Since the original publication of this book I now have twelve years' feedback, both from my own
consultations and from the book itself. Originally it was a struggle. My method was pooh-poohed by
the so-called experts. Now smokers fly in from all over the world to attend my consultations, and more
members of the medical profession attend them than members of any other profession. The book is
already regarded in the UK as the most effective aid for stopping smoking, and its reputation is rapidly
spreading throughout the rest of the world.
I'm not a do-gooder. My war - which, I emphasize, is not against smokers but against the nicotine
trap I wage for the purely selfish reason that I enjoy it. Every time I hear of a smoker escaping from
the prison I get a feeling of great pleasure, even when it has nothing to do with me. You can imagine
also the immense pleasure I obtain from the thousands of grateful letters that I have received over the
years.
There has also been considerable frustration. The frustration is caused mainly by two main
categories of smoker. First, in spite of the warning in the previous chapter, I am disturbed by the
number of smokers who find it easy to stop, yet get hooked again and find they can't succeed the next
time. This applies not only to readers of the book but also to my consultations.
A man telephoned me a few years ago. He was very distraught; in fact. he was crying. He said, I'll pay
you £1,000 if you can. help me stop for a week. I know if I can just survive a week, I'll be able to do it.
'I told him that I charge a fixed fee and that was all he need pay. He attended a group session and,
much to his surprise, found it easy to stop. He sent me a very nice thank-you letter.
Practically the last thing I say to ex-smokers leaving my sessions is: 'Remember, you must never
smoke another cigarette.' This particular man said, 'Have no fear, Allen, If I manage to stop, I'll
definitely never smoke again.'
I could tell that the warning hadn't really registered, I said, 'I know you feel like that at the
moment, but how will you feel six months on?'
He said, 'Allen, I will never smoke again.'
About a year later there was another phone call. 'Allen, I had a small cigar at Christmas, and now
I'm back on forty cigarettes a day.'
I said, 'Do you remember when you first phoned? You hated it so much you were going to pay me
£1,000 if you could stop for a week,'
'I remember. Haven't I been stupid?'
'Do you remember you promised me you would never smoke again?'
'I know. I'm a fool.'
It's like finding someone up to his neck in a bog and about to go under. You help pull him out. He is
grateful to you and then, six months later, dives straight back into the bog.
Ironically, when this man attended a subsequent session he said,' Can you believe it? I offered to pay
my son £1,000 if he hadn't smoked by his twenty- first birthday. I paid up. He's now twenty-two and
puffing away like a chimney. I can't believe he could be so stupid.'
I said, 'I don't see how you can call him stupid. At least he avoided the trap for twenty-two years,
and he doesn't know the misery he's in for. You knew it as well as anyone and survived only a year.'
If re-reading EASYWAY doesn't help, read ONLY WAY or contact your nearest EASYWAY
clinic. Smokers who find it easy to stop and start again pose a special problem. However, when you get
free PLEASE, PLEASE, DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE. Smokers believe that such
people start again because they are still hooked and are missing the cigarette. In fact, they find
stopping so easy that they lose their fear of smoking. They think. 'I can have an odd cigarette. Even
if
1 do get hooked again, I'll find it easy to stop again.'
I'm afraid it just doesn't work that way. It's easy to stop smoking, but It's impossible to try to
control the addiction. The one thing that is essential to becoming a non-smoker is not to smoke.
The other category of smokers that causes me frustration is those who are just too frightened to make
the attempt to stop or, when they do, find it a great struggle. The main difficulties appear to be the
following.
1 Fear of failure. There is no disgrace in failure, but not to try is plain stupidity. Look at it this way
- you're hiding from nothing. The worst thing that can happen is that you fail, in which case you
are no worse off than you are now. Just think how wonderful it would be to succeed. If you don't
make the attempt, you have already guaranteed failure.
2 Fear of panic and of being miserable. Don't worry about it. Just think: what awful thing could
happen to you if you never smoked another cigarette? Absolutely none. Terrible things will
happen if you do. In any case, the panic is caused by cigarettes and will soon be gone. The
greatest gain is to be rid of that fear. Do you really believe that smokers are prepared to have
their arms and legs removed for the pleasure they get from smoking? If you find yourself feeling
panicky, deep breathing will help. If you are with other people and they are getting you down,
go away from them. Escape to the garage or an empty office or wherever.
If you feel like crying, don't be ashamed. Crying is nature's way of relieving tension. No one has
ever had a good cry without feeling better afterwards. One of the awful things we do to young boys
is to teach them not to cry. You see them trying to fight the tears back, but watch the jaw grinding
away. As Britons, we teach ourselves to keep a stiff upper lip, not to show any emotions. We
are meant to show emotions, not to try to bottle them up inside us. Scream or shout or have a
tantrum. Kick a cardboard box or filing cabinet. Regard your struggle as a boxing match that
you cannot lose.
No one can stop time. Every moment that passes that little monster inside you is dying. Enjoy
your inevitable victory.
3 Not following the instructions. Incredibly, some smokers say to me, 'Your method just didn't work
for me.' They then describe how they ignored not only one instruction but practically all of
them, (For clarification I will summarize these in the check list at the end of the chapter.)
4 Misunderstanding instructions. The chief problems appear to be these.
.
(a) 'I can't stop thinking about smoking.' Of course you can't, and if you try, you will create a phobia
and be miserable. It's like trying to get to sleep at night; the more you try, the harder it becomes, 1
think about smoking 90 per cent of my life. It's what you are thinking that's important. If you are
thinking, 'Oh, I'd love a cigarette,' or 'When will I be free?' you'll be miserable. If you are thinking,
'YIPPEE! I am free!' you'll be happy.
