Smoking sub-take 3-HST-take 1

[Patti]

I feel like this is the start of journal number 683 for the stop smoking sub. I’m slightly losing my mind and at times I feel like also the battle. And I just don’t get it. I’m obviously resistant to the extreme….but why? I’m sure I have a fear of change AND a fear of losing control but why do I see it that way? As it is, if you look at it as sometimes I do, with my sub-conscious and me being two different entities (which I know isn’t true), I really has already lost all control. Why can’t I change the whole control thing around in my mind and see quitting as taking back control?! The question I continuously ask my sub-conscious is what it thinks it’s protecting me from? Certainly not physical harm, nor financial harm. Then what? Being uncomfortable? Feeling a sense of loss? Fear that I might be successful at what I set out to do? If my subconscious is in place partly to protect me then why doesn’t it protect me from doing the wrong thing?

In my case, I could use the excuse of when I started, everyone in my family was smoking. There were cigarette machines on every corner and if I remember correctly they cost 50 cents. It was almost second nature to smoke, even though we were told by our smoking parents and grand-parents not to smoke. And then there were the tv commercials and billboard advertisements bombarding us with the pleasantries of smoking. So basically, we really didn’t know any better. BUT, our subconscious’s did, didn’t it? I mean our physical body disliked it, made us cough and feel nauseous but what happened to our seemingly non-existence part of ourselves that is suppose to protect us from harm?! I saw no inward red flags, heard no claims of illness or costliness coming from somewhere inside my head saying STOP! Why not? Free will? Free choice?

Well that was then, so how about now? Many people seem to be trying to quit, some successfully, some not so much. But here’s what I see. With all the information we have now about the harm cigarette smoking does, with all the advertisement and proof now about the harm of smoking, I know an abundant amount of kids who have started and continue to smoke. It sadly reminds me no different of when I grew up. Less adults seem to be smoking but the same amount of kids are continuing the tradition. Why? Why hasn’t this adverse information been saturated into their subconscious’s? Why are they resisting? They see their grandparents die from cancer, their parents die, or people living with all kinds of diseases caused from cigarettes, they cost of small fortune and yet, they continue to start. I don’t get it.

I’m just going to continue on my course of using this program and trying to quit. Even though I listen constantly, I started feeling like I wasn’t hitting as hard as I could. So last night I started listened all night with earphones. I didn’t sleep as well as usual, not that I sleep all that well anyway. It wasn’t really because of the sub but more because sleeping with anything in my ears in uncomfortable. But oh well, I just need to get this info deep into my mindset, because my resistance is over-whelming and overpowering.

[Spiral]

I hope it works out, Patti. 3rd time's a charm anyways.

[Shannon]

I appreciate your persistence.

To answer some of your questions, your subconscious does not exist to keep you safe. That's your conscious. The subconscious must be regulated and protected in some ways by the conscious. That's why we have one: it allows us to prevent certain garbage from being accepted by the subconscious. The subconscious will believe anything you tell it, as long as it does not have contradictory prior programming. Then, it will believe whatever has the greatest impact. Usually this will be something with a lot of repetitions, or something with a lot of fear associated with it. Emotional trauma, which is given high priority in order to help keep us alive.

As you are seeing, you have a level of fear that is associated with quitting. This fear is what's making the repetitions and the efforts have to be so extreme. I don't know why you're so afraid, but then, fear isn't rational. Fear can make no sense at all, and still exist quite happily.

The subconscious does what it believes you want it to do. But the program telling it what you want it to do is only as rational as the information it has to go on, which is the function of the conscious mind. Preventing bad things from getting in, and thinking logically. As you can see by yourself and those of us around you, it doesn't always get that part right. If it did, none of us would have these issues.

As for whether your subconscious knew it was "right" or "okay", consider these two facts. First, it is the control center for your body, so yes, it knows that nicotine is poison. But, it is absolutely literal. It will believe, and do, ANYTHING it thinks you want it to do. And to know what that is, it gathers information from everything your conscious mind doesn't out and out reject.

Such as billboards, signs, movies, magazines, and people you encounter.

Remember that it is repetition that is most likely to create that subconscious program you're running. And repetition can happen without the conscious you knowing it, because the conscious mind ignores repetition in search of an active threat. Repeated things are ignored unless they are an active, immediate threat. That's how they get into the subconscious, and how they become your subconscious programming. That is why advertising is based so much on psychology and repetition.

