Quit Meditations

[judyb]

By: Meditations for Surviviing without Cigarettes
DAY 3
You have conferred tremendous benefits on yourself by quitting smoking. You've added not just eight
years (on average age) to your expected life span, but eight much healthier years than you could look
forward to as a smoker. Put to good use, they will be happier years, too. You are now in a position to
get more out of life than you ever could as a smoker. That cloud of smoke stood between you and
life's full experience.
At the moment you may be coughing or clearing your throat more than ever before--so much that
your chest may hurt. Be glad! You've recovered the ability to clear out blocked airways, which were
stuck full of mucus. The clearing-out process lasts only a few days, and your old smoker's cough (the
body's attempt to protect itself from the irritants in cigarette smoke) will be history in a few weeks.
Fatigue during the day and wakefulness at night are normal withdrawal symptoms, not likely to last
more than a few weeks. Intestinal upsents can also last weeks, but most of your other symptoms will
pass in a day or two. The worst cigarette cravings should now be behind you.
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DAY 4
Your worst physical withdrawal syjptoms should hav passed by now. if the only reason you smoked
was that you'd once had the bad luck of becoming addicted to nicotine, you'd be home free.
But people are not such fools that they smoke out of addiction alone. They smoke because smoking
is rewarding. Chances are, you have a number of hurdles still to cross in your metamorphosis into a
nonsmoker. In the past, smoking has helped you to regulate your moods, ignore pain, control
excitment, ward off anxiety, and medicate depression. But as smoking provides only a distraction,
not a cure, smokers tend to have a lont of unfinished business in their psyches.
When someone stops smoking, he or she is apt to suffer most from the intensity of emotions. The
uplifiting ones can be as intimidating as the anxious ones. Both scream "CIGARETTE"!!! The trick is to
let these feelings rush by without succumbing to them. In time, you will learn to tend your emotions
far more effeictely without cigarettes than you ever did with them.

[judyb]

DAY 5 By: Meditations for surviviing without cigarettes
As long as you smoked, your body operated under a tremendous hindrance. It had to adapt not only
to nicotine, but to the 4000 plus other chemicals found in burning tobacco (over 40 of which are
known to be carcinogenic). That smoke you took in didn't just gum up your lungs, but passed
immediately into your bloodstream. The carbon monoxide in the smoke displaced oxygen, making
you tired and breathless. Nicotine sped up your heart rate and raised your blood pressure. When you
lit a cigarette your body temperature also fell, and less blood flowed to your arms, legs, and feet. If
you're feeling tingling now in your fingers and toes, it's because you're noticing improved circulation.
If you still want a cigarette, try the 4 D's: Drink water, Delay, Deep-breathe, Do something else. The
craving will go away in a couple of minutes -- If you don't smoke
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DAY 6
You do exercise, don't you? Exercise lets you fully reap the sense of well-being that comes from not
smoking. Exercise does well what the body does badly, which is to alleviate anxiety, depression, and
restlessness. Both smoking and exercise give the brain's neurotransmitters a boost, but the effects of
exercise are much longer lasting. A cigarette produces only a few minutes' reprieve from anxiety; a
good workout creates genuine relaxation, lasting hours. For those who worry about getting fat,
exercise is a critical part of the program.
It's necessary to find an exercise you can bring yourself to do regularly. You can hate running and still
like ice skating or racquetball or weight lifting or bicycling or swimming or yoga. Good old walking will
do fine. An easy stroll is far better than nothing.
In your early weeks of not smoking, you should try to at least one exercise break a day. The exertion
cuts the craving for a cigarette, and there is satisfaction in making the most of your body's growing
capabilities--now that it is no longer a smoking machine.

[judyb]

DAY 7
"Just for today" is a key slogan in Nicotine Anonymous. "Just for today, I will not smoke." You may
reassess the situation tomorrow, whereupon you may decide to smoke again. Thus, your only
problem is getting through today. In the years to come, if you want to smoke, say to yourself, "Well,
maybe tomorrow." Tomorrow, one hopes, you will decide you can get through tomorrow. This takes
the chill off making a lifetime decision. The thought of forever may be too much to contemplate. And
if tomorrow seems too close to forever, there's "just for the next 7 minutes I will not smoke."
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DAY 8
Congratulations! Your first and worst week without cigarettes is over. It is not, however, time to relax
your vigilance. Instead, count your blessings. You look better, you smell better, and you're welcome
wherever you go. You are probably enjoying your food more, too. Few great cooks are smokers, as
smokers generally lack both the passion for food and the nose for it. You may, however, now be
demonstrating an obsession with food that you'd rather not have, and you should take certain
precautions.
If you crave sweets, suck on lemon drops or Life Savers. Bowls of sunflower seeds around the house
are diverting. Keep plenty of fruit, juice, and ice water on hand, and fill the fridge with ready to eat
vegetable snacks. You can use the vitamins; as a smoker, you needed more and absorbed less. And
eat good square meals, remembering that the US Government recommends that we all eat five to
seven servings of fruit and vegetables each day. This is no time to diet. Chew gum if you must, but
bear in mind that some people find gum chewing even more irritating than smok

[judyb]

