You said you will stop smoking tomorrow, the other day did the same thing. You keep saying that. What you have to do is JUST DO IT.

Quit smoking, say NO. Build up a strong character, i know its not going to be easy if you're broke in any way. But it can be, really easy. If you just straight up, shoot the discipline.

You will come to a point where everyone around you is smoking, but you wont! You will have to stop, its effecting your life and people around you.

 

Yes, i picked up a few sentences from Shia Labeouf.