As for why kids are still starting to smoke, it can be accounted for by stupidity. They know it's bad, but they don't believe it, because "that only happens to other people", and "just one/one more won't hurt". It's never the facts they face, or the reality long term. It's a moment of illusory pleasure now, and kids are just not smart enough to get it that every smoker starts the same way they did, and walks the exact same path. It's more important to be "cool", "in", or whatever other idiotic reason they can think of.

Today I asked a guy I'll be working with to mass market the SSF-6.0-H sub why he smoked. (He smoked for 6 months in Europe, and then just quit on a whim when he got back here to the states.) He said, "To get a buzz?" And in the end, he had to change the subject by trying to bring references to how the government is screwing up into the argument because there is no sane, logical reason why anyone smokes.

In my interviews, I see the same pattern, over and over and over again. The younger ones are still convinced they enjoy it. Or that it's worth the "risk" to be cool, or have the illusion of pleasure or comfort. The older ones progressively become more and more likely to be more and more desperate to quit, because now, they get it. Now, they see the truth. Now the see what's behind Curtain #1, and they don't like it.

I think it's just natural human stupidity, really. People, smokers and nonsmokers, tend to have very poor ability to prioritize effectively when it comes to long term. The future doesn't exist, so why worry about it? Why should it matter if they trade 5 or 10 or 20 years of their lives for the "pleasure" of smoking now? Of course that doesn't take into account the degradation and damage that it does to their bodies over time, and the effects of that degradation and damage, and that's not considered until it's already started.

In general... humans are not very smart. Our heyday is past. We are no longer forced to live or die in the moment by our decisions, so we are becoming careless with them. We are not designed to worry about 20 or 40 years from now.

Most of the world is still of the opinion that the United States had of smoking 50 or 60 years ago. In India, I am told, they smoke to be perceived as "high class". Europe seems to have a similar mindset, as does China, and I am sure other countries as well. Toss in the greed of the people making money on smokers as cash cows and the willingness to mindfuck them with faulty information, from every source possible, which makes it harder to quit... and you have where we are.

Kids getting addicted because it's cool, just like the generation before them, and the one before them, and...

It doesn't make sense because, well, it doesn't make sense. It takes maturity to see the things that make you ask that question, and maturity comes from the one thing kids and young people cannot possibly have: painful experience.

Just keep going with it. I suggest perhaps taking one day off the sub and seeing how you feel when you do.

By the way, please don't take offense to anything I have said. No offense is intended.

[Patti]

I hope it works out, Patti. 3rd time's a charm anyways.

Thanks! Tis true!

[Patti]

I appreciate your persistence.

To answer some of your questions, your subconscious does not exist to keep you safe. That's your conscious. The subconscious must be regulated and protected in some ways by the conscious. That's why we have one: it allows us to prevent certain garbage from being accepted by the subconscious. The subconscious will believe anything you tell it, as long as it does not have contradictory prior programming. Then, it will believe whatever has the greatest impact. Usually this will be something with a lot of repetitions, or something with a lot of fear associated with it. Emotional trauma, which is given high priority in order to help keep us alive.

As you are seeing, you have a level of fear that is associated with quitting. This fear is what's making the repetitions and the efforts have to be so extreme. I don't know why you're so afraid, but then, fear isn't rational. Fear can make no sense at all, and still exist quite happily.

The subconscious does what it believes you want it to do. But the program telling it what you want it to do is only as rational as the information it has to go on, which is the function of the conscious mind. Preventing bad things from getting in, and thinking logically. As you can see by yourself and those of us around you, it doesn't always get that part right. If it did, none of us would have these issues.

As for whether your subconscious knew it was "right" or "okay", consider these two facts. First, it is the control center for your body, so yes, it knows that nicotine is poison. But, it is absolutely literal. It will believe, and do, ANYTHING it thinks you want it to do. And to know what that is, it gathers information from everything your conscious mind doesn't out and out reject.

Such as billboards, signs, movies, magazines, and people you encounter.

Remember that it is repetition that is most likely to create that subconscious program you're running. And repetition can happen without the conscious you knowing it, because the conscious mind ignores repetition in search of an active threat. Repeated things are ignored unless they are an active, immediate threat. That's how they get into the subconscious, and how they become your subconscious programming. That is why advertising is based so much on psychology and repetition.

As for why kids are still starting to smoke, it can be accounted for by stupidity. They know it's bad, but they don't believe it, because "that only happens to other people", and "just one/one more won't hurt". It's never the facts they face, or the reality long term. It's a moment of illusory pleasure now, and kids are just not smart enough to get it that every smoker starts the same way they did, and walks the exact same path. It's more important to be "cool", "in", or whatever other idiotic reason they can think of.

