I had lunch with my youngest son today. We were chatting about his job, he works part time for a local grocer. (He is a student, so the job is for date money.) Anyway, I was asking him if he noticed trends in terms of who bought what. He commented on a variety of typical purchases that accompanied a variety of either personality traits, socioeconomic standings, etc.
Then he said, “I always know when someone is going to buy cigarettes.” I asked him how he knew that. He said that cigarette smokers over 30 looked older than their age, they look tired and dull skinned. He says he recognizes the look now, when they want to buy cigarettes and wishes he could refuse to sell them as these people all look like they need to quit.
For the past several days I have posted just a few of the many reasons people are choosing to stop smoking. My wonderful friend Ms. Eleni listed another, smoking is related to heart disease. Recently I have experienced a huge surge in requests for smoke cessation sessions. It is such a thrill to know people are making choices for better health.
In this economy, people are having challenges meeting their bills. So, even though it is cheaper to quit than to continue to pay for cigarettes, the initial outlay is sometimes more than they can come up with at once.
I have avoided holding large group sessions, I tend to enjoy being more intimate with my clients. I enjoy the getting to know each person and helping them on their journey of change and self discovery. Well, having taught classes of many sizes for many reasons in the past, it finally dawned on me. Groups of 10 people are very manageable, still intimate and successful for the client.
I am pleased therefore to announce that I will be holding Smoke Cessation Groups. Intimate groups of only 10 people in a wonderful, cozy atmosphere. An audio to take home, additional materials to help make the change and full email support from me! All for only $65.00.
The first group will be held Tuesday, July 14, 2009 @ 6:30 p.m. at my offices, 3060 Alt. 19, N., Palm Harbor, FL 34683
Contact me to reserve your spot. Do so quickly, I have already had reservations before I could even get this posted!
The Food and Drug Administration has said it will immediately require two smoking-cessation drugs, Chantix and Zyban, to carry the agency’s strongest safecty warnings over side effects including depression, behavior changes, agitation, hostility and suicidal thoughts.
The new requirement, called a “Black Box” warning, is based on reports of experiencing unusual changes in behavior, becoming depressed, or having suicidal thoughts while taking the drugs. The antidepressant Wellbutrin, which has the same active ingredient as GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s Zyban, already carries such a warning.
There have been 98 suicides and 188 attempted suicides reported with Chantix users and 14 suicides and 17 attempted suicides with Zyban and Wellbutrin (and generic equivalents).
Maybe it’s time to quit the healthy, safe and natural way. Hypnosis does not involve chemicals and there are no boxed warning labels!
Yesterday I posted 3 More Reasons To Quit Smoking. Reason # 2 stated that today taxes on a pack of cigarettes increase by $1.00 (or approximately $30 per month to the pack a day smoker) here in Florida.
There are so many reasons to quit, so I thought I would add more to the list today.
4. Research studies show a higher risk of influenza infections among smokers when compared with nonsmokers. Further, the mortality rate of influenza among smokers is higher than that of nonsmokers. (Anyone concerned about the Swine Flu?)
6. Stop it or you’ll go blind! OK, so Mom wasn’t talking about smoking, but there is a correlation between smoking and macular degeneration. Quitting smoking lessens the risk.
1. There is a study that will be published in the July issue of the Journal of Neurochemistry that suggests a direct link between smoking and brain damage. This research, led by Debapriya Ghosh and Dr Anirban Basu from the Indian National Brain Research Center (NBRC) found that a compound in tobacco provokes white blood cells in the central nervous system to attack healthy cells, leading to severe neurological damage. This research has found that a chemical known as NNK exists in all forms of tobacco and is therefore equally as dangerous in second hand smoke as well as for those who chew tobacco.
2. Here in Florida, the taxes on cigarettes are raised another $1.00 on July 1st.
3. Smokers sleep less soundly than non-smokers. They are also more likely to snore, disturbing their sleep and the sleep of their partner. (Want to improve you relationship?)
The I.R.S. recognizes only one form of smoke cessation, hypnosis! In fact, it offers a tax credit for smokers who want to make the change. That means 100% of the money spent on smoke cessation with a hypnotist is deducted from your income!
Keeping with the theme of overcoming obstacles and in addition the fact that this weekend is Father’s Day I wanted to share a video that I sent to my husband. As a golfer, he loved it and shared this with many of his buddies.
It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day stuff that comes up. Traffic slows to a halt, friends disappoint you, money is tight. Over the weekend, my son who is in Argentina could not access his money through the ATM machines. He is 13 hours by plane away, does not speak Spanish, is unfamiliar with the city as he just landed there on Tuesday and was 45 minutes from the campus of the University of Buenos Aires (by bus) where he is working for the summer. The night before he got off at the wrong bus stop and it took two hours of wandering to find his apartment.
