Pretend you or someone you know has a bad habit. A big bad monkey on your back. How did it get there? How did it start? Probably a combination of three things; emotions, authority figures, and repetition.
Let’s use an example.
Let’s just use a younger you for the example, 10-14 years old. And for this example, let’s use the habit of smoking. If you don’t smoke…. replace the word “smoking” with any craving you get, or just pretend you smoke? It is an article about smoking after all.
When you were in that age range we can assume you were learning about your life and how you fit into it. You may not have felt as sure about yourself.
Kids that age sometimes feel self-conscious, dependant on others, powerless, not good enough, or??. We’ll call this feeling “bad”. This is not saying you felt miserable, but maybe didn’t feel “good” as you thought you should feel? Did you feel as “good” as you thought other people felt?
Possibly, (probably) not. Which would mean you wanted to feel better, or at least as good as you thought other people feel. What would make you feel better? That depends on the influences in your life to that point.
How does a person learn things like that? Emotions, authority figures and repetition. You probably saw authority figures smoking – parents, family, friends, role models, and of course, advertisements. Smoking is perceived as tough, strong, independent, self-assured, and unique. All the “good” feelings you were feeling a lack of.
This would start a feeling in your mind, the beginning of a craving. A part of you that believes smoking is what your life needs to fix the bad feeling. Not just in a “knowing” way, but a “feeling” way. This concept will make the most sense to someone whom has tried to quit any strong habit, you know your “feelings” are stronger than your “knowing” any day.
Then you tried your first cigarette, and chances are that you weren’t so good at smoking. That would come with practice.
As life continues you come across situations that make you feel “bad” again and do what you’ve been taught makes you feel “good”. That is repeated emotions and practice and you have a strong habit.
A lot of people working to quit smoking have thought of these things. A lot have not. But, all of the people that have tried to quit smoking have used a lot of time thinking and analyzing their habit. Trying to argue themselves into quitting. But, you didn’t learn this habit by thinking and analyzing. Why would trying to quit smoking that way work?
It is a lot easier to quit smoking with the same methods you started smoking with. A “hypnotized” state of mind combined with emotions, authority figures and repetition. Often called modern hypnosis.