quitting smoking - looking for inspiration

[chickenman]

i have been fighting this battle for years. quit then start again - quit then start again - over & over for most of my adult life. any smoker or ex-smoker knows what i'm going through.
i am now preparing to fight harder than ever before to FINALLY kick this addiction for good. i have a quit date set and am preparing myself and my surroundings for the hell that awaits me. i was wondering if any of you could point me in the direction of some quotes or words of wisdom from the buddha dealing with addiction that i may write down and carry with me for encouragement.
thank you.

[lowlydog]

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Exalted One was travelling along the highway between Rājagaha and Nālandā together with a great company of bhikkhus, with about five hundred bhikkhus. At the same time the wanderer Suppiya was also travelling along the highway between Rājagaha and Nālandā together with his pupil, the youth Brahmadatta. Along the way, the wanderer Suppiya lit up a smoke, and the Buddha said "hey man you stink!".

I wish you much success with quitting smoking.

[Johnny Dangerous]

i have been fighting this battle for years. quit then start again - quit then start again - over & over for most of my adult life. any smoker or ex-smoker knows what i'm going through.
i am now preparing to fight harder than ever before to FINALLY kick this addiction for good. i have a quit date set and am preparing myself and my surroundings for the hell that awaits me. i was wondering if any of you could point me in the direction of some quotes or words of wisdom from the buddha dealing with addiction that i may write down and carry with me for encouragement.
thank you.

Can't think of any words of the Buddha offhand (i'm sure others can), but I would just like to send you some encouragement and some empathy. I spent five years and 12 tries before I quit..I think the average number of tries before success is 8 or something. Just like mediation, try not to focus too much of future results and do it day to day, minute to minute, second to second..sounds cliche I know but it's true. For me it was about three months before I really felt the addiction substantially die out, but it was a really nice feeling when it did. There was a spaciousness there that used to be filled up with smoking, worrying about smoking, pondering the next time i'd be smoking, worrying about trying to quit, having all that gone is nice.. maybe that's something to look forward to. I smoked for about 15 years, and alot...so, good luck, and you are fully capable of doing it.

[uan]

Two thing I did helped me quit after 11 years -- one was to leverage being sick, then sleeping a lot - basically sleeping through the hardest part of the withdrawal. The other was to embrace all the things I did when I smoked - for instance, I still took my smoke breaks at work. Afterwork I used to go to a coffee shop for some java and for a couple of cigarettes to unwind and think about my day. So I continued to do that. At home I'd smoke on my landing or patio (not inside), so every time I wanted a cigarette I'd go out to where I'd have it. Sometimes I would even mimic smoking a cigarette, bringing my hand to my mouth and inhaling deeply. I found I used my smoking time as thinking time, so I'd continue to do that as well. It sounds weird, but I think what helped was that I was giving up only 1 habit (actual smoking), but not all the other habits that were integrated with my smoking. I was remaking one small aspect of my life, not trying to recreate an entire lifestyle.

I don't have any words from the Buddha, but there are teachings that about how heaven and hell are just creations of our own mind. I'd suggest not looking at quitting as a "hell" that you must battle through. Embrace each moment and each craving as a beautiful feeling in itself. Also, I know when it comes to lust, I've heard suggestions about thinking of the other person as a rotting corpse, etc. to make the desirable thing undesirable. You could do that with cigarettes. Imagine them as whatever turns your stomach.

I know it's not easy, and the hardest part is that cigarettes, or the nicotine, or the addiction itself "talks" to you. "Yes, I'm bad for you, but one more won't hurt. Start tomorrow. Etc." However you go about it, Good luck! And let us know how it goes.

[Adamantine]

Hi Chickenman, please read this by Dudjom Rinpoche: http://bodhiactivity.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/the-defects-of-tobacco-and-smoking-dudjom-rinpoche/

and you can also peruse this thread: http://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=4050

[shaunc]

Not buddhism I know but at the moment I've been off the smokes for about 6 weeeks, I'm using a combination of champix & swedish snus. Good luck with it. I wish you success.

[Madeliaette]

e-cigs V accupuncture V will power.....

[ToddR]

Congrats on the quitting, it's something you won't regret.

Some of the main things I used that got me through the first weeks of quitting were to identify when a craving was coming and realizing that it would pass. Breathing through the craving really helps give space to the impulse to smoke. The second, is to remember it is a commitment and that a relapse is only a relapse, not giving up. This shift in view point helps. Lastly, I ate small stuff constantly. I put on some weight after quitting but then it just came right back off.

Good luck, I'll be rooting for you