It’s hard not to get frustrated. (runner with a fag in their mouths)
You get a call. It’s Sunday and you’re in the gym.
(At least I am, now that I’m a wonderfully self-righteous non -smoker)
Actually, I always went to the gym even when I smoked. I was the fastest long distance smoking runner for miles… another story… more tragic waste.
The caller on the phone says it’s urgent, they’re really desperate to talk to me.
They’ve heard that I specialise in using hypnotherapy to stop smoking sessions and they want to stop.
Yipee! Another person saving their own life. I love this work.
They really want to stop.
Great.
No, they do! They really really really want to stop….
I run home from the gym
because I can…
with my stop smoking hypnosis diary at hand.
On the phone, I hear the urgency of the situation. The person explains that they always knew it was killing them but now a Doctor has told them “you have to stop smoking now or you’re going to die.”
It’s true you know. Smoking kills and seriously reduces your life.
The government might have mentioned it once or twice. And they print those pictures on the pack in case you don’t understand what death and disease look like when it comes a knocking at ya door.
“Knock. Knock”. (I like my death to have a Scottish accent)
“Whose there, Pal?”
“It’s Death and disease?”
“Death and Disease who?”
Shit! That’s it…there is no who. That’s your lot. I don’t have a punchline. I’ll work on it.
And do you know it’s because of the death and disease that cigarettes cost so much money, because the government don’t want you to smoke…..
ha ha! You know that’s not the real reason, right?
I guess if you’re here, I’m preaching to the converted.
Anyway, doctors have a moral responsibility to inform patients of the risk that smoking poses to their health,
However, from the point of view of a hypnotist it’s never particularly desirable to frame fears for people in this way….in the ‘You’re going to die’ sort of way.
Of course, of course, we are all going to die, smokers a little more quickly obviously, but no need to hurry me…
I’m going…I’m going….already.. Jesus Christ.
And as strange as it may seem, it doesn’t always make a person change their self-destructive behaviour in the way you would hope that it would. A scared person doesn’t always stop smoking. Neither does a person with emphysema or heart disease or diabetes. My dad had the lot…do you think it made him stop. No it did not.
He was a strong man….
He was mentally immense…
Just not in a changing his mind kind of way. Miss him every day.
You would think would you not, that somebody who has taken the trouble to contact me, someone who has already been informed by a doctor that they need to stop because of their heart CAD or CHD or any other C’s or D’s or lung disease would be at the point of threshold….
By threshold, I mean, in hypnosis terms, that a person is truly ready to stop smoking, that by the time they get in touch and look up how to use hypnosis to stop smoking or how to quit smoking with hypnotherapy easily, they really want to do it.
And it is easy to quit smoking with hypnosis and it is quick and it’s also effective. By effective means the treatment lasts…ideally.
forever.
So why am I frustrated?
Well I tell you, because believe it or not if there is any caller who is going to change their mind about finding the money for a stop smoking hypnosis session it will be the person whose been told by the doctor they need to stop smoking now.
I’m not sure what a person expects a stop smoking hypnotherapy session to cost but I can tell you that what I charge costs less than a 20 a day smoker will spend in a single month so it seems incredible to me that a person who is desperate to stop smoking will delay booking because it would cost the same amount they’d usually spend in a month on cigarettes.
And it’s not that I won’t do it for less if a person is genuinely struggling to find the money but wanting to stop smoking means that the smoker is prepared to change something and in the case of a stop smoking hypnotherapy session the change is spending the money on saving yourself as opposed to destroying your health.
And I get it
That requires a leap of faith and a change of mindset.
If you would like to learn more about hypnosis or schedule a free 15 minute consultation with me for a hypnotherapy to stop smoking session please use follow the link below.