Here's a true story for you. When I was living in Dallas, Texas (about 25 years ago) I was a smoker. At the time I was dating a fellow that abhorred my cigarette habit. One time when he picked me up for dinner as I got into the car he reached over into my purse and grabbed my pack of cigarettes. He squashed the pack mercilessly and tossed it out the window. It was then I knew I had to do something. It became pretty clear it was him or the cigarettes and as much as I liked my cigarettes, I liked spending time with him more. I had tried to quit several times before always to begin again after a few days abstinence, and it was definitely time to give it another shot.

I’m going to digress for a moment here with another story for you. Years prior to that, I lived in Ft. Lauderdale Florida. At the time a was working with a man, named Chuck, who told me in conversation that he used to do hypnosis for a living. This made me very curious at the time about hypnosis a subject that I had no experience of and I knew nothing about. I asked him, “what would you do for a smoker who wanted to quit?” Here’s kind of how it went after that ... Chuck said to me, knowing I loved the beach and was a true beach bum at heart, that he’d suggest to me that my lungs as a smoker were like the beach on a bad day. My lungs as a smoker were like a day on the beach where the clouds are so thick that the sun can’t peek through. You know the kind of day when the water is murky brown and all kinds of tar has washed up on the beach. The wind is howling and you wonder why you are there. No fun. Then he said to me that the lungs of a non-smoker, that is my lungs smoke free would be like the beach on the best day ever with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky. Smoke-free my lungs would be as if the ocean were crystal clear, warm and inviting. The sand warm, smooth and clean all along the waters edge inviting me to just plunk down and let the water wash up over me. A fabulous day at the beach, the kind we all love, would be how my lungs would be smoke-free. Cool, I thought, and went about my business. Guess what? I didn’t smoke a cigarette for three days after that brief dialogue with my friend. I remember being delighted at that and very curious about my reaction. However, I didn’t give it any more thought as at the time I lived with a smoker and wasn’t in any particular hurry to give up the habit.

So now getting back to my original story with the boyfriend hating my cigarettes. I decided to call a hypnotist because I recalled the power of Chuck‘s suggestions to me years ago. Out of the yellow pages I found one, (God Bless him. I can’t remember his name now) and got an appointment a few days later early in the morning before work. Presto Change-o!! That was the end of my smoking days. Not only did I give up the smokes, but I felt fabulous. I felt so terrific and motivated and alive and happy. No joke and it was so easy. People were congratulating me for quitting and I felt guilty at taking any credit whatsoever because it was effortless. All I did was sit there and listen.

The story continues .... about 20 years later. So I’m back in Toronto and every time I talk to one of my girlfriends, she complains about not being able to quit smoking. Blah, blah, blah it is getting to be quite a drag for me listening to her. Because I am such a pack rat, I happen to have the recorded session of my stop smoking session from so many years ago. I told my friend that I had the solution. I spent hours transcribing the recording. I recalled a kind of a mini pre-session that I experienced in Dallas and recreated that. I asked my friend all the right questions so I would have her personalized answers to use in the session. We set the date and I put on my hypnotist cap for the evening, and Presto Change-o!! she quit smoking. That is how I became a professional hypnotist.