Prayer For Help With My Smoking Addiction

Quitting smoking cigarettes by spiritual practice | SSRF English

Omprakash, a resident of Dubai, UAE was addicted to smoking cigarettes for 11 years despite innumerable efforts to quit smoking.

In a workshop conducted by the Spiritual Science Research Foundation (SSRF), he came to know about the spiritual root cause of addiction as well as the spiritual healing remedies for it.

He immediately took up the spiritual healing remedy of chanting and overcame his addiction within 7 days. This article is a telephonic interview with him on 2nd October 2006.

SSRF publishes these case studies with the intention of providing some direction to our readers with regard to problems that manifest at a physical or psychological level, but which can have their root cause in the spiritual dimension.

When the root cause of a problem is spiritual in nature we have observed that the inclusion of spiritual healing remedies generally gives the best results. SSRF advises continuation of conventional medical treatment along with spiritual healing remedies for the treatment of physical and psychiatric illnesses.

Readers are advised to take up any spiritual healing remedy at their own discretion.

Introduction

Omprakash (34) is originally from India. He is a Business Development Manager in Dubai. Even though he is not an overtly religious person, he believes in a higher divine power.

He was not doing any chanting or ritualistic worship of God prior to attending the SSRF workshop. His wife had to literally force him to attend any form of ritualistic worship of God.

His father was also addicted to smoking.

Interview with Mr. Omprakash

Interviewer: Hello Omprakash, thank you for giving us this interview. Before we start the interview, congratulations on successfully giving up smoking.

Omprakash: (smiles) Thanks

Interviewer: Can you give us a brief history about your smoking addiction?
Omprakash: The smoking habit started in 1995 when I was 23 years old. After coming to Dubai, I saw girls smoking at a party, which was quite unusual from a traditional Indian perspective.

I thought to myself, if girls can smoke freely then why do I hesitate to indulge in it? Initially it was all for the fun of it, but gradually it became a compulsive habit. Now it is almost 11 years since I began smoking. Initially I used to smoke 2 to 3 cigarettes a day.

Later it increased to 10 to 15 cigarettes a day.

Interviewer: Did you ever try to give up your addiction?
Omprakash: A number of times.

I would take some measures to stop, such as keeping coins in my pocket instead of currency notes so that I would be able to buy only loose cigarettes and not a packet or I would buy only loose cigarettes and not the packet etc.

, but this way at the most I could reduce to 6 to 8 cigarettes a day. However this phenomenon would go on for a week and again I would be back to my routine of smoking 10 to 15 cigarettes a day.

If at all I did quit smoking entirely, the maximum I could stay away from it was for 7 days and then I would be back at it.

Interviewer: So how did you overcome smoking?
Omprakash: It all came about after attending an SSRF lecture. I came to know about the lecture on ‘Spiritual research on ghosts’ held on 15th Sep 2006 in Dubai through a family friend who had seen the advertisement poster put up in the temple.

Then my friend coaxed me to attend the lecture. I felt it was a divine intervention that a person me actually landed up for that workshop. During the course of the lecture, I came to know that most addictions are due to demonic possession and one of the spiritual healing remedies is chanting the Name of God as per one’s religion of birth.

I decided to try it at once.

Interviewer: What made you follow the advice given by SSRF?
Omprakash: I just felt that my presence at the lecture was clearly due to divine intervention. I also d the scientific explanations given by SSRF in the lecture. Hence when I understood that the cause of my problem is possession, I decided to give the remedy a try.

From that day onwards I started chanting 2 malas (2 x 108 times) of ‘Om Namaha Shivaaya’, which is the chant of my family deity. I used the help of my fingers to keep a count of my chanting.

Since that very day, whenever I got an urge to smoke and I held a cigarette in my hand, I felt as if it is a devil and I threw it down at once. This phenomenon kept on repeating.

Now it is almost 15 days that I have stayed away from smoking. I don’t even get the urge to smoke.

The Spiritual science behind the cure: Only if the cause of the addiction is purely due to a spiritual factor being affected or possessed by a ghost (demon, devil, negative energy etc.) can it go away this fast. The increase in the subtle basic sattva component brought about by chanting acts in two ways:

• By creating a protective sheath around the person.
• By removing the black covering created by ghosts around the person.

Ghosts are high in the subtle basic tama component and therefore feel stifled, intimidated and distressed with the increase of the subtle basic sattva component in the person that they are possessing.

Refer to the article on ‘What are the three subtle basic components of sattva, raja and tama?’

