This is what I thought hypnosis was like until a couple of weeks ago. Also reminded me of a Tintin album, you know the one with the Incas and the crystal balls.
Anyway, before I get to the point I need to give you a background story here: it is my love story with Marlboro. It started when I was 15 and the first few years we were doing awesome, never stayed apart for more than a few hours, the first couple of years are always passionate. Then I realized we were not such a good match after all, but by then it was too late. So we started having this love/hate relationship where I get to leave every couple of years screaming "this is it I am done with you I am getting a divorce" and then come back after a year or so, or a bit longer, or a bit less, at first not too sure whether I was coming back or not, and then coming back for good, only to ask myself 6 months later why the hell did I?
I have tried pills, substitutes, various doctors, I have compulsively eaten peanuts, cakes, candies, chocolate, I have annoyed beyond words my family, my ex, my friends, my workmates, I have felt so many times that I was turning into the Hulk a few days after quitting smoking...and still, I come back. What an idiot. Damn you, Marlboro. Last split up was a year and a half ago, and lasted for about 8 months.
So two weeks ago, I got hypnosis. I mean, it is possibly the only thing I haven't tried yet along with black magic or exorcism. I ended up there because my sister-in-law did a couple of years ago, and since then she is smoke free. I also did because during this conversation my dad said "if you try I will come too" so we went together. My dad needs a divorce with Marlboro even more than I do.
So we get there, there are a few of us, the doc takes each one of us privately for a few minutes to ask how long we have been smoking etc. Then he sits us all down and explains for a good hour how the thing is going to go. To keep it short, he will distract our "conscious" brain so he can talk to our "unconscious" brain and send it messages about why we don't need to smoke.
Then we all get comfy at 45 degrees in a chair under a blanket and he starts. I do what he says, which is stare at something while controlling my breathing and listening to him, and then I feel warm and comfy and I hear everything he says but when I try to remember the previous sentence he just said I can't.
The hypnosis part itself lasts about 30mn, then he asks us to stretch, to drink water and when we get out I feel like I have been smoking really good pot but not too much so I feel a bit fuzzy and distracted but all good.
Before we leave he also gives us a CD and says we have to listen to it everyday for a month. So we go home, we go out for diner then I go to bed and listen to the thing before I fall asleep.
And now…it has been two weeks. I listen to the CD almost every day, most of the time I fall asleep while doing so, not matter when in the day I do it. And I haven’t smoked. And I feel OK. I mean, honestly I think about smoking once every couple of hours, but it goes away. And most important, I am not anxious or upset or willing to punch people in the face all the time, which is a real improvement from last time. I also went out, had drinks and no cigarettes, which is quite amazing at this stage.
We’ll see if this time the divorce is for real…
On another note, exactly two years ago today I was boarding a single way flight to Indonesia. Best decision ever.