Quitting smoking can be an emotional roller coaster. Mindfulness can help you put the brakes on run away feelings. Practicing mindfulness helps us to take an objective, observational stance toward our internal experience. This, in turn, allows us to accept our thoughts and emotions as just that rather than taking them as a literal reflection of reality. Thoughts and emotions are not facts they just reflect your experience or your perception of a situation. Just because something feels a certain way doesn't mean it's true and just because you think something doesn't make it a fact!
Remember, the cravings, crabby, crying and cursing are all nothing more than thoughts! While we don't want to judge our thoughts or emotions, we do want to take 'response ability' for how we choose to react to them. A cigarette never has and never will 'fix' the way you are feeling!
The following are ten common myths that some people believe about the way they feel. If you have faulty beliefs about your emotions it will only make it more difficult for you to manage your behavior.
1. There is a right way and a wrong way to feel in every situation.
2. It's not healthy to feel angry, sad or worried.
3. Happy/emotionally healthy people don't experience painful emotions.
4. Feeling sad, anxious or any other emotion is weak.
5. Painful emotions are destructive.
6. If others don't agree/approve with how you feel, you shouldn't feel that way.
7. Painful emotions are bad and need to be fixed.
8. Being emotional means being out of control.
9. It's not healthy to express your emotions.
10. Painful emotions will never go away if you don't act to make them go away.
If you question any of these myths, please feel free to comment and I will try to respond. I think the biggest myth we tell ourselves in our quest to quit: Smoking made me calm/happy.
