How to Quit Smoking with the MC2 Method

If your objective is to quit smoking, the MC2 Method will show you how to dissolve tobacco addiction at its inner origin.

A major reason people begin smoking, or using any type of drug, is because they want to feel "better" in some way. Maybe they want to feel more relaxed, more social, more mature, more cool, more independent; the list goes on. Such "desired" feelings are often ones suggested by media advertising, or peer attitudes surrounding the use of that product. But whatever the feeling was that you were seeking in cigarettes initially, it was more accurately a reflection of your desire to mentally suppress or escape from the real life sensations that you were having. That's why we start. And we continue using either for the same reason, or because discontinuing use of the substance creates a new type of internal pain that we want to avoid (withdrawal).

Consider just about any smoking cessation product on the market, and you'll see promises of quitting without the unwanted feeling of withdrawal. However, that promise of avoiding a feeling is really just the same lure that led you to addiction in the first place. That's what we crave, and therefore that's what sells. But not surprisingly, just about all those products are quite ineffective.

When you're ready to do so, your ability to quit will be based on your ability to transform your feelings of withdrawal into something less overwhelming. And just as importantly, your ability to stay quit will be based on your ability to transform the everyday feelings that drew you to cigarettes (or alcohol, or drugs) in the first place. This will be your key to freedom from addiction. Once you can correctly associate not smoking with feeling better than you've ever felt before, you will never want to smoke again.

 
PLEASE READ | Disclaimer

Before getting started, please note that this is simply one method to quit smoking which has worked well for many people. However, what is right for some isn't necessarily right for all. Therefore, if the technique doesn't work for you, don't give up hope -- remember that there are a whole lot of programs and approaches out there.

By proceeding continuing, you agree to our general terms of use, and understand that we cannot guarantee that this approach will work for you.
 

First, do you really WANT to quit smoking?

If you're going to quit smoking, you have to WANT to quit. Given that you're reading this article, your intuition is probably telling you that quitting feels right. But intuition is easily ignored, so take some time to find some solid reasons for quitting. Find reasons that YOU personally want to quit - how it will make your life better. Those reasons will provide motivation for you to make the long-term effort.

Here are the reasons that motivated me:

• I didn't want to stink... Before I quit smoking, I remember a time when I was talking to a smoker and nearly gagged. Their breathe was indescribable. I politely kept quiet about it (as most your friends probably do now), but I realized how truly unattractive smoking is. Furthermore, the smell of stale smoke in my car, home, and clothes, and the desire to not be perceived as a stink bomb everywhere I go were actually strong motivators for me to quit. I have a lot of goals in life, but even if I fail at all others, I now consider everyday that I am able to breathe fresh air all day long as a something really great.
   
• I didn't want to be a fool... When we're young, smoking is often a symbol of something we desire. For example, we see a great movie where actors are smoking and we associate cigarettes with being "cool" or "different". Or we see older kids and adults smoking and associate it with being "mature". Take a conscious look at the advertising used by big tobacco (billboards, magazine ads) and you'll see that they try to create mental associations with maturity, freedom, masculinity, femininity, sexiness, and so on. Well, that's pure deception, and gone are the days of smoking being "sexy" or anything else desirable. You're probably at an age now where you can realize that you've been fooled into accepting the false messages implied by cigarette advertising. You've learned that big tobacco has often paid movie producers to have actors smoke so that we'll subconsciously want to "be like them". Seeing these deceptions, I wanted to quit smoking simply because I didn't want to be a tobacco fool anymore. I don't want to be duped by big corporations that make a profit by lying and selling something that they know will kill those who use it.
   
• I didn't want to die before living fully... Just about all smoking cessation programs, books, and websites are loaded with information about the health consequences of smoking, so I won't repeat it here. That stuff never really bothered me too much anyway (we all die of something, right?). But what does bother me is reading about the personal accounts of smokers dying in their 20's and 30's, and all the others who die slow and excruciating deaths that wouldn't have been so painful if it weren't for tobacoo. If imagining yourself or your family in a real-life horror story gives you motivation to quit smoking, take a look at www.WhyQuit.com or one of the numerous other sites like it. There is no way to know when you will take the puff that sets off the cellular chain of events leading to cancer, stroke, amputation, or worse. For me, knowing that the body suffers with every puff should be reason enough to quit smoking. Skin wrinkles prematurely, brain cells are damaged, and plaque builds up in the arteries with every cigarette. No thanks. And regardless of whether I live a long life or not, I don't want the fatigue and lethargy caused by smoking to prevent me from enjoying the life that I do have available.
   
