Creating Motivation To Stop Smoking

There are two mental states that must be contentedThe next step is to change the computer codes in
before a smoker will voluntarily quit smoking. Theseyour brain to make yourself actually believe these
essentials are called "Desire," and "Decision."motivational ideas. Now for a bombshell: Your beliefs
DESIRE: A want, crave or a wish forhave nothing to do with what is real. Instead, your
DECISION: Making up of one's mind / a verdict orbeliefs have everything to do with your perception of
judgmentreality. In other words, it has a lot to do with the way
In order to quit smoking, you have to DESIRE to quit.that you see things.
You probably want to quit smoking, at least some partOur belief systems are located in our subconscious.
of you does, or you wouldn't be reading this article.The subconscious mind is like a computer. Computers
In addition, in order to quit smoking, you have todo not reason. The input to a computer controls the
DECIDE to give up the smoking addiction. Since yououtput from a computer. To demonstrate, I want you
haven't quit smoking, it simply means that you have notto think of something that you already believe without
DECIDED to quit smoking yet.the slightest bit of doubt. Make it a belief that makes
So what you need is to feel a strong motivation toyou feel good.
make a "DECISION" to quit smoking.For instance, it's easy for most people to believe that
MOTIVATION, we all want it. The source of each ofthey love their kids. If that is true for you, make a
our motivations is a belief. Think about it, if you didn'tmental image that lets you experience that feeling of
have a belief that you would be hurt if you jumpedlove.
from a tall building, then you would not feel motivatedI'm going to ask some questions, and there are not any
to be alert. If you did not believe that the gnawingcorrect or incorrect answers.
sensation in your stomach meant that you wereIs your mental image a moving picture, or a still?
hungry, you would not feel motivated to eat.Is it in color, or in black and white?
When it comes to giving up the cigarette addiction,Is it close or far?
people who smoke need to feel a lot of motivation toIs it focused or fuzzy?
make the DECISION to quit. Motivation is based on theIs it normally bright, overly bright, or dim?
ideas that we believe. So you will need to figure outIs there a border on it?
exactly what ideas would motivate you if you believedIs it borderless?
them. Because when you feel powerfully motivated,Is it a panorama?
you will quit smoking.It does not matter what your answers are write them
Thanks to NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) anddown. These are the computer codes that your
hypnosis for motivation, it's much easier to learn howsubconscious uses to make you feel your feelings of
to believe these new ideas than you think it is.belief. In this case they are the mental codes for
However, you don't believe the ideas that will motivatepositive belief, because you have chosen a belief that
you to quit smoking at this point, or you would havegives you a positive feeling. You have just calibrated
already quit smoking cigarettes.your positive belief.
For the purpose of this discussion, we need to defineAll positive belief pictures are bright and focused. If
a few words.yours are not, then you probably do not really have
DOUBT: Uncertain/distrustful/dubious - "maybe it's thistotal belief. An element of doubt is probably present.
way, and maybe it is not."So find another belief to calibrate.
BELIEF: Trust/faith/tenet - A state of mind devoid of allIf you think of something that you doubt, and you
doubt. In other words, belief means, "this is the waymake a mental image of it, one or more of these
that it is."computer codes will probably be different. Similarly, if
HIGHLY VALUED CRITERIA: What is most importantyou have a belief that gives you a negative feeling, (a
to you, as an individual human being.negative belief): one or more of those codes will be
When you believe that if you continue to smoke yourdifferent.
highly valued criterion is jeopardized, you will feel theIn NLP we call these particular computer codes visual
motivation that you require to break your smokingsubmodalities.
addiction. We call this a negative motivator, becauseNow you will need to calibrate a negative belief. So
it's a belief that motivates by giving you badrepeat the same exact process, but do so using an
sensations. Negative motivators are great for gettingidea that you already believe, that makes you feel
you to make decisions and changes in your life.ghastly.
When you believe that if you do quit smoking, yourOnce you have calibrated both your positive and your
highly valued criteria will become enhanced, you willnegative beliefs, it's a simple issue to manipulate what
also feel the motivation that you require to quityou believe so you can motivate yourself to DECIDE
smoking. This is a positive motivator, because itto quit smoking.
motivates you by promising good feelings if you quitSo, to summarize, using the above example: "I believe
smoking.that if I continue to smoke, my secondhand smoke will
The first assignment is for you to figure out what theruin my kid's health."
most essential aspects of your life are. Your most1. Become aware of how motivated you feel to quit
highly valued criteria are usually intangibles. Forsmoking.
example: Money would not be highly valued criteria, but2. Make a mental image that illustrates the above
the freedom, fun, or security that money can purchasebelief.
would be. Write your list of highly valued criteria down3. Adjust the computer codes (visual submodalities) of
on a piece of paper.the image so that they match the codes from your
Next you need to DECIDE what you would need tocalibrated negative belief image.
believe to feel motivated to break the habit. Here is the4. If you are right handed, move your eyeballs (and
good news, sort of: Logic has nothing to do with belief.your mental picture) up to your left and hold it there for
Things don't have to be logical for a person to believefive seconds. If you are left handed, go up to the right.
them. As a matter of fact, they rarely are. So do notThis will help you to quickly memorize the belief.
worry about logic!5. Now sense how well motivated you feel to quit
The format for your negative motivator beliefs will be:smoking. Do you feel more motivated? Do you feel
"I believe that if I continue to smoke, something horribleless motivated? Or are your feelings the same?
will happen to my most highly valued criteria."By utilizing this system you can make yourself believe
Make sure that you frame your motivators in thealmost anything by making an image in your mind that
positive. In other words, always state what you wantillustrates your new idea and then adjusting your
or what will happen. Never state what will not happen.mental image to make it match your calibrated belief
Eliminate the "not" word from the beliefs.pictures.
In this example we will say that your children's welfareAnd if you have a belief that is holding you back, you
is your most highly valued criteria.can use the same technique to change that belief to
WRONG: "I believe that if I continue to smoke, I won'tdoubt by changing one or two of the submodalities
be doing my kid's health any good."and memorizing it that way.
CORRECT: "I believe that if I continue to smoke, myNow that you can motivate yourself to DECIDE to quit,
secondhand smoke will make my children sick."you will quit smoking. A DECISION to quit means: I'm
Next, create a list of positive motivators. "I believe thatquitting no matter what it takes. If you are similar to
if I quit smoking: (something very important will bemost, you will not want quitting to feel painful. The good
enhanced)."news is that you will not have to suffer. Because there
WRONG: "I believe that if I stop smoking, I won't makeare several hypnotic and NLP methods that can
my kids sick."greatly reduce, or even completely eliminate the
CORRECT: "I believe that if I quit smoking, my kids willdiscomforts of withdrawal from the cigarette smoking
be safe because I will eliminate their exposure to theaddiction.
dangers of my secondhand smoke."