Anthony Robins states that two of the needs of people are certainty and uncertainty.
Unfortunately smoking provides both of these needs, but in a negative way. As a smoker you live constantly with the certainty that 30% of all cancer deaths are related to smoking and that a whopping 87% of all lung cancer is smoking related, and that as a smoker you increase your chance of getting lung cancer by 23 times.
These statistics are scary, but in addition to that certainty, you also live with the uncertainty that you may or may not in the group who dies or becomes very sick or in the group whose lives are only moderately affected by smoking.
Having worked with over 2000 smokers I cannot recall having meet a smoker who has smoked more than 10 years who does not have breathing problems at the very least. So I guess you can be certain that smoking will get you.
The only question is how fast and how badly. Of course there is another layer of uncertainty. You may succumb to emphysema, but that doesn’t stop you from having diabetes, low bone density, fertility and sexual function problems, peptic ulcers, asthma, cancer, stroke, heart disease and bronchitis.
An especially unlucky smoker may have a dozen or more smoking related problems, all at once. And this is entirely possible, because your body is one big interconnected unit, and when it starts to break down or fail, it can happen in multiple systems.
This would require many medical specialists, many pharmaceuticals and perhaps several visits to surgery, and a big part of your life given over to sitting in medical waiting rooms and managing your daily medications.
So why not flip the switch to another type of certainty. The certainty that every day you live as non-smoker the healthier you will get.
Of course you will always live with a degree of uncertainty because of your past smoking history, but you can even improve those odds by adopting a healthy diet and treating your body and mind to regular exercise and relaxation.
The good news and the bad news is that some of this certainty and uncertainty is lodged firmly in your hands. So the question is, what will you do, will you bite the bullet and book a hypnosis session to ease your mind and improve your chances or will you roll the dice of uncertainty?