The New Non-Smoker's Route Home

There is a route, a road map that will guide you home from your dependence on cigarettes. After all you were not born with an addiction to nicotine, it's just something you learned to do, a bad habit you picked up along the way. Now you simply need to learn the way back to a time when you could enjoy life without smoking.

At Elite we have met hundreds of people who want to stop smoking, or at least they tell us that they do, and helping them to achieve their dream can be a challenge to say the least. The good news of course is that change is possible: changing direction is never quite as hard as we perceive it to be, and often doesn't come with the expected side effects that experience and the media have led us to believe are inevitable.

At Elite we really do care about your success: as we are sure you will appreciate, our future depends on it, but it is your personal desire and determination to become a non-smoker that will ultimately dictate the final result.

Smokers decide to stop smoking for reasons that are important to them at that particular time in their life. Unfortunately, as they make the transition into a new, non-smoker, many forget the very reasons that made them stop in the first place; this can often result in a lapse in their commitment. It is therefore vital that you never forget the reasons why you yourself decided to stop and take control of your life.

Don't fall into the trap of looking back with rose-tinted glasses - keep reminding yourself of the chesty cough you used to suffer from, the stinking ashtrays and clothes, the embarrassment of being the only smoker in the group and feeling like a social outcast in no-smoking environments such as restaurants.

One of the main factors in overcoming any addiction is motivation: if someone is motivated enough they can achieve just about anything in life. As an example, hardened cocaine addicts in the USA who had previously been unsuccessful with just about every type of treatment to overcome their addiction, were apparently offered $100,000 cash to produce consistently drug-free urine samples for a period of three months. Miraculously, the addicts all managed to stay clean for the trial period, whereas previously three days had been the best result.

Similarly, people who have been overweight for most of their life, and then suffer a stroke or heart attack, when told by their doctor to lose weight in order to avoid further risk, suddenly find that they can stick to a diet and lose weight easily, whereas prior to their health scare, of course, this had seemed an impossible feat.

The two examples above simply reinforce the importance of motivation in making any change in life: if you want something enough and you believe it is possible, you can and will achieve it.

Most people who want to stop smoking do so because they perceive a discrepancy in their lives between where they are now and where they want to be.

Some people decide to stop smoking when, for one reason or another, they have reached rock bottom, or a member of their family is diagnosed with a life-threatening, smoking-related disease. It doesn't matter what your own particular reasons are, the most important thing of all is having the belief that change really is possible, and being motivated enough to go through this transition period.

There is no single miracle cure for the perceived problems associated with stopping smoking: our approach is to guide, inform, explain and encourage you. We always strive to educate, covering every facet of the addiction process, and then utilise the most successful and proven methods to reverse the situation, helping you to achieve the ultimate goal, to be free. If we do have a secret weapon, a tool, an approach that will give the smoker the edge, it is in hypnosis.

It was stated in the 'New Scientist' magazine that in trials, hypnosis has continually proven itself to be the most successful method in helping smokers to quit. But as already stated, you are always the one who is in control; it is vital that your desire to quit is greater than your desire to continue smoking.

Governments around the world seem to be in a frenzy, announcing daily bans on smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants, and recently even some beaches in Spain have done the unthinkable and become smoke-free zones. Smokers are now well and truly established as social outcasts; in the USA the slogan "Smokers are Losers" has become the biggest selling bumper sticker in the country.

In the EU legislation has recently been introduced allowing potential employers for the first time to state in their advertising "Smokers need not apply". It's interesting that it is illegal to discriminate against a person's age, sex, religion, or colour of their skin when looking for a potential employee, but if they smoke they cannot work!

But what changed? Did everyone suddenly wake up at the same time to the fact that they have been slowly and systematically killing themselves, and have now all decided they have had enough? Maybe… But as an ex-smoker yourself, you will be well aware that smokers would never give up their habit because of the health risks: as bizarre as it may seem to the non-smokers of this world, the connection between smoking and lung cancer, to name just one fatal disease, has never made any difference whatsoever to the determined smoker.

Ask any 40 a day smoker how many they smoke, and they will tell you 20: virtually all smokers lie firstly to themselves and occasionally to others, without even being aware of it. When asked how important cigarettes are in their lives, most smokers say that they can take them or leave them. Further probing often reveals that they find it difficult to go to bed at night unless there is a packet of cigarettes in the house ready for the next morning. They will sit through dinner with friends, wishing every last morsel of food to jump down their throat at double quick time, so they can get to the good bit of the meal, the after dinner ciggy, after which they will run up the stairs to use the toilet and many end up gasping for breath at the top.

All this of course is in the past for you, because the transition, the journey, has already begun. You are well on the way to joining the hundreds of thousands of people who have also realised that they can take control of their smoking habit.


In addition to seeing clients at the clinic, Martin and Marion undertake private, home visits, both in Spain and internationally, subject to availability and negotiation.

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To arrange a free, initial consultation, or for further information, please contact Elite on 951 31 15 91, or click here to e-mail us.