Today I asked a guy I'll be working with to mass market the SSF-6.0-H sub why he smoked. (He smoked for 6 months in Europe, and then just quit on a whim when he got back here to the states.) He said, "To get a buzz?" And in the end, he had to change the subject by trying to bring references to how the government is screwing up into the argument because there is no sane, logical reason why anyone smokes.

In my interviews, I see the same pattern, over and over and over again. The younger ones are still convinced they enjoy it. Or that it's worth the "risk" to be cool, or have the illusion of pleasure or comfort. The older ones progressively become more and more likely to be more and more desperate to quit, because now, they get it. Now, they see the truth. Now the see what's behind Curtain #1, and they don't like it.

I think it's just natural human stupidity, really. People, smokers and nonsmokers, tend to have very poor ability to prioritize effectively when it comes to long term. The future doesn't exist, so why worry about it? Why should it matter if they trade 5 or 10 or 20 years of their lives for the "pleasure" of smoking now? Of course that doesn't take into account the degradation and damage that it does to their bodies over time, and the effects of that degradation and damage, and that's not considered until it's already started.

In general... humans are not very smart. Our heyday is past. We are no longer forced to live or die in the moment by our decisions, so we are becoming careless with them. We are not designed to worry about 20 or 40 years from now.

Most of the world is still of the opinion that the United States had of smoking 50 or 60 years ago. In India, I am told, they smoke to be perceived as "high class". Europe seems to have a similar mindset, as does China, and I am sure other countries as well. Toss in the greed of the people making money on smokers as cash cows and the willingness to mindfuck them with faulty information, from every source possible, which makes it harder to quit... and you have where we are.

Kids getting addicted because it's cool, just like the generation before them, and the one before them, and...

It doesn't make sense because, well, it doesn't make sense. It takes maturity to see the things that make you ask that question, and maturity comes from the one thing kids and young people cannot possibly have: painful experience.

Just keep going with it. I suggest perhaps taking one day off the sub and seeing how you feel when you do.

By the way, please don't take offense to anything I have said. No offense is intended.

No offense, all is true.

I wanted to let you know that I took your advice and saw my doctor who is running tests from head to toe. So I should know if anything else is going on by the end of August.

Also wanted to mention this. Not sure if it’s because of the sub, but my youngest son who started smoking black and milds the end of senior year (eye rollage), doesn’t seem to be smoking them anymore. For some reason, he feels the need to sleep on the family room couch instead of his room, right under my laptop playing the SS sub. I’m not sure that he has stopped but he hasn’t smoked around the house. I don’t want to bring it up and ask but I thought it was interesting.

Last night was the second with earphones all night. I think I actually slept better which could possibly be because I have it loud enough to hear static and it’s somewhat like white noise. The interesting thing I noticed is that if I plug the earphones into the ipod player I hear static, but if I plug them directly into the ipod, I hear nothing. Any thoughts as to why that might be?

[AwesomeYoungDude]

Nice to have you posting again. We (the better half and I) can now get our Patti fix. You know we are becoming addicted to your posts. Shannon we will need an "overcome Patti post reading addiction sub"

You are making progress.

AYD & Wife

[Patti]

Hahahaha...I wasn't aware I'm so entertaining!

[Patti]

So last night I found it harder to fall asleep with the headphones, not because of the headphones but more because of the static this time. I could have just turned it down, but I feel like I need it to be basically screaming at my subconscious to get it in there! So I endured.

As I was falling asleep, I had a vision of the sub banging on a wall. This morning it became aware to me that it was a steal wall. Great! That would make sense to me with this stupid addiction. But how in the world will any sub break through a steal wall?! Eff my life!

It could also be the fact that I was watching the fantastic four yesterday with my grandson and the villain is turned into a steal statue. lol Who knows.

[Spiral]

Patti, did you ever finish the life tune up program?? Did you ever leave a testimonial? I am very interested to know what your results were.

[Patti]

Patti, did you ever finish the life tune up program?? Did you ever leave a testimonial? I am very interested to know what your results were.

Yes, I did finish it. No, I didn't leave a testimonial. My results were very subtle and looking back there aren't really any that stand out. I was using it as a pre-smoking sub to possibly deal with issue’s I didn’t know I had, if that makes any sense. I was also using it along with my daughter because it was the first sub she was using and I wanted her to feel ok about using it. I do remember her saying from time to time how much better she felt but here’s the thing.