DAY 9
Even though he quit 16 years ago, Micheal Mery vividly remembers how difficult it was. "I loathed
myself for smoking, for trashing myself, but it still took me a long time to quit. When I finally did stop,
the first three days were just the normal physical withdrawal. Then a light-headedness set in
that was so extreme that I was borderline dangerous. (Mery is a carpenter and works with power
tools). At the same time, I was almost euphoric not to be smoking.
"I'd also break out in a sweat from head to foot while just sitting in a chair, and I had major joint
pain. I was irritable for months. Three months after I quit I had a drag of my then-wife's cigarette.
Having that one drag filled me with fury at myself for being so stupid. That was the last time I
smoked."
"I didn't notice much physical change until one day I was shovelling horse manure into my truck for my
mother's garden. I was in a big hurry, and I loaded up in less than twenty minutes. As I drove away I
was amazed to notice I wasn't winded. Now, I run twenty miles a week. I'm just grateful to be free of
cigarettes.
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DAY 10
Day by day, this book takes note of the milestones the ex-smoker passes along the road to recovery.
Some body parts recuperate quickly, some slowly. For ease of reference, we collect together here
some of the highlights in the progress of an ex-smoker.
Twenty minutes after the last cigarette: Blood pressure, pulse, and body temperature return to
normal.
Eight hours later: Carbon monoxide level in the blood falls, allowing oxygen level to rise.
Seventy-two hours later: The bronchial tubes relax, and breathing becomes easier. The lung power
increases. Coughing decreases.
Two weeks to three months: Circulation improves; stamina increases; lung capacity increases up to
30 percent
Two Months: Chronic cough completely disappears
One to nine months: Sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease. The cilia regrow in
the lungs.
One year: Risk of heart disease falls to half that of a current smoker Five years: Risk of heat attack
and stroke almost equals that of a never smoker
Six years: Risk of bladder cancer becomes half that of a never-smoker Ten years: Risk of lung cancer
drops to half that of a never-smoker Fifteen years: Risk of lung cancer drops to almost that of a
never-smoker

[judyb]

Day 11
Chances are that you still feel a berserk craving for a cigarette from time to time. Even nonbelievers
may take recourse in prayer at such moments. Saying "God help me" (white breathing deeply) comes
as naturally to quitters as it does to drowning sailors. Both are, after all, fighting for their lives.
Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace, felt that people smoke, or took other intoxicants, to drown the
conscience. He gives as an example the cook who cut his lady's throat but could not finish her off
until he smoked a cigarette. Thieves, gamblers, and prostitutes nearly all smoke--and so do people
in lawful professions, says Tolstoy, if their behavior requires them to quiet their consciences.
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DAY 12
Most smokers cling to the odd idea that cigarettes reduce stress. In fact, the effect of smoking is
quite the opposite. On lighting a cigarette, the pulse speeds up, blood pressure increases, and the
heart pumps faster. The smoker may enjoy a moments tranquillity when the nicotine hits the brain,
but
that is quickly followed by the agitation of withdrawal. So the next cigarette quickly follows, sending a
further valley of toxins into the body and to the nervous system. The upshot is that smoking is the
world's worst way to cope with stress.
Rx for stress: Take three deep breaths, and hold the last one as long as you can. Have a hot bath.
Run around the block. Do some stretches. Envision snowcapped mountains. Find someone pleasant
to talk to. Pour out your soul into a notebook. Go to bed early.

[judyb]

Day 13
Coffee drinking and smoking go together in the minds of many smokers like the proverbial horse and
carriage -- so much so that some cigarette quitters feel they must renounce coffee also. But adding
the stress of giving up coffee to that of giving up cigarettes can be unduly traumatic. Most cigarette
quitters would just as soon postpone caffeine withdrawal, perhaps till the grave.
However, you might as wee be advised to cut down on the quantity of caffeine you're taking in.
Smokers metabolize caffeine faster than nonsmokers. In one test, caffeine levels went up 46 percent
after smokers quit smoking--while still drinking the same amount of coffee. This could account for
some of the irritability and nervousness attributed to cigarette withdrawal.
So add some decaf to your usual coffee brew, and if need be, alter your rituals. The after-breakfast
cup of coffee causes many recent ex-smokers to grieve for their after-breakfast cigarettes. Have that
second cup of coffee (maybe decaf) but don't sit around with it. Stroll in the garden. Strum the old
guitar you've stowed in the closet. And this is an excellent time to write in your journal--where you
can express those feelings you're no longer trying to extinguish with smoke.
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Day14
Two weeks smoke free! You're feeling like a real nonsmoker now, not even thinking about cigarettes
for big chunks of time. You may still have bad moments, very likely in the evenings when you're tired
and your defenses are low. It's a good idea to acquire new routines to get your mind off sinking into
an easy chair with a cigarette. One couple who quit together now each evening take a stroll together.
You may need to find things to do with your hands: Set up a picture puzzle, do the ironing, bake
bread, groom the dog, sew, take up needlework, make a model airplane, pull weeds, or practice
your golf swing. One ex-smoker started making a replica of the Vatican from a cut-out book. "It's
incredibly soothing," she says. "I methodically cut, fold, and glue, and the Vatican rises before me."
Michelangelo didn't smoke. If he had, at the age of eighty he could hardly been hanging from the
Vatican's Sistine Chapel ceiling painting the frescoes.

[Ann]

WOW! That's a lot of information Judyb, thanks.