Saturday, September 8, 2007

I've Decided to Take up Smoking

What a ridiculous thing to say! But it's funny because it's not. I've been thinking a lot about smoking behaviour and what prompts a person to start...or decide to stop....it's not like other decisions we might make, like what to cook for dinner or if we should buy that new pair of jeans or get the puppy or pot-bellied pig at the fair. It seems to me to be a more other-than-conscious (OTC) response for coping or dealing with stress. Or perhaps it's a response to wanting to fit in with a herd--to be one of the cool people. I remember in one of my trainings with Doug O'Brien, he was doing a smoking therapy on a guy and he asked him what appealed to him about smoking. One of the responses was "it's part of my bad-boy image." And Doug said, "Yeah...'cause that's really important when you're 43 years old."
And I also understand the addictive qualities of it and the chemical responses in the brain; it's sending dopamine to the pre-frontal cortex. But there are other ways to do that as well--exercise, for one. Who said that??? But whatever the reasons, for whatever behaviour, there's always a way to meet the needs of the OTC in a more healthy manner...because shift happens...just like the bumper sticker says. Happy Saturday! :-) H.

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