(b) 'When will the little physical monster die?' The nicotine leaves your body very rapidly. But it is
impossible to tell when your body will cease to suffer from the slight physical sensation of nicotine
withdrawal. That empty, insecure feeling is identical to normal hunger, depression or stress. All
the cigarette does is to increase the level of it. This is why smokers who stop by using the
Willpower Method are never quite sure whether they've kicked it. Even after the body has ceased to
suffer from nicotine withdrawal, if they suffer normal hunger or stress, their brain is still saying,
'That means you want a cigarette.' The point is you don't have to wait for the nicotine craving to go; it is
so slight that we don't even know it's there. We know it only as feeling 'I want a cigarette.' When you
leave the dentist after the final session, do you wait for your jaw to stop aching? Of course you don't.
You get on with your life. Even though your jaw's still aching, you are elated.
(c) Waiting for the moment of revelation. If you wait for it, you are just causing another phobia, i once
stopped for three weeks on the Willpower Method. I met an old school friend and ex-smoker. He
said, 'How are you getting on?'
I said, 'I've survived three weeks.'
He said, 'What do you mean, you've survived three weeks?'
I said, 'I've gone three weeks without a cigarette.'
He said, 'What are you going to do? Survive the rest of your life? What are you waiting for? You've
done it. You're a non-smoker.'
I thought. 'He's absolutely right. What am I waiting for?' Unfortunately, because I didn't fully
understand the nature of the trap at that time, I was soon back in it, but the point was noted. You
become a non-smoker when you extinguish your last cigarette. The important thing is to be a happy
non-smoker from the start.
(d) 'I am still craving cigarettes.' Then you are being very stupid. How can you claim, 'I want to be a
non-smoker,' and then say, 'I want a cigarette'? That's a contradiction. If you say, 'I want a
cigarette,' you are saying, 'I want to be a smoker.' Non-smokers don't want to smoke cigarettes. You
already know what you really want to be, so stop punishing yourself.
(f) 'I've opted out of life.' Why? All you have to do is stop choking yourself. You don't have to stop
living. Look, it's as simply as this. For the next few days you'll have a slight trauma in your life. Your
body will suffer the almost imperceptible aggravation of withdrawal from nicotine. Now, bear this in
mind: you are no worse off than you were. This is what you have been suffering the whole of your
smoking life, every tune you have been asleep or in a church, supermarket or library. It didn't seem
to bother you when you were a smoker, and if you don't stop, you'll go on suffering this distress for
the rest of your life. Cigarettes don't make meals or drinks or social occasions; they ruin them. Even
while your body is still craving nicotine, meals and social occasions are marvelous. Life is marvelous.
Go to social functions, even if there are twenty smokers there. Remember that you are not being
deprived; they are.
Every one of them would love to be in your position. Enjoy being the prima donna and the
centre of attention. Stopping smoking is a wonderful conversation point, particularly when smokers
see that you are happy and cheerful-, They'll think that you are incredible. The important point is
that you'll be enjoying life right from the start. There's no need to envy them. They'll be envying you.
(f) 'I am miserable and irritable.' That is because you haven't followed my instructions. Find out
which one it is. Some people understand and believe everything I say but still start off with a feeling of
doom and gloom, as if something terrible were happening. You are doing not only what you'd like to
do but what every smoker on the planet would like to do. With any method of stopping, what the exsmoker
is trying to achieve is a certain frame of mind, so that whenever he thinks about smoking he
says to himself, 'YIPPEE! I'M FREE!' If that's your object, why wait? Start off in that frame of mind
and never lose it. The rest of the book is designed to make you understand why there is no
alternative.
THE CHECK LIST
If you follow these simple instructions, you cannot fail.
1 Make a solemn vow that you will never, ever, smoke, chew or suck anything that contains
nicotine, and stick to your vow.
2 Get this clear in your mind: there is absolutely nothing to give up. By that I don't mean simply
that you will be better off as a non-smoker (you've known that all your life); nor do I mean that
although there is no rational reason why you smoke, you must get some form of pleasure or crutch
from it or you wouldn't do it. What I mean is, there is no genuine pleasure or crutch in
smoking. It is just an illusion, like banging your head against a wall to make it pleasant
when you stop,
3 There is no such thing as a confirmed smoker. You are just one of the millions who have fallen
for this subtle trap. Like millions of other ex-smokers who once thought they couldn't escape,
you have escaped,
4 If at any time in your life you were to weigh up the pros and cons of smoking, the conclusion
would always be, a dozen times over, 'Stop doing it. You are a fool.' Nothing will ever change
that. It always has been that way, and it always will be. Having made what you know to be the
correct decision, don't ever torture yourself by doubting it.
5 Don't try not to think about smoking or worry that you are thinking about it constantly. But
whenever you do think about it – whether it be today, tomorrow or the rest of your life think,
'YIPPEE! I'M ANON-SMOKER!'
6 DO NOT use any form of substitute.
DO NOT keep your own cigarettes.
DO NOT avoid other smokers.
DO NOT change your lifestyle in any way purely because you've stopped smoking.
If you follow the above instructions, you will soon experience the moment of revelation. But:
7 Don't wait for that moment to come. Just get on with your life. Enjoy the highs and cope with the
lows. You will find that in no time at all the moment will arrive.