On 22nd September 06, we performed the yearly rituals (Shraaddha rituals) for departed ancestors. My departed father was a smoker too.

My wife was surprised to see this, as she is aware of my addiction to smoking.

Interviewer: But why did you share this so late with us, i.e. after 15 days?
Omprakash: Because I wanted to be sure that it is not my past efforts where I would start smoking again within 7 days. This time I wanted to give it more time and so I shared this spiritual experience with you during SSRF’s next lecture on ‘Destiny’.

Interviewer: Are you continuing chanting now that your smoking habit has gone?
Omprakash: Now I chant even more. I do not keep a count but I chant while driving, walking and working. Hence I am not sure of the number of chants.

Interviewer: Have you observed any other change in yourself in any other aspect?
Omprakash: Being a business development manager, I constantly suffer from stress related to my job but nowadays I never think about it. I just chant and that has reduced some stress. I am even experiencing some peace.

Interviewer: Do your family members notice any changes in you?
Omprakash: Yes, they have seen a change in me but they are unable to believe it and so they just dismiss it.

Interviewer: Did you share this freedom from addiction with your other family members (not immediate family), friends, colleagues etc.?
Omprakash: Yes I did share my experience with a few. They all say that the Name of God coming from my mouth sounds odd and so they make fun of me.

Interviewer: Did you tell any other smoker or drinker about this? What was your experience?
Omprakash: Yes, I tried to share it with my friends with habits but they all make fun of me. I am waiting for a complete change in myself so that they will see it is for keeps and then believe in it completely.

Interviewer: Would you mind if we publish your experience on our website?
Omprakash: Of course not. Why should I mind? I only pray that if there are others me suffering from addictions, then they be helped by reading my case study.

Editor’s note:We have been following up with Omprakash regarding his addiction since this interview was taken.As of 2nd May 2007, Omprakash has been able to quit smoking of cigarettes for over 7 months and has become addiction free. He has not felt the need to go back to it. Through out this period he has been persistent with the chanting of his family deity’s Name.

Источник: //www.spiritualresearchfoundation.org/spiritual-problems/addictions/quitting-smoking-cigarettes/

How to Help Someone Stop Smoking Weed

Do you have a friend or family member who is continuously smoking weed? Are you the parent of someone who seems to rely on weed to get himself (or herself) through the day? It is possible to help a person stop smoking weed.

with any drug, the effects of the drug themselves make it very hard for a person to stop once he has developed a dependence on the drug.

It can seem very true to the drug-user that he needs the drug every day just to cope with life, just to feel what he considers “normal.

” Despite these fixed ways of thinking, on the Narconon program, marijuana addicts have recovered the ability to think clearly, enjoy life and achieve goals again.

Symptoms of Marijuana Abuse

Marijuana use creates euphoria, sedation, lethargy and a feeling of empathy that is not real emotions. With high doses or chronic use, a person can suffer memory loss, difficulty paying attention, even panic attacks and hallucinations.

He may feel his senses are sharper but he will lose an accurate sense of speed or distance which can make him a dangerous driver.

The loss of inhibitions combined with poor judgment that commonly occurs when stoned may mean that decisions with dangerous consequences may be made, such as the decision to take on a physical challenge that cannot be safely met, or the decision to have unprotected sex.

Of course, many people know that weed use results in loss of coordination that can seem funny at the time. Marijuana is well known for causing the “munchies”—increased appetite for snack foods, especially sweets. The eyes of a marijuana smoker are normally red after he smokes the drug.

What many people do not know is that heavy weed use is increasingly resulting in what has been termed “cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome” which simply means that use of high potency weed can cause people severe, excruciating abdominal pain and violent vomiting that continues for a long period of time.

In fact, the only temporary relief seems to come from staying in a hot shower or bath for hours. If a person does not know that the cause of this problem is cannabis or weed, he can continue to cause the problem by smoking more weed. Medical treatment or drugs do not ease the pain or vomiting. The solution is to stop using weed.

Doctors are slowly becoming aware of the cause of this problem and are more ly to ask if the person suffering this type of condition is using cannabis.

Problems for Students in Particular

Marijuana abuse is especially popular among young people. Right at the time in their lives when they should be learning and planning careers, marijuana may be sapping their ability to focus, learn, think logically and retain what they have learned. In addition, a person who chronically abuses this drug very often suffers a loss of motivation.

Educational goals may become uninteresting and the lethargy and lack of focus resulting from marijuana abuse make it hard to follow through on assignments anyway. Statistically, more young people receive lower grades when they habitually smoked weed.

