What should one do when tempted to smoke—pray for help or give in?

Chew gum. Suck on lemon drops. My dad went from 3 packs a day to 0, cold turkey, and only used lemon drops.

Consider this: I was in a hospital, looking for the room of a friend. I passed an open door. There was a woman in a bed, not very old but looking like she wasn't long for this world. A nurse was asking her questions. I heard this one: "So you say you've smoked for twenty years?"

And this: nicotine constricts the blood vessels, cutting off nutrients to the skin, meaning: it AGES your face.

Neither. Just don't.
Use self-control and will-power.

Mindfulness can help.


"Nicotine dependence is a tough addiction to beat. About half of current U.S. smokers actually gave up cigarettes for more than a day within the past year, but then relapsed. So it’s good news when a quit-smoking approach increases the odds of long-term success. And it’s great news when that approach blows the gold standard treatment out of the water.
That’s what happened in a recent study of mindfulness for smoking cessation. The study, published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence in 2011, included 88 adults who smoked at least half a pack per day and wanted to quit. Participants were randomly assigned to eight sessions of either mindfulness training or a standard quit-smoking program. The standard program focused on strategies such as avoiding smoking triggers and making lifestyle changes.

The mindfulness group showed a greater reduction rate in smoking, which lasted after the treatment was over. Four months later, 31% of those in the mindfulness group were smoke-free, compared to only 6% in the standard treatment group. This was the first randomized clinical trial to look at mindfulness training as a stand-alone approach for quitting smoking. More research is needed to confirm the results, but they certainly seem encouraging.

Recently, I had a chance to chat with lead researcher Judson Brewer, MD, PhD, medical director of the Yale Therapeutic Neuroscience Clinic. In our conversation below, he explains how practicing mindfulness might help you quit smoking for good.

How did you become interested in using mindfulness to help people break free from addiction?

Dr. Brewer: I noticed that people who have addictions and those who teach mindfulness speak the same language. Mindfulness teachers will tell you that stress is caused by craving. If you can let go of that craving, then your stress will dissolve, and practicing mindfulness is the way to do that.

People with addictions understand craving better than most of us. For them, craving is a very concrete, immediate problem that’s causing havoc in their lives, and they’re looking for a solution.

Were you surprised that, in your study, mindfulness training worked better than the standard behavioral approach to quitting smoking?

Dr. Brewer: Yes, pleasantly! I liken it to having weeds in your garden. Standard treatments—for example, avoiding triggers such as ashtrays and lighters or using substitutes such as eating carrot sticks and chewing on your pen—just pull the heads off the weeds, so they grow back. These treatments don’t uproot the craving itself. In contrast, mindfulness really gets in there and pulls up the roots.

Let’s talk specifics. How do you teach people to use mindfulness to manage a craving for nicotine?

Dr. Brewer: In my clinical practice, I use the acronym RAIN:

Recognize the craving that is arising, and relax into it.
Accept this moment. Don’t ignore it, distract yourself, or try to do something about it.
Investigate the experience as it builds. Ask yourself, “What is happening in my body right now?”
Note what is happening. As you note pressure, dullness, tightness, or whatever, it becomes clear that these are nothing more than body sensations. You don’t have to act on them. You can simply ride out the sensations until they subside.
How does this process affect craving over time?

Dr. Brewer: Each time you ride out a craving, it gets weaker. Think of your craving as a screaming child in the grocery store. You could give your child a lollipop, but that’s only a temporary solution; he’ll start screaming again as soon as the lollipop is gone. You could clap your hand over your child’s mouth, but he’ll scream louder than ever as soon as you move your hand. In the same way, feeding a craving or trying to suppress it never works for long.

So what can you do instead? You can lovingly and patiently hold your child until the screaming stops. It might be uncomfortable for a while, but eventually your child will get tired and quit screaming. The next time your child screams, it won’t be as loud or as long. And the time after that, it will be less intense and shorter still, until eventually your child gives up screaming altogether. That’s how you train children—and how you tame cravings."

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/minding-the-body/201204/can-mindfulness-help-you-quit-smoking

PRAY FOR HELP...I QUIT IN 76 after 4 yrs...U can too...and then I got pregnant with my son.

I just wanted to point out...those are NOT the only two options available in that situation.

Resist the temptation,
like your life depends on it,
because it is from an insidious attacker
that is destroying you,
while numbing you
to keep you from feeling
the damage it is doing.

It is also making unscrupulous people rich,
while they kill you.

Smoking is like slowly
pushing a knife into your chest,
and through your heart.
But that knife is coated with heroin,
so it makes you feel good,
and not feel the pain,
until the very end.

--
Regards,

John Popelish

I'm an atheist who has never smoked, and that was with my growing up as an only child of two parents, both of whom smoked.

I admit that I see nothing that would make me wish to smoke. Everyone now knows in detail that smoking is bad for your health.

How You Can Quit

If you want to serve God, pray for help. Our loving Creator can provide “help at the right time” for those who are striving to bring their lives into harmony with his will. (Hebrews 4:16) But don’t expect a miracle. You must act in harmony with your prayers.

I just give in because there is nothing in the Holy Bible against smoking. But some Jewish rabbis went against smoking lately.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_in_Jewish_law

What is the goal? You smoke and mess with your health. I couldn't see myself tempted to do such a thing.

Give in and start smoking

I prayed to God about smoking and God impressed upon my mind that I needed to get nicotine replacement therapy and see a doctor about anti-smoking drugs.

It's a spirit. You have to control your mind then only you can control that spirit. If you understand well that it's not you then you can control easily. Human beings are ruled by spirits but humans must learn to control and rule the spirits. Spirits possess people according to the mental state of the human beings and keep them in the same state until they are rejected and replaced by another. This is an all time phenomena occurring in all humans. Human beings are always under the influence of spirits. Certain situations and circumstances causes the possession of certain type of spirits. Often thinking and talking about bad subjects or bad imaginations even for fun can take serious turns on one who think and talk. All spirits (good and bad) have the dominating character. They can take you to the extent of sacrifice or suicide.

All of your activities, talks and even thoughts determine what kind of spirits you will have for your life. Only these spirits are the reason for the good and bad happening in your life. Generally spirits determine your destiny from your daily activities, talks and thoughts too. All knowledge, skills, emotions, feelings, interests and everything are spirits. Even thoughts are not your own. For example, when you want to take a decision on a subject, one after another they think and you just listen and choose or reject the ideas which they transmit to your mind through your brain in the form of thoughts. A human being during his/her lifetime is living with many spirits which have joined one by one since birth. All human beings are just unprogrammed robots made of flesh, bones, tissues etc., by birth and toys of the spirits for their games.

walk away and pray

NO YOU DON'T GIVE IN TO SIN

Neither.
You find YOUR inner power and you just quit.
God won't do it for you, and giving in will cause disease.

Expel the demons out of you in the name of god

Pray, and go busy yourself with a non-sinful activity you enjoy.

Pray, and when God answers by recommending you throw the cigarettes away, do it.

I smoked for nine years, i tried to quit three times, I did - 2 1/ 2 packs a day, quit with a half can of chew and a prayer to join the lds church obeying the word of wisdom

I suggest you pray for help.