She’s pretty strong headed to begin with, especially if she thinks she’s right, and she always thinks she’s right! lol She had gotten a new job I think right around the time she started listening to the sub. It was a really great job for her and she felt that the sub made her feel more confident in the interview, with her saying things in a way that she normally wouldn’t. She’s not stupid by any means, but she tends to babble (for the sake of a better word) a lot, going off into a variety of many things at one time. The sub seemed to help her slow down and focus.

When she started the job she was told she’d have a specific day off every week, that she really liked because it fit very well into her schedule. But then they changed it to one she really didn’t like and it didn’t settle well with her that they could just do that. So she went to her supervisor to complain and she told her there was nothing she could do about it, even though she’s the one that changed it. This now really didn’t settle well with her! She’d vented about it to me, but I thought it was basically a dead issue, nothing really to be done. Apparently, I was wrong. Because she went over her supervisors head to the CEO to also vent and complain. She just didn’t like the way it was done. She felt walked on I guess and was not having it. It was a really stupid move on her part and if she had mentioned to me she was going to do it, I would have of course tried to stop her. You should never break the chain of command, especially for something so trivial. I think the sub may have made her feel a little over-confident perhaps, and she just didn’t know the way of the job world. I tried to explain that maybe the sub had made her a little over-zealous, even though I certainly understand she felt like she needed to stand up for herself and be heard.

When she had her three month review, she thought she was getting a raise because she was constantly told how well she was doing. Instead she got fired, them saying they were having a hiring freeze. She was fired by the supervisor who’s head she went over so I knew exactly what had happened.

Moral of the story, if you’re using these programs and if you’re acting in way that’s directly opposite of how you normally would act, do things or speak, check yourself and make sure your actions are in your best interest. Bucking authority is something she would have never done. Please don’t misunderstand, I in no way blame these subs for her getting fired, I blame her actions. Always make sure you know all the possible outcomes of your actions before you act.

She continued and finished the sub and did get another job, and now realizes even though she was right, that going about in that way probably wasn’t the best way to do it. Lesson learned.

Her subconscious is very different from mine, and she has many more issues that that sub could address. Maybe that’s why we could pinpoint the changes more. For me, I would say that the LifeTuneUp needs to be amped up some. I’m sure it’s due for an upgrade.

[Patti]

Last night I tried turning the down the volume to be able to withstand the earphones. It worked for a while but then I was having a really hard time trying to fall asleep and ended up not using the earphones.

I had to get a blood test today and even though it’s not all that big of deal, I don’t love it, who does?! After the test, I got in my car and realized I had not smoked on the way there. I hadn’t smoked at all prior to the test, some probably because I was fasting and couldn’t have coffee…I really need to disconnect from that. It was hard to imagine that I just didn’t even think about smoking before the test, it just never came into my mind, which is weird because I’m always uncomfortable about these tests. So I made one small stoppage on my part. I decided that I’m not going to smoke in my car. Just my car though. I have the mom/grammy car pooling mobile, where as my husband has the hybrid, cruising on longer trips car. I won’t force myself yet to not smoke in his car, (he doesn’t mind because there’s no smell with an electronic cigarette), because we take longer trips in that car and I’m trying to make smaller, more realistic demands on myself. One down!

[Spiral]

Glad to here your progress, Patti. And thank you for the detailed post on LifeTuneUp. Hopefully Shannon will take a look. I'm thinking about running the set in the future sometime.. unless shannon does end up make the 6 stage buddah set.

[Patti]

Wow! Who glued my eyelids closed today?! I’m not as tired as I just couldn’t open my eyes. Sheesh! I listened last night with earphone straight from my ipod and I think this new HST is making it very hard for me fall asleep. I’ve been going to bed dog tired for the last couple days but still struggle to fall asleep. Last night, I just said that's it, I’m not tossing and turning, I’m just keeping my eye closed! Hmmm….and I couldn’t open them this morning. I guess it worked.

EDIT: So I was thinking, all I had thought in a very determined way, was that I was going to keep my eyes closed until I feel asleep. If that was the reason I felt like I couldn’t unglue them this morning, maybe our minds are just efficient. So, I need a phrase to help me, that I can think about in a strongly determined way, that will help with the smoking quitage. It can’t be anything negative at all like, I do not smoke anymore. Nor can it be something like, I am now a happy non-smoker. My subconscious laughs at those statements…they’re too fluffy. I need something, short, strong, doable and basically says, “GAME ON”!

Sorry to make this a group project, but you all get an A for effort! haha

[Shannon]

Patti... it's going to take a little time, but you will succeed in quitting. Permanently. It's just a matter of using the sub for long enough. HST doesn't bang on walls. It quietly overflows them. It's just a matter of time.