One study showed that of those who had been heavy users completed college less often and had lower incomes after leaving college.

So these points cover how to tell if a person you care about is using weed and what the negative effects of this drug can be. You may already have been aware of some of these problems but didn’t know how to help.

Offering Help

If a person feels that using marijuana is making his life better, you will have a hard time convincing him (or her) to stop smoking the drug.

You may have to work with your friend or family member to remind him of the way things were before he began to rely on marijuana to detach him from problems and emotions.

Help him compare the way things are now with earlier times when he might have talked about his plans and future with enthusiasm.

You will have to work with this person to get him to stop using the drug. He will have to stay away from drug-using and drug-selling friends because most people easily fall back into drug abuse when hanging out with the people still involved in the drug habit.

The withdrawal symptoms he may encounter include:

• Anger, tension, irritability, restlessness, depression
• Chills, stomach pains, shaking, sweating
• Decreased appetite, sleep difficulties, bad dreams, nausea

These symptoms are not normally severe but he may need help resisting the cravings that probably will last for weeks or months. Clearly set goals and the support of sober family and friends can help him stay on a new, creative path toward goals of his own choosing. Nutritional supplementation can help him recover energy and interest in life and help alleviate the symptoms of withdrawal.

What if He Can’t Seem to Quit?

Each year, more than 400,000 people enter rehabs to get help for addiction to marijuana. And these are only the ones entering publicly funded facilities, which means the real total would be higher.

Since only about one in ten people who need help for addiction get it, it would be easy to estimate that more than four million people are addicted to this drug. A heavy user may be so drowned in the fog of drug abuse that he can’t quit using the drug when he wants to.

In this case, a long-term rehabilitation program that helps a person build a new sober life and the skills to maintain it over the long haul is the answer. This is the service provided by Narconon drug rehabilitation centers around the world.

In many rehabs, prescription drugs make up part of the treatment program. Not at a Narconon center. The entire program is drug-free. Nutritional supplements aid a person in regaining energy and bright viewpoint.

A sauna-based detoxification step flushes out the THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the intoxicating ingredient in weed), helping a person regain the clear thinking they may have left far behind.

The life skills segment of the Narconon program walks a person through the learning of the real-life abilities needed to stay sober and achieve goals.

If you are trying to help a person stop smoking weed, you should find out about the Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation today. If he can’t stop using the drug on his own, he needs the help of an effective rehab program before any more of his life or talents are wasted, and definitely before he can progress on to use a more heavily addictive drug.

Resources:

Источник: //www.narconon.org/drug-rehab/help-someone-stop-weed.html

Beat Your Smoking Addiction

Last updated on August 12th, 2018 at 05:43 am

For anyone suffering from GERD, smoking addiction is a lifestyle choice that can be conquered. But how? Nicotine often exerts a powerful influence making smoking cessation difficult for many. Dr.

Edelstein, a clinical psychologist and expert on emotional and behavioral problems, also works with RefluxMD on the psychological aspects of dieting for our new diet program.

Smoking, poor eating habits, and alcohol use often increase GERD symptoms and can lead to other serious health problems. Mastering these lifestyle choices aids you in your path to symptom relief and good health. Dr. Edelstein believes in a self-help approach to behavioral change.

He has successfully taught thousands of adults how to tackle difficulties that may have seemed unmanageable. Three Minute Refutations, which he discusses below, may be the tool to help you manage your challenges.

Three-minute refutations: A powerful exercise for changing your thinking

In my book Three Minute Therapy, I introduced the cognitive practice of the Three Minute Exercise (TME) to challenge your internal demands–your “I musts,” “Others musts,” and “Life musts.” The Three Minute Refutations (TMR) involves a powerful exercise for changing another type of addictive thinking.

It targets your rationalizations or excuses, which arise from your demands. For example, if you have set a smoking quit date and find it uncomfortable to follow through, you may tell yourself you “must” avoid that discomfort and smoke anyway.

Or if you have the urge to light up in an area where smoking is prohibited, you may think you “must” satisfy this urge and step outside. These “musts” lead to self-defeating behaviors.

Targeting your “musts”

The Three Minute Exercise (TME), which is discussed in Three Minute Therapy, is ideal for targeting your “musts.” Your “musts” may encourage you to make excuses for not quitting on the appointed date or not abstaining from a cigarette during work hours. Some excuses might be: “I have a lot of stress today, I’ll quit tomorrow” or “I’ll have only one drag, then I’ll stop.”

