Wow! Djmuarry thank you! What an amazing book! It really does change your mindset and it is exectly what I needed to hear. It reminds me of the difference between two methods of natural childbirth: one method is the various versions of the "grin and bear it" mentality that has you believing that childbirth is painful and something all women should fear but we can teach ourselves to deal with the pain in order to have a drug-free birth experience. This did not work for me. I have no idea how it would for anyone unless they had a short labor. I was able to tolerate it for 20 hours but after that begged for an epidural (my entire first labor was 30 hours, 20 of which were excruciating). The other method, which I used for my second child, is hypnosis ("Hypnobabies"). In this method, you convince yourself (through months of self-hypnosis) that childbirth is not painful, and that the sensations you feel during labor are akin to running a marathon or physical exertion. That way the fear is gone. It just goes poof. You can then focus on breathing, relaxing, and working hard through your labor. I had a 12 hour, smooth, unmedicated and relatively pain free labor. It was amazing. I am convinced this was because the fear was gone.
The same thing is at work in the easyway method. By telling yourself (and believeing it), that you are not giving anything up at all, it changes the whole quitting game. It is not longer "giving up" smoking, but rather, gaining not smoking (gaining money, health, better breath, etc.).
I feel like a non-smoker for the first time since I was 19 (before I ever smoke a cigarette)!!! I am 39 so 20 years. Gee, I NEVER thought I would smoke for 20 years. What a waste. Oh well, onward and upward!