I was on my way into a restaurant for dinner when I got his call. He called using Skype. (How I love Skype!) However, he has to call me, as he had not yet purchased a local cell phone. He was down to 12 pesos and it was now Friday night. There was a banking strike in Argentina. It is winter, so it was colder than he is accustomed to here in sunny Florida. The details continued to pile up (electric was down, so he lost communication, etc.) and of course, it was extremely easy for me to go into awfulize mode.
However, that would not change or improve anything. My son is bright, and truth be told, he is 21, a man! So, I reminded myself of his ability to problem solve and focused on what an adventure this is for one his age. I was reminded of a time when I traveled for a company as a young model and I would call my mother from the hotel with some panic. Later, the panic was done and I would go out for the evening. Not bothering to call her back, I couldn’t understand her being so upset with me the next day when I got around to checking in.
I spent Sunday breathing deeply and enjoying the friendship of a long time friend. We walked the beach and then enjoyed a glass of wine together watching little ones splash in the water. By Monday morning, my son sent me an email, things were restored back to normal and he had great fun with his fellow comrades who live off campus with him there. He had made good use of American Express and so had his friends. He paid for their purchases, they paid him back in pesos. Simple enough.
I recently came across this video and I have shared it with clients. I think it is a great lesson in recognizing just how much we really are capable of overcoming and puts the little stuff into perspective.
I have been remiss in keeping up with my blogand with Twitter and many other forms of social media recently. I apologize to my many friends whom I know through these venues.Perhaps you will forgive me when you see what it is I have been working on.
Several months ago, Cesar Lara, M.D. and I met to begin discussing a way that we could give back to the community. We are both feeling very fortunate in our respective practices and we have mutual clients. These conversations led to the birthing of our new project. We are giving the gift of health to a selected group of individuals in the community as part of a new program called Weight Away Tampa Bay.
While the economy, job losses and depression dominate the headlines in our community, we’ve decided to donate our time and expertise to bring positive, healthy changes to individuals as part of a scholarship-based weight loss program. (That’s right, scholarship based, as in FREE!) This program’s mission to not just change the person’s physical appearance but also their outlook on life. We believe that we can help change our community by starting with just one individual. However, we are actually looking for 10 candidates!
Through a combination of a proven medical weight loss program and weight management hypnosis, the selected participants will have the tools needed to find solutions in their lives, including the self awareness and self esteem it takes to overcome obstacles.
Tampa Bay residents can apply for this once in a lifetime opportunity or nominate a loved one, simply by gong to www.weightawaytampabay.com and filling out the form on the application page. There is a catch, the deadline for application is Friday, June 5, 2009.
While wandering through the Blogoshere a while back, I happened upon a blog named Henson’s Hell. The humor caught my eye as I do love to laugh and believe so much in the healing power of laughter. Furthermore, the author Henson Ray tells of his misadventures in a sleepy little town called Plainfield N.J. The place of my birth! OK, I was hooked.
Henson creates adorable videos. Today, he has gifted me with a video. It involves his infamous cats and the use of hypnosis. You may recognize the voice that is not the cats!
While I believe that the ability to make changes in our lives so beautifully through hypnosis is amazing, I understand that it is not, in fact, a magic wand. If only it was, I would create world peace in the swish of my wand. There would be no hunger, grief or illness anywhere. Then again, it is probably best I am not in control of the world, because not everyone really wants a shoe shrine built or a wardrobe of mostly pinks and purples.
In the past few weeks, I have been blessed by a flurry of interest in hypnosis related to smoke cessation from the local media. It seems that with the rise in prices and taxes threatening to bring the costs up even higher, the quit lines around the country are seeing huge increases in the number of inquiries. So am I and I imagine every hypnotist in the country! Hypnosis is recognized by the I.R.S. as a tax credit, so even better for smokers who want to make a change.
The calls that make me sad, however, are the desperate calls from loved ones who want their smoker to quit. They want to purchase a gift certificate from me, to encourage their smoker to quit. That is a lovely intention. I understand, as my husband smoked for many years, while I helped others quit.
But, the bottom line is, the smoker has to want to quit, they have to be ready. So, I will not sell the gift certificate. I can’t in good conscience. When the smoker is ready, I tell the caller, have him/her call me and we can make arrangements. Perhaps I am making a mistake, but to me, it just doesn’t seem right to do otherwise.
