Using Meditation To Help Keep You In Non-Smoker Status

By Phil Conran

Keeping your mind strong and supple will help you maintain a nonsmoker status and reduce your stress during the battle to quit. Meditation can help you summon your mind's healing energy, and retrieve your mind from a war zone and place it in a neutral zone.

The objective of meditation is more important than the steps you take to get there. Meditating is not about disconnecting from the world around you. It is not about shutting off your five senses and making your mind passive in order to reduce stress. It won't work. Stress is the most annoying, adept, persistent pest - like a cockroach of the mind. Cockroaches, as we know, have an extraordinary ability to survive by defying all attempts to eradicate them. Stress is in the same league. It will not cave in to such feeble tactics. For this you need big guns. However, stress can be somewhat alleviated if you grasp and practice the true concept of meditation.

Meditation involves stepping back from this world for a short period. While you turn off your five senses, you must turn on the internal sense that connects you with nature through your instincts. Meditation is not a passive state of mind. On the contrary, your mind will be in its most active state - more authentically than ever. Connecting with nature involves understanding its mandates about life and accepting its truth about your place in the world. This is both an exhilarating and humbling experience.

Every time I meditate, I pick one or two issues in my life and strive to understand the full truth about them - not only how I perceive them but also nature's truth about them. Only then can I resolve the issues. This practice is relevant to the smoker. Not only must you consider your perspective, you must also strive to discover nature's truth - that if you continue to smoke, you will suffer consequences. Accepting nature's truth will help you rise above the discomfort involved in quitting and embrace your full potential.

Meditation is a tool that can alleviate stress and strengthen your sense of purpose and will. But the process is not magical. You have to be open to seeing life as it really is, not as you want it to be. You have to choose priorities that elevate you, as opposed to the deceitful and destructive priorities you once held.

When & Where To Meditate

In the beginning, meditating once a day is enough. However, over the years the strong, positive mental high will become natural. Eventually, even a brief meditation each day will keep you in good spirits throughout the day and allow you to face what comes your way as a challenge, not as a chore.

Find a time of the day when you can comfortably spare thirty minutes or so without interruption. It can be any time of day. For me, early morning is best. I like to pool my energy and strength before I leap into the day's tasks.

Find a place without distraction - a quiet room in your home, a nearby park, or even a parking space in an empty shopping mall lot. Don't carry your cell phone or beeper. A small Walkman or MP3 player is fine.

Author Details:
Phil Conran writes for various web sites including information portals such as Simply Top's Free Article Directory, information junkie and the A-Z of.com

Source: The A-Z of Smoking

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