Irrational Belief

“I absolutely MUST satisfy my urge for a smoke right now. I can’t stand feeling frustrated.”

Excuse or Rationalization

“I’ll have one last cigarette, then I’ll quit.”

Targeting your excuses to attack your smoking addiction

This is where TMRs are useful. They target these excuses and rationalizations. Along with the TMEs, it mounts a two-pronged attack on your smoking addiction. The TMEs target your demands, while the TMRs target your excuses.

TMRs also prove effective for other behavioral difficulties including procrastination, alcohol, drug, and food addictions. They consist of two elements: excuses and refuting the excuses. Let’s focus on excuses first.

Excuses are statements we say to ourselves which make procrastinating, overeating, overdrinking, or smoking seem reasonable, when in reality they’re destructive because they block, interfere with, or sabotage our long-term goals. Refutations put the lie to the excuses and state how they’re false or self-destructive. Here is an example of a completed TMR:

Excuse

“It’s ok to smoke right now because it’ll be the last time.”

Refutations

1. I’ve used this excuse hundreds of times. It hasn’t worked before and it won’t work now. It always has led to the next time.
2. This “last time” could mean losing my job and ruining my marriage.

3. How many days of smoking is this “one last time” going to continue?
4. I don’t HAVE TO indulge this “last time.”
5. This “last time” could lead to lung cancer.
6. I’m lying to myself, pure and simple.

7. I can change this statement to: “No more times!” or “Quit smoking right now for good!”
8. I’ll be better off now, better off tomorrow, and better off for the rest of my life with: “No more nicotine.

   ”

9. Since I choose to smoke, I can also choose not to smoke.
10. If I choose not to smoke, the discomfort I’ll feel will be temporary, not forever.

Implementing TMR

How do you implement TMR? With practice and effort.

Here is what I recommend:

1. Write and read these refutations five times daily until you’ve memorized them.
2. Then write them from memory five times daily.
3. Whenever you have the urge to light up, identify the thoughts that make smoking seem reasonable. Then refute these excuses.
4. If the excuses seem to be gaining the upper hand, externalize the debate by writing down the dialogue or saying it out loud.
5. Practice, practice, practice.

If this sounds a simple concept, it is. But simple does not mean easy. The application is your challenge. But if you follow the five recommendations above, you will be successful in changing your addictive thinking.

Dr. Michael R. Edelstein is a clinical psychologist with a phone, Skype, and in-person practice in San Francisco and Marin County. He is a Fellow and supervisory faculty member of the Albert Ellis Institute and has authored four books, including Three Minute Therapy.

It provides a proven method for overcoming many of life’s obstacles, including those of smoking, procrastinating, and overeating. He has appeared on many TV and radio shows nationally and internationally and has written extensively for professional journals. He has also co-authored Rational Drinking© that helps compulsive drinkers overcome their problem.

Источник: //www.refluxmd.com/beat-smoking-addiction/

12 Secrets to Beating a Tobacco Addiction

While it may be true that a nicotine addiction is difficult to overcome, there are simple practices that you can introduce into your daily routine that will significantly improve the lihood of long-term success.

1. Commitment

There’s a vast difference between wanting to quit and deciding to quit. Real commitment includes a definite decision to quit, with a practical plan of action.

2. One day at a time

The idea that an addict has to live the rest of their life without the cherished substance is oftentimes overwhelming and fear-inspiring. The rest of one’s life can seem a long time and a huge commitment.

This psychological hurdle often dooms the escape to freedom before it even gets off the ground. The key to avoiding this pitfall is to take only one day at a time. Make a fresh commitment every morning to be nicotine free.

Tomorrow’s challenges and concerns cannot and must not be carried today

3. Get back on track immediately

If a slip-up occurs, recommit to the quitting process immediately and get back on track with your action plan. The sooner one gets back on the path to recovery, the less of a setback the slip-up will be.

4. Regular moderate exercise

Moderate exercise is one of the simplest and yet most effective ways to deal with nicotine cravings.

Exercise provides a constructive substitute activity and results in the release of endorphins, the body’s internal feel-good brain chemicals.

These offset the nicotine cravings by elevating mood, combating depression and reducing stress symptoms. Moderate exercise of 15–30 minutes can reduce nicotine cravings for up to 50 minutes afterwards.

Exercise also improves the body’s oxygenation and circulation, leading to improved healing and recovery overall. Regular moderate exercise will also help combat the weight gain often associated with giving up the use of tobacco products.

