Forget Willpower, There is a Better Way to Quit Smoking or Lose Weight

Most people believe that smokers and overeaters lack willpower. But what if it is the power of willpower at work that makes smoking and eating such powerful addictions?

The common use of the word willpower has come to mean "self-control." This common definition means that a person should be able to use willpower to win a battle against the urge to smoke or overeat over a lifetime. Wouldn't it be a better strategy to just eliminate the urge to smoke or overeat completely?

Nothing can make you do what you truly do not want to do. This is a universal law: nothing can force you to change your will. As you believe you're receiving benefits from smoking or overeating, you will resist stopping. While you hold onto the desire behind your addiction, there will be an internal struggle that stirs up internal conflict. Willpower against inner desire is a poor strategy. Willpower seems to disappear at times of stress, tragedy or worry. The willpower struggle can be summarized like this:

My addiction may kill me, so I should stop,
But I enjoy it or it can serve me well right now,
So deep inside, I still prefer my addiction (I'll take my chances).

So, smokers and overeaters do not lack willpower, the problem is they currently will to smoke or eat because of inner belief system built up over a lifetime.

The better way than willpower

Jim was driving his pregnant wife, Jill, to the hospital. Jill was urging him to hurry because the baby was definitely on its way. As Jim sped down a single-lane country road, he spotted a mule up ahead, blocking his way. Jim honked his horn, to no avail. He jumped out of the car and started pushing and pushing and grunting and grunting. The mule would not move. Jim came back to the car, defeated. Jill said, "Maybe I can help." Jim laughed, "How could you possibly help? You can hardly move." She replied, "Reach into my lunch bag there and grab a carrot."

Jim finally got the mule to move with no effort at all. The carrot was a better plan. Effort is not always the best solution. Using willpower is like pushing the mule--you can keep pushing and pushing, but failure usually occurs, and you get exhausted and frustrated. Is it hard to move a mule? If you do it the willpower way, it certainly is!

You have in your mind a list of reasons, beliefs and desires to keep your addiction. Once you bring these reasons to light, when they are brought to your awareness and honest scrutiny, these thoughts and beliefs become weak and even ridiculous. Isn't it a much better strategy to convince yourself you no longer want to smoke or overeat and really BELIEVE it? Wouldn't this make it easier to stop? If you realized you did not have to sacrifice anything, but that you actually prefer to stop, wouldn't it be easier?

One of the most common reasons I hear when I ask smokers why they want to stop is, "I have to stop." My immediate response is, "You do not have to do anything." Let's face it--you can depart this world in any way you choose. Nobody has to stop smoking even if it is killing him--we have the right to choose cigarettes over life. It's a free world.

People will tell you it is impossible to move a mule because they are so stubborn, yet a better plan is all it takes. When you DECIDE fully to stop smoking, with every part of your mind, you will no longer need strong willpower. When you truly DECIDE, there is an Energetic Finality, and the conflict subsides. When you DECIDE to change your mind about smoking and realize it does nothing for you, then you no longer have to stop. Instead, you really want to stop. When you realize that bingeing does not serve you and only hurts you, you can also begin to curb your eating problem. Sheer willpower says, "I will stop doing something that I really want to do." A shift in perception says, "I just don't want to or need to anymore." In other words, you can smoke or overeat if you choose to, but you now just choose not to. This is a much more powerful position than, "I have to". This shift in perception overrides the willpower struggle. It is an Energetic Finality that ends the conflict completely.

What is willpower, anyway? In my opinion, the word "willpower" has gone quite awry. My favorite definition is the one found in the 2003 edition of Webster's Dictionary: "energetic determination." The same dictionary also defines the word "determination" as "ending a controversy" or the "resolving of an argument--this is exactly what needs to happen to end addiction, both an argument and a controversy needs to end. The way to end a conflict is with finality--a final DECISION that cannot be reversed. Too bad this definition of willpower was replaced with "self control".

It takes guidance to reach such a change in perception and it also takes some good change techniques. To reach a level of DECISION that releases the power to quit struggle-free is attainable and happens spontaneously but this is also where a good hypnosis professional can help.

An Energetic Finality to end smoking or overeating can be assisted by Hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). When you use hypnosis, the experience of shedding your addiction can literally be struggle-free because the willpower battle becomes unnecessary. You can reach a conflict free state called congruence, and your your brain will rush to your assistance with an energy that frees you from your old thought patterns.

One scientific explanation for this is top-down processes of the brain discovered in 2005 by neuroscientists. Both overeating and smoking are conditioned, or learned, behaviors. And scientists have discovered top-down processing power in your brain 10X stronger than your learned behaviors. Hypnotic suggestion has been proven to activate these powerful processes in the brain, so hypnosis can be very useful in breaking addiction instantly and struggle-free.

Excerpts included from the doctor endorsed book Stop Smoking for the Last Time. To purchase this book or to find a hypnosis professional virtually anywhere in the USA visit www.HypnoEdge.com.

George Wissing, author of the book, Stop Smoking for the Last Time, is a Hypnosis/NLP Professional, Inter-Faith Counselor and Life Coach. He has helped clients quit smoking or change eating habits in as little as One Hour. His office is in Larchmont, NY and can be contacted on 914-937-5460 or through his website http://www.HypnoEdge.com/ He offers a free stress reduction program on his website and has a special landing page for smokers on http://Hypnosis4Smokers.com

For more information on Top-down processes and hypnosis, search the NY Times archives for the article This is your Brain Under Hypnosis by Sandra Blakeslee.

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