The moment of revelation usually takes place about three weeks after a smoker stops. The sky appears
to become brighter, and it is the moment when the brainwashing ends completely, when, instead of
telling yourself you do not need to smoke, you suddenly realize that the last thread is broken and you can enjoy the rest of your life without ever needing to smoke again. It is also usually from this point that you start looking at other smokers as objects of pity.
Smokers using the Willpower Method do not normally experience this moment because, although
they are glad to be ex-smokers, they go through life believing they are making a sacrifice.
The more you smoked, the more marvelous this moment is, and it lasts a lifetime.
I consider I have been very fortunate in this life and had some wonderful moments, but the most
wonderful of all was that moment of revelation. With all the other highlights of my life, although I
can remember they were happy times, I can never recapture the actual feeling. I can never get over
the joy of not having to smoke any more. If ever I am feeling low and need a boost nowadays, I just
think how lovely it is not to be hooked on that awful weed. Half the people who contact me after they
have kicked the weed say exactly the same thing, that it was the most marvelous event of their lives.
Ah! What pleasure you have to come!
With an additional twelve years' feedback, both from the book and from my consultations, I have
learned that in most cases the moment of revelation occurs not after three weeks, as stated above,
but within a few days.
In my own case it happened before I'd extinguished my last cigarette, and on many occasions in
my early consultancy sessions, during the one-to-one period, before I'd even got to the end of a
session smokers would say something like: 'You needn't say another word, Allen. I can see it all so
clearly, I know I'll never smoke again.' In the group sessions I've learned to tell when it happens
without individual smokers saying anything. From the letters I receive I'm also aware that it
frequently happens with the book.
Ideally if you follow all the instructions and understand the psychology completely, it should
happen to you immediately.
Nowadays at my consultations I say to smokers that it takes about five days for the noticeable
physical withdrawal to go and about three weeks for an ex-smoker to get completely free. In one way I
dislike giving such guidelines. It can cause two problems. The first is that I put in people's minds the
suggestion that they will have to suffer for between five days and three weeks. The second is that the
ex-smoker tends to think, 'If I can survive for five days or three weeks, I can expect a real boost at the
end of that period.' However, he may have five pleasant days or three pleasant weeks, followed by one
of those disastrous days that strike both non-smokers and smokers, which have nothing to do with
smoking but are caused by other factors in our lives. There our ex-smoker is, waiting for the moment
of revelation, and what he experiences is depression instead. It could destroy his confidence.
If I don't give any guidelines, however, the ex-smoker can spend the rest of his life waiting for
nothing to happen. I suspect that this is what happens to the vast majority of smokers who stop
when using the Willpower Method.
At one time I was tempted to say that revelation should happen immediately. But if I did that and it
didn't happen immediately, the ex-smoker would lose confidence and would think it was never going
to happen.
People often ask me about the significance of the five days and three weeks. Are they just periods
that I've drawn out of the blue? No. They are obviously not definite dates, but they reflect an
accumulation of feedback over the years. About five days after stopping is when the ex-smoker ceases
to have smoking as the main occupation of his mind. Most ex-smokers experience the moment of
revelation around this period. What usually happens is you are in one of those stressful or social
situations that once you couldn't cope with or enjoy without a cigarette. You suddenly realize that not
only are you enjoying or coping with it but the thought of having a cigarette has never even
occurred to you. From that point on it is usually plain sailing. That's when you know you are free.
I have noticed from my previous attempts using the Willpower Method, and from feedback from other
smokers, that around the three-week period is when most serious attempts to stop smoking fail. I
believe that what usually happens is that after about three weeks you sense that you have lost the
desire to smoke. You need to prove this to yourself, and you light a cigarette. It tastes weird, You've
proved you have kicked it, But you've also put fresh nicotine into your body, and nicotine is what
your body has been craving for three weeks. As soon as you extinguish that cigarette, the nicotine
starts to leave your body. Now a little voice is saying, 'You haven't kicked it. You want another one.'
You don't light another one straight away because you don't want to get hooked again. You allow a
safe period to pass. When you are next tempted you are able to say to yourself, 'But I didn't get hooked
again, so there's no harm in having another.' You are already on your way down the slippery slope.
The key to the problem is not to wait for the moment of revelation but to realize that once you
extinguish that last cigarette it is finished. You've already done all you need to do. You've cut off the
supply of nicotine. No force on earth can prevent you from being free unless you mope about it or wait
for revelation. Go and enjoy life; cope with it right from the start. That way you'll soon experience the
moment.