“Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, and may complicate Pregnancy.”

“Smoking can cause a slow and painful death.”

Smoking always starts out as a curiosity quencher. After “trying it out” the first time, the second and third times come quickly, heralding the start of a regular routine that is very costly in more ways than one.

The seriousness of the effects of smoking would, one could reason, be enough to see people giving up in their droves. Everyone knows by now that smoking is clearly linked to diseases like lung, mouth and throat cancer, heart disease and premature tooth decay, to name but a few. Nonetheless, most of us who smoke continue to persist with a habit that we tacitly acknowledge is an insidious killer, not to mention unpleasant and potentially dangerous for those around us.

Whereas getting into the routine is child’s play, getting out of it, or quitting smoking, can be hellishly difficult and enormously stressful. Many people will find that to stop smoking is every bit as tough as giving up any other form of substance abuse such as alcohol, marijuana, prescription and other drugs.

To complicate matters, withdrawal symptoms are common after quitting. Mood swings, sleeplessness, cramping of the muscles, cravings and coughing are good examples. These nasty effects are often laid at the door of the substance called nicotine (or lack of it) that is known to cause addiction. But the truth is that cigarettes have been found to contain thousands of chemicals, many of which may be toxic and/or addictive.

And to add a final insult to the injury, those who successfully stop smoking often find themselves ballooning in weight as they distract themselves from their erstwhile habit with frequent snacks and various other ‘munchies’. These extra ‘treats’ and the cost of the various pills, patches and gums that many use to assist the process, often wipe out the financial gains from quitting.

But in all the gloom, there is some great news for those of us - and our loved ones - who long to ‘ditch the weed’. There are programs on the market today that can help people to stop smoking easily and quickly, without the use of supplements and nicotine replacement aids while sidestepping all the hated withdrawal symptoms and avoiding weight gain. It sounds almost too good to be true but the truth is that these programs have remarkably high success rates.

The secret to success lies within each and every one of us. As it is proving to be the case in so many areas of our lives nowadays, our very own personal belief system and our frame of reference for what we think is possible and not possible holds the key to making dramatic and lasting changes.

And, slowly but steadily, smokers are coming to realize that the search for a magic pill, patch or drug is not the answer. The only approach that really does bear fruit in the honorable quest to stop smoking easily is (with a little help) to look within.