7 Direct Observations that Lead to Quitting Smoking
“Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Opportunities are often things you haven’t noticed the first time around.”—–Catherine Deneuve
“You can observe a lot just by watching.”— Yogi Berra
Might it be possible to quit smoking just by watching? Watching what is happening right here under our nose? If it’s possible to quit smoking just by watching, by observing, wouldn’t that be great? Wouldn’t that be the easiest way of all to quit smoking? Not have to do anything except watch, see, pay attention to what is right here, and then watch the tobacco habit fall away? Wouldn’t such an easy, effortless approach to quitting be exactly what we’ve been looking for?
Here’s some good news: I’ve been working in the tobacco addiction field for over forty years— if you count the twenty years I spent addicted. I’ve written books about it. I’ve given papers and lectures about it at fancy universities (like Oxford!) and world conferences. I’ve been working with literally thousands of smokers one on one and in classes and via e-mail to help them walk away. And I’ve finally come to the realization that yes, it is possible to quit smoking just by observing, by paying attention. And my friends and clients have proven this method actually works. You are about to test it out for yourself!
BASIC PRINCIPLE: OBSERVATION ITSELF (awareness itself, attention itself) IS A SUFFICIENT POWER TO DISSOLVE THE ADDICTION TO TOBACCO. No will power necessary. No gritting teeth, white knuckles, crabby days and weeks. Just watching, observing is all the power you need!
DISCLAIMER: NO OBERVATION, BE IT WONDERFUL OR DISASTROUS, WILL IN ITSELF GUARANTEE QUITTING SMOKING [CHEWING.]
HOWEVER, ANY OBSERVATION, BE IT MUNDANE OR PROFOUND, CAN BE [AND HAS BEEN] THE TRIGGER THAT RESULTS IN SPONTANOEUS QUITTING.
(For example, I have had several clients spontaneously quit smoking after they observed their young children pretending to smoke. [Other clients, of course, smoke with their children.] I had one client quit smoking when he observed a very fit high diving champion— he wanted to be that fit. One young lady quit when she saw an old lady smoking and saw herself heading in that direction. A cowboy friend quit when he saw a new pick-up truck he wanted. Again, any observation can and probably has lead somebody, somewhere to quit smoking. But no observation will guarantee quitting.)
NEVERTHLESS, THESE PARTICUALR SEVEN OBSERVATIONS HAVE BEEN THE DOORWAY FOR MILLIONS OF SMOKERS/CHEWERS TO EASILY, SPONTANOUSLY, GRACEFULLY WALK AWAY FROM THEIR ADDICTION TO TOBACCO. THESE SEVEN OBSERVATIONS CAN DO THE SAME FOR YOU, IF ACTUALLY SEE (OBSERVE, CONFIRM) WHAT IS BEING POINTED OUT, AND THEN LET YOUR OWN OBSERVATIONS WORK THEIR MAGIC IN YOU!
THE OBSERVATIONS THEMSELVES GIVE THE POWER TO QUIT
YOU DON’T BELIEVE THIS? JUST WATCH!
First, The Game, or Metaphor:
The Spanish philosopher Ortega E. Gasset observed, “The metaphor is probably the most fertile power possessed by man.” We can use (experience) the power of metaphor to walk away from smokes, or chews.
So here’s the metaphor: When we were young, we were feeling spunky, adventurous, brave, and so when we saw a hitchhiker along side the road, we decided to pick him/her up. (The hitchhiker, of course, is the tobacco habit.) The hitchhiker got along well with our friends, maybe even our family, was great company at parties, and even when we were alone in the night. We became great friends. Fairly quickly, the hitchhiker moved in. Thus begins the story.
The Seven Observations
Observation 1: Smoking—chewing—is a habit of attention. When we directly experience–observe–how our habit is at root a habit of attention, we experience the first key to getting free. We can observe that the hitchhiker— the smoking (or chewing) habit– demands our attention, and when we don’t give it attention, the hitchhiker gets surly, gets loud, snarky. To undo the habit, we accept the challenge of freeing our attention from the hitchhiker. We start simply by paying attention to how our own private attention works. e.g., experiencing our private attention, and seeing how the hitchhiker is always wanting it.
.Observation 2. You—the driver— are already free. There’s a very natural and ordinary part of ourselves —a part that we experience every day— that has never been addicted, that has never needed or wanted smokes (chews). That “something”— which in this game we call “the driver”— is already in us. It’s the part that is not smoking or thinking about smoking. It’s that major part of us that has never been addicted, that doesn’t want to smoke. That “part” — that driver— is what brought us to this website. The driver simply doesn’t want to smoke, or chew, or even argue about it! .
Observation 3. The smoker identity— chewer identity—is the hitchhiker that we picked up along the way. We –the drivers– have done everything with this hitchhiker for so many years that we (mostly) identify ourselves as the hitchhiker. We experience the same thoughts, have the same moods, go the same places. We are so close to the hitchhiker that we are almost the same identity. Almost. But we’re not. When we observe that we are not, at root, the hitchhiker identity, the hitchhiker loses his/her power.
Observation 4 . We can choose to experience joy, peace, grins– even a sense of adventure — as we remove our attention from the hitchhiker. Most of us originally picked up the tobacco habit—picked up the hitchhiker— because we were at that time alos feeling happy, adventurous and brave, doing it for grins. We can adopt the same mood as we let go of the habit — as we remove our attention from the hitchhiker— –as we did when we first put our attention there. We are free to do this, even though the hitchhiker might argue that we should feel very bad and upset about not paying it any attention. (We can grin at such complaints.)
Observation 5: We can observe that the hitchhiker— the smoking/chewing identity, is like a movie– is in fact “out there,” and not “right here,” where we actually are with our moment by moment attention.
Understanding the tobacco habit –the hitchhiker—makes it easier to quit. Understanding comes from observing it, experiencing it, as if you and your attention were in a movie theater. The movie—the hitchhiker– seems close, and engrossing, and we sometimes forget ourselves for a bit when we’re wrapped up in the story. And yet, the actual experience of craving, wanting a smoke, etc, comes and goes, like the images on a movie screen. So, where are we seated?
Observation 6: Fear lives in the movie images of the past and future. Attention and awareness and love are three aspects of our here/now presence. Fear—which is the only thing that would keep us from naturally dissolving the hitchhiker/smoker identity— is made up of images of the past and future. Attention is always right now. Attention, or awareness naturally spontaneously dissolves fear..
Observation 7. Quitting smoking/chewing is not something we do. It’s something we cease doing. Yes, we simply cease gibing our attention to the smokes or chews—simply cease picking up the hitchhiker identity/ . But more practically, we also cease living in the past and the future (in fear.) And most importantly, we cease withholding our attention from our truer self—the driver—cease withholding attention, awareness of that simple presence in us that is, and always has been, free, easy, natural and alive.
NOTE: We don’t need to have all seven observation before we quit. Any one of these observations can lead to easy, spontaneous quitting. And these observations don’t need to come in order, and they don’t need to come separately. In other words, we can have several of these observations at once, or first one, then another, and then maybe two at once. These observations are the deeper experiences of quitting. Let them capture your attention!
GUARANTEE: As we watch for these particular observations. they WILL arrive! As we indulge these observations, enjoy these observations, the hitchhiker identity will fade away, guaranteed!