• I didn't want to contribute to mass murder and murder of children. That's right, tobacco is the number one killer in our country and many others. It kills more people than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, murders, suicides, illegal drugs, and fires combined. It kills as many Americans each year as have died in all the wars that we've fought in that past century. And a portion of every dollar we spend on cigarettes will go toward marketing expenditures to deceive and recruit new smokers. Such marketing includes not only deceptive advertisements and movie placements, but such tactics as handing out free cigarettes to school children in 3rd world countries. Yes, this really happens - U.S. companies distribute cigarettes to children in poor countries where they can get away with it. I don't want to contribute a single penny to those activities. And in my own country, I refuse to be a walking billboard for tobacco - I don't want any young person to ever look at me and decide that they want to try a cigarette.
   

Correct Your Thoughts About Smoking

When people used to suggest that I quit smoking, I would often tell them "I just really enjoy smoking", or "I like the taste of cigarettes". Many smokers make such statements thinking that their experience is something special. But it's not unique - just about all smokers say something similar. The truth is that smoking feels "good" only because we have let our minds be tricked into associating it with something positive. Perhaps we've had a lot of good times with friends while smoking, or we've seen movies and advertisements that we're able to project ourselves into while smoking, or our minds have learned to associate smoking with that 5 minute period of "relaxation".

Examine any false positive thoughts that you have passively accepted about smoking, and then take a few minutes write down the correct thought or perception.

Here are some examples:

• Old false thought or perception -> New true thought or perception
   
• OLD BELIEF: Smoking helps me to be social
   
  CORRECTION: Smoking makes my breathe smell, ages my skin, and makes me appear foolish to anyone intelligent. This is not the 1920's.
   
• OLD BELIEF: Smoking helps me relax
   
  CORRECTION: Accumulated toxins in my system actually leave me with more stress and anxiety. There are better ways to relax.
     
• OLD BELIEF: I enjoy cigarettes
   
  CORRECTION: When I had my first cigarette, my body coughed because it didn't like it. I made a poor decision to continue smoking because I was young, ignorant of the facts, and desperate for the false promises that smoking offered. But I'm older, wiser, and stronger now. I now listen to myself, rather than deceptive marketing.
   
• OLD BELIEF: Cigarettes give me a sense of individuality and freedom
   
  CORRECTION: If I continue smoking, I am following the same path that thousands of other tobacco zombies have followed to their deaths. Until I quit smoking, I am just a slave to big tobacco companies.

 
How to Quit Smoking

Again, the above were just some issues that appealed to me. Once you've established your own solid reasons to quit smoking, and corrected any self-deceptive thoughts you hold about it, you've laid the groundwork for becoming a non-smoker. The technique that follows consists of 4 mental exercises that will help you reach that goal. Each one takes about 5 minutes. You can't just read these exercises - you have to practice them to see how effective they are. I would suggest printing this page out so that you can practice at least once a day for the next week or so.

For all these exercises, you should be in a seated position, in an area free from distractions. You should NOT practice these exercises while driving or operating machinery of any kind.

Mental Exercise #1:

Does some part of you want a cigarette right now? Do you feel any craving at all? If so, before you have a cigarette, close your eyes and feel that sensation of "wanting" as clearly as possible. Don't try to change it - just focus your attention on it and describe it. For example, say "craving you are heavy, thick, solid, intense, aching" - and so on. Use simple words to describe how the sensation feels. Do this for 2-3 minutes. Really get to know that sensation of wanting a cigarette as deeply as possible. In doing so you are learning to get comfortable with the sensation, rather than trying to change it or suppress it with a cigarette. So many smoking cessation programs, pills, and patches are focused on reducing cravings. But I have found that learning to be comfortable with, accept, and even enjoy such sensations provides a much more powerful tool. Also, since nicotine, like other drugs, has the ability to numb strong emotions, we've learned to cope with anxiety, anger, sadness, boredom, and all the other difficult emotions with cigarettes. Whenever you find yourself reaching for a cigarette due to any emotion, try this same exercise. Take a few minutes to turn inward, verbally describe the sensation, and become comfortable with it. Then have the cigarette if you wish. Practice this exercise regularly and soon you won't rely so heavily on cigarettes to cope emotions and cravings.