5. Surrender other substances

Tobacco use is often accompanied by the use of other addictive substances, such as alcohol, caffeine and illegal drugs. This relationship is more than incidental. While the precise mechanism of action can vary from substance to substance, the net effect of increasing dopamine in the brain is common.

Dopamine is the brain chemical responsible for the sense of reward and drugs can increase it to a “high”. However, this damages the reward pathway, causing cravings that lead to addiction as users seek a heightened experience.

For the best chance of long-term recovery, it is important to quit using any substances that artificially stimulate and cause damage to the reward pathway. To optimise your chances of staying nicotine free, give up all substances including alcohol, caffeine and illegal drugs.

6. Drink plenty of water

Taken internally, water flushes out the toxins that are being removed by the liver and kidneys.

It also ensures that the blood remains well-diluted, resulting in improved circulation and oxygenation, which is essential for optimum brain and body organ function.

The more effectively you flush out your system with clean water, the faster your body will remove the poisonous tobacco toxins.

Most people need at least two litres of water a day to maintain healthy body function. While you are cleansing your body from nicotine, you may need to increase this amount to two-and-a-half or even three litres per day.

7. Natural remedies

Hydrotherapy is the science of using water to treat disease and invigorate the body. It can also alleviate cravings and boost the efficiency of the body’s immune system.

Medicinal charcoal actively draws impurities, toxins and poisons to itself. These harmful substances then become trapped inside the charcoal grains’ porous, cave- indentations and tunnels. When the body eliminates the charcoal, the impurities that have become trapped inside its grains are also eliminated.

Charcoal tablets are available from pharmacies and supermarkets. Powdered charcoal, which is more effective due to its larger surface area, is usually only available from health stores.

Remember to drink plenty of additional water afterwards, since charcoal can cause constipation when taken with inadequate amounts of water.

8. Substitution

A smoking addiction consists of at least two components: (1) a chemical dependence on nicotine, and (2) ritual. The ritual aspect refers to the behaviour patterns each smoker follows when lighting up a cigarette, such as reaching into the pocket for the cigarette pack, lighting up and the hand-to-mouth process of smoking.

When quitting, it’s helpful to become aware of these ritual behaviours and develop activities that can substitute for them. For instance, you could replace the box of cigarettes with a clickable pen.

Whenever you feel the urge to smoke, you can retrieve the pen and click it a few times. Some people have found chewing on carrot sticks to be a constructive substitute for the ritual of lighting a cigarette.

A short, brisk walk can also help.

9. Get rid of paraphernalia

The last thing that one needs when trying to quit smoking is to have reminders of the habit lying around in plain sight. Get rid of ashtrays, lighters, pipes, cigarette packs and whatever else you used to support the smoking habit.

The mere act of throwing your smoking paraphernalia away has a great psychological benefit. It gives you a sense of closure and a clean start. Also, because the tobacco products are not close at hand, there’s less chance you’ll yield during a moment of weakness.

10. Adequate sleep

One withdrawal symptom many people experience when coming off tobacco products is irritability. Going to bed after midnight seriously decreases the quality of your rest, which in turn causes irritability, because of a reduced amount of growth hormone being produced for your body’s rejuvenation.

By simply shifting your bedtime to include at least two hours before midnight, you’ll not only give your body a better quality of rest, but you’ll find that you’re able to better handle stress and be less irritable and quick-tempered.

11. Team up

One of the most helpful keys to beating tobacco addiction is to have an accountability partner—someone you trust and who you’ll be able to contact when you feel weak or need some encouragement to stay the course to freedom. This may be someone who has already beaten tobacco addiction. In any case, it should be someone who can also function as your prayer partner.

12. Divine help

While it’s true that an accountability partner or a support group is of great help to anyone trying to break an addiction, it’s of more value to rely upon divine strength and power in these situations.

God has pledged Himself to restoring human freedom and supplying power for victory. The Bible has many powerful promises to this effect. Cultivating a genuine and practical relationship with God will result in renewed power for daily living as well as a new outlook on life.

God understands your struggles, and He cares about you. He has the solution to your weaknesses and failings. By uniting your human weakness with His divine strength, victory will be yours!

Additional photos: warrengoldswain—istockphoto.com; Ilka-erika Szasz-fabian—Dreamstime.com; sswartz | CEFutcher—istockphoto.com

Источник: //www.hopechannel.com/read/12-secrets-to-beating-a-tobacco-addiction