An Open Mind?

[austinlegro]

"By the end of the nineteenth century it seemed that the basic fundamental principles governing the behavior of the physical universe were known."

Alastair Rae. Quantum Physics. Illusion or Reality? 1994

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."

Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. patent office, 1899

Straightforward statements but quite telling.

Both refer to a time before powered flight, before the atom was discovered and when the only real drugs were the opiates.

Yet, we know now that as the Victorians ponced about in their tall hats and shoved small children up chimneys whilst thinking that they'd reached the pinnacle of understanding and creativity they had in fact barely scratched the surface.

Even now, as we peer at atoms down our ever-increasingly powerful electron microscopes, we discover ever smaller sub-atomic particles waving back at us and we have to invent new and interesting names for them.

Few are now willing to walk to the end of that shaky gang-plank and pronounce that they know everything about anything for fear of a contradictory photo or article appearing in the next day's newspaper.

Now we know we don't know everything and have realised we actually know surprisingly little about anything..

In my own tiny universe I thought I knew most things about smoking and a few things about hypnotists.

I now know that I know far more about smoking than I could ever have imagined yet I also know that I still know very little.

The same applies to hypnotists..

My point? Oh yeah.... Smoking.

Imagine trotting down the path and joining the no-smoking queue, waiting in line until you reach the front and then being issued with crampons, a groovy hat and a bag of chalk and then being shown to the foot of a sheer cliff face and then handed your own personal rope.

Many years later when you reach the summit exhausted, bruised and thoroughly glum imagine how annoying it would be to find someone spritely perched on a rock who tells you not only was there a fork in the path before the queue but that it lead to a gently sloping path scenically winding its way up the mountain. Also there was an ice-cream van and viewing platform half-way up.

The next time someone tells you that quitting smoking is hard ask them if they keep bumping into people carrying ice-creams? :rolleyes:

[nsd_user663_22999]

Seagoon:

Great heavily whispered asides! (aside) Little do they know how little I know about the little they know. If only I knew what the little that they know, I'd know a little. I'll have to keep my little ears open you know.

The Goon Show- Tales of Old Dartmoor Feb 1956

[Hidden]

I must confess to having enjoyed a few ice creams of late Mr Legro

[nsd_user663_22999]

Will it make me look really really stoopid if I say I don't really understand Austin

Are you saying that it IS easy, or that it is for some and not others, or that commenting on how difficult it's going to be could make it harder for others?

Sorry, I've read and re-read your post and I think I'm going round in circles!!

[nsd_user663_22533]

I think it means you can do things the hard way or the easy way. Chose the hard way by being all doom and gloom and constantly longing and mourning cigarettes or keep a positive mind, pat yourself on the back for your achievements and praise yourself for not smoking - makes it so much easier - mind over matter. I may be talking complete danglers (thanks Karri I love that word)

[nsd_user663_22999]

I think it means you can do things the hard way or the easy way. Chose the hard way by being all doom and gloom and constantly longing and mourning cigarettes or keep a positive mind, pat yourself on the back for your achievements and praise yourself for not smoking - makes it so much easier - mind over matter. I may be talking complete danglers (thanks Karri I love that word)

Aaaaaaaah. Now I get it!! Thanks Fellow Fab Febber

[nsd_user663_22999]

Here some tips to stop smoking. I am also trying it.

1. Commit Thyself Fully. In the quits that failed, I was only half into it. I told myself I wanted to quit, but I always felt in the back of my mind that I’d fail. I didn’t write anything down, I didn’t tell everybody (maybe my wife, but just her). This time, I wrote it down. I wrote down a plan. I blogged about it. I made a vow to my daughter. I told family and friends I was quitting. I went online and joined a quit forum. I had rewards. Many of these will be in the following tips, but the point is that I fully committed, and there was no turning back. I didn’t make it easy for myself to fail.

2. Make a Plan. You can’t just up and say, “I’m gonna quit today.” You have to prepare yourself. Plan it out. Have a system of rewards, a support system, a person to call if you’re in trouble. Write down what you’ll do when you get an urge. Print it out. Post it up on your wall, at home and at work. If you wait until you get the urge to figure out what you’re going to do, you’ve already lost. You have to be ready when those urges come.

3. Know Your Motivation. When the urge comes, your mind will rationalize. “What’s the harm?” And you’ll forget why you’re doing this. Know why you’re doing this BEFORE that urge comes. Is it for your kids? For your wife? For you health? So you can run? Because the girl you like doesn’t like smokers? Have a very good reason or reasons for quitting. List them out. Print them out. Put it on a wall. And remind yourself of those reasons every day, every urge.

Ummmm, thanks Hanger, but why not start a new thread with this? :confused:

[austinlegro 11 Years Smoke Free]

Will it make me look really really stoopid if I say I don't really understand Austin

Sorry peeps, it wasn't meant to be hyper-cryptic...

History shows us that many people who were 'foot-in-mouth' wrong were utterly convinced that they were right (and so did society in general). They weren't considered freaks or anything.

It's easy to decide to quit, see your GP or do what you perceive to be the recognized route to smoking cessation and have a miserable time and cope with it just because that's what we're lead to believe it's like. People accept what they're told especially if it fits within a preconceived pattern.

If someone said it's easy the usual response is' "not for me it isn't"

Quitting didn't used to be hard.

Who changed the rules and when?

[nsd_user663_22999]

Thanks Austin. And you are so right. Why is not doing something hard? Because we're conditioned to think it is!