There are many books and articles written about quitting smoking and most of them have one thing in common -- they talk about how difficult it is to stop the smoking habit. They mention how addictive nicotine is and how tightly smoking is tied to daily events in your life, events such as the first cup of coffee in the morning, driving the car, talking on the telephone, stressful happenings and on and on. They discuss at length the withdrawal symptoms and side effects you may experience when you stop smoking. Any negative part of the process of becoming a non-smoker is discussed ad nauseum. Is it any wonder that many people fail when they try any of the methods available to help them quit?

When you decide that you want to become a non-smoker begin to prepare your mind for it. The mind is more powerful than the addiction and you can engage it to help you become successful in your endeavor. Here are some steps to do that:

Check your motivation. How motivated are you to quit? If you can't honestly say that you are at least 80 percent motivated, work on your motivation. The higher your motivation the easier it is to stop smoking once and for all. Let your self talk say: "It will be wonderful when I can taste my food, enjoy fresh air, be able to breathe deeply, have hair and hands that smell fresh rather than have the odor of stale tobacco, etc." " It will be nice when I save at least $5 every day that I can use for something I really want and will enjoy." " It will be great to have the time I save by not taking smoke breaks to do something I want to do or enjoy doing." You get the idea.

Begin to give yourself positive affirmations about quitting. For instance, "I know my mind is more powerful than the nicotine habit and I can quite smoking any time I choose." or "For me to quit smoking will be as easy as it was to start smoking." or "I am doing everything I can to maintain a healthy, strong body and will avoid all negative symptoms of stopping smoking."

Let your mind grasp the idea that you no longer have a desire to smoke. Why did you start smoking in the first place? To look cool? To be a part of the group? To be rebellious? Because you didn’t have enough things to spend all your money on? Do those reasons exist now? Probably not.

Look at your need to smoke. Is there anything about smoking that you truly need that cannot be taken care of another way? If you have no need to smoke, why do it?

Realize that what you do need is:

deep breaths of fresh air,

a healthy way to deal with stress,

water to help wash the nicotine out of your body,

good nutrition,

exercise,

sleep,

fun and laughter.

There's nothing in those cigarettes that provide any of these things. Remind yourself of that as you prepare to stop. Before you begin a program to stop smoking supply as many of these as you can. It will make quitting much, much easier.