This first exercise is perhaps the most important of the four. It's effectiveness cannot be realized by simpy reading it - so be sure practice at least a few times. If you've already listened to the MC2 Method audio program, apply this technique in the manner described in Part 1 of the audio. And the remaining exercises can be reinforced by using the principles from Part 2 of the audio.
 

Mental Exercise #2:

For this exercise, grab your pack of cigarettes - yes, you are going to smoke! But read this whole paragraph before proceeding. First, light up and as you inhale that first puff, try to create a feeling of sickness and nausea within yourself. Create the gag reflex in the back of your throat like you're going to vomit - really try to feel yourself wanting to puke. While the smoke is in your lungs, expand that sense of nausea within yourself. Come as close as you can to actually making yourself sick. As you exhale, let the smoke flow out your mouth and nostrils and imagine that you're tasting burning toxic chemicals. This exercise may seem extreme, but this is really how you SHOULD feel. Smoking is poisoning the cells in your body, filling your arteries with sludge, and so much more. So work on your ability to produce these feelings with every puff whenever you smoke. Since it's just the internal feeling that matters, it's not difficult to practice this exercise even while smoking with other people. Within a short amount of time your body will start to re-associate cigarettes with this corrected sense of sickness rather than the false sense of relaxation, and your cravings will slip away.

Mental Exercise #3:

This is another exercise in generating more appropriate emotional energies. For this one, whenever you see someone smoking (e.g. a friend that you're talking to, an actor/actress in a movie, or any stranger), create within yourself a deep sense of sorrow for that person.. Sorrow that they have been deceived into thinking that smoking is enjoyable, sorrow that they have failed to find real ways to enjoy life, sorrow that they are destroying their body's ability to be fully active in life, and sorrow that they have been made into fools by tobacco companies. For purposes of no longer being one yourself, look upon smokers with the perspective that you're watching someone who is really doing something idiotic. Expand those sensations of sorrow and disgust as much as possible. Practicing this exercise every time you see a smoker will help you overcome the trap of "smoking jealousy", and prevent you from falling back into perceiving smokers as "cool" or anything else positive. In your new and true perspective, being a "quitter" is the real sign of emotional maturity, freedom from illusions, sexiness, and so on.

Mental Exercise #4:

For this exercise, create a list of all the positive attributes you once associated with being a smoker. For example: "coolness", "emotional maturity", "masculinity", "femininity", "strong will", "social", "living fully", "enjoying life", "rebel", and so. This list will vary for each person, so try to pick the qualities and conditions that personally attracted you to smoking. Now, turn inward and congratulate yourself for being all of those things now because you are a NON-SMOKER. Yes, quitting is probably much more an indicator of those attributes than smoking is. So generate a deep sense of pride within yourself for becoming the person you desire to be by becoming a non-smoker. Next, generate a feeling of joy that you are all of those things because you are a non-smoker. Then create a feeling of true excitement about the new, strong, self-directed, addiction-conquering, truth-seeing, possibilities-oriented person that you now are because you are a non-smoker. You've become a stronger person through this process, you now see that the way to live the life you desire is not through smoking or any of the false promises that old perceptions about smoking provided, but rather through following your inner intuition. Practice this exercise once or twice per day, perhaps before you sleep and when you wake up. Also, while around people who are smoking, generate a feeling of pride and self-esteem for the person you've chosen to be - direct those feelings inwardly to yourself.

You are now armed with some powerful weapons to protect yourself against this country's biggest killer. Remember that regardless any other goals you hold, if you are still a smoker, then quitting is the probably the number one most positive thing you can do to improve the quality of your life right now. So make practicing these exercises a real priority in your life. Your efforts will be well worth it.

I wish you the best of luck and sincerely hope that this information helps in your quest to once again be a non-smoker. If you get a chance, I'd love to hear your feedback.

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