The Quiting Game

Today is a gulp it down and hope the taste is good because there is little time to savor the tea.

I am back to thinking about smokers. Upon Michael's recommendation awhile back, I read Terrance Watts' Easy Quit Smoking Program. I found it to be brilliant and pretty detailed. The author gave lots of clues on how to deal with all types of people and their habits. His approach involves a bit of acting during the pre-talk, but if you can pull it off, on paper it sounds powerful.

So recently, I decided to employ some of the techniques. Well, I guess when one starts new things it is good to be challenged up front to get the worst out of the way. So, it always seems to go for me (yep, tiny pity party). What a strange thing this universe is...sometimes it seems like tough love, as opposed to a kinder approach.

I share this with you because, I am trying to be transparent, but it also helps me learn. My client was interesting. He was in the medical profession and had watched people die from lung cancer. Lots of disassociation there. He said it did not bother him to think about himself going through such a disease and death. His view of death was one that if it happened two minutes from now, that would be fine. And yes, he would take a risk if I offered him two cigarettes, one being a stick of cyanide and he would not know which one. Then he asked me if I had ever been a smoker, which I have not and he said that was obvious.

So, rather than justify myself and my empathy of the quiting game, I followed Mr.Watt's model and asked the dear doc why he had even come to me and wanted to give up the cigs. Now here he had a fine reason. He felt shame every time he recommended patients to stop smoking; he did not want to be a hypocrite anymore. So that is where I went with forming suggestions for the session.

And that is that, I must run along with the rest of the day.