Natural Remedies to Quit Smoking

IF IT ISNT THE TOBACCO THAT RELAXES YOU, WHAT IS IT?

"But I'd go crazy if I tried to work all day without a cigarette," you may reply. "I'd be a nervous wreck." No. You're not stating your case accurately. You might indeed become tense and nervous-not if you didn't smoke, but if you didn't take time out for concentration breaks throughout the day.

We'll hear an objection now from someone who says that his work doesn't require particular concentration. Or from a housewife who declares that washing dishes and making beds isn't "concentration." Yet both still feel the need for cigarettes to help them relax.

The fact is that the human mind must concentrate upon something every moment it is awake. You can't hold your mind completely blank. You're thinking about something all the time; and if whatever you're thinking about causes you to become tense, a concentration break will relax you. Any concentration break will relax you!

One of the chief reasons you have acquired the habit of smoking is just to give yourself the concentration break. But you can relax far more efficiently and far more effectively without smoking. Using a natural remedy to stop smoking is the best way to do it.

"There may not be any particular ingredient in cigarettes that help me relax," you may say. "But I still know that in my case, a cigarette does relax my tensions."

Once I would have heartily agreed. In fact, I'd have challenged anyone who didn't agree with the statement. It seemed positively self-evident. If I was in a golf match and a critical putt was coming up, I'd take time out to light a cigarette to "steady my nerves."

If I had been at the typewriter and the words and ideas had begun to slow down, I'd take time out for a cigarette ... collect my thoughts ... and then get back to work. Doing research work in the library, I might, after a while, begin to feel "fuzzy." I'd walk outside and have a smoke. Then I'd be relaxed and ready to hit the books again.

I'm sure you can find dozens of parallel examples in your own daily living. At times when you've been upset, angry, in a tight spot, worried, concerned about a situation, or just in need of a break from concentration, you'd take time out and light a cigarette. And you'd find yourself more relaxed.

It's the concentration break you need, not the nicotine

What's the answer, then, if there is no tranquilizing or narcotic effect in smoking? How does a cigarette produce undeniably calming sensations? Or, to be more precise, if there are actually irritating and stimulating substances in the smoke, known to interfere with relaxation (as there are!), where does the seemingly calming effect come from?

It isn't as contradictory as it may appear. The point overlooked in these personal statements is "I took time out to light a cigarette." Put the emphasis on "time out"-and forget about the smoking -and you've found the secret. You break concentration by the simple mechanical act of "taking time out" to light and puff on a cigarette.

And it's the act of breaking concentration-whether you forget momentarily about a putt in golf, or take your mind off your work, or divert your attention from fears and anxieties-that results in your feeling of relaxation and release.