- Change your thoughts. If you have a ‘smoking thought’ – think about something positive instead, such as ‘isn’t it great to be free.’ Practice this technique regularly (several times a day to begin with).

- Keep a journal. Reflect on, and write down your experiences every day. This will help keep you focused. After the first three days, you’ll feel a lot more relaxed and positive, and you’ll also feel more energetic. Realise that you are in the process of physically recreating yourself as a vibrant, healthy non-smoker, and write down your experiences in a journal.

- Believe in yourself. Thousands of people no different than yourself stop smoking successfully every day of the year. They don't possess any special qualities that you don't have. Everything you need to stop smoking once and for all is within you right now. Believe in yourself!

- Breathe! Deep breathing is a great way to reduce tension and as you take deeper, slower breaths, oxygen floods into the small airways in your lungs. This is literally a breath of fresh air! So take three deep breaths several times a day. Here’s how: Place your hands over your stomach, with the fingertips touching. As you take a deep breath, feel your fingers separating. The oxygen is now getting into the deeper parts of your lungs. Feel how easy it is to breathe now that you are once again a non-smoker.

- Get moving, even if it’s only a 15 minute walk around the block every day. This will release endorphins, the ‘feel good’ hormone and you’ll come back refreshed and relaxed.

- Stick to a well balanced diet. Choose foods that will provide you with the high quality fuel you need right now, and avoid junk food. Remember: Your body is working hard to rid itself of poisons during the first week or so after stopping smoking, and that takes energy.

- Get more sleep. Your body is working hard to heal and recover from the effects of smoking, so allow more time to sleep if you need it. Don’t worry, the tiredness won't last. You’ll soon have lots of energy.

- Drink water. Water helps you flush poisons out of your body more quickly, so keep yourself well hydrated by drinking 2 litres of water a day.

- Save cigarette money. Make a ‘cash not ash’ money box and put it somewhere handy. Each day put in what you would have spent on cigarettes. Plan what you’ll do with the first R500, R1,000 and R5,000.

- Visualise your success. Take a mini mental holiday, using the power of your imagination. Imagine you have stopped smoking for a year. What does it feel like? Create vivid mental images and make them as realistic as possible. Notice how healthy you look, and how great you feel, and how clean everything smells. Also notice how great you feel about yourself! Use all five senses to create your own incredible future. Enjoy!

- Congratulate yourself - you deserve it!

Within 24 hours:
Carbon monoxide (CO) levels return to normal, and your lungs start to clear. Your chance of having a heart attack decreases. You might develop a cough and flu-like symptoms. This is a good sign, as it means your body is healing.

Within 48 hours:
Nicotine is out of your system, and your nerve endings have started to regrow, so your ability to smell and taste improve.

Within 72 hours:
Your breathing is becoming easier as your airways clear. You have more energy.

Within 2 weeks and 3 months:
Your circulation improves, your lung function increases and you feel fitter.

Within 3 to 9 months:
Your lung function increases by up to 10%, and you have fewer coughs and less wheezing and shortness of breath.

Within 1 year:
You have halved your risk of getting coronary heart disease.

Within 2 years:
Your risk of having a heart attack is now the same as for a lifelong non-smoker.

Within 5 – 15 years:
Your risk of having a stroke is now the same as for a lifelong non-smoker.

Within 10 years:
You have achieved a 50% reduction in your risk of getting lung cancer. Your risk of getting cancer of the mouth, throat, oesophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas has also decreased.

What will the result be? You'll be miserable, and you'll reinforce your belief that life is terrible without cigarettes! You could choose instead, to change your thoughts to:

”I know that being at the party smoke free will be a huge achievement for me, and while there may be a few uncomfortable moments, I know I can do it.”

This response will give you a very different result than the first option. You may not really believe what you're saying at first, but if you choose to change your focus in this way, you'll teach yourself to believe it when you manage the event successfully.

On the flip side, if you’re feeling a bit uncomfortable the first few days after stopping smoking, remind yourself that the pain you‘re feeling is from the cigarettes, NOT from stopping smoking:

"I feel so frustrated without my smokes. Very little patience, very grumpy and emotional.

Change your thoughts by saying:

“Cigarettes did this to me. Once I’m completely free of this, I’m never going back because I don’t ever want to be a slave to this again."

You get the idea. Replace thoughts that don't help you with ones that do. TRAIN yourself to change the way you think and feel about smoking. The truth of it is, that if you persist and work with yourself enough, your trained thoughts will lead you to a new set of beliefs, and from there, you can really make changes that last a lifetime.

Above all - believe in yourself. You can do it!

Decide on three things you have to be grateful for every single day on your stop smoking journey. Here are some suggestions:

‘I'm grateful for courage and faith. They have become stronger since I stopped smoking!’

‘I'm learning now to accept and confront negative feelings and deal with them, instead of letting the negativity dictate and run my life. I'm grateful that stopping smoking has taught me to do that.’

‘Stopping smoking is one of the greatest gifts I’ve given myself. I'm understanding that it's not just about stopping smoking, but also about nurturing myself.’’

‘I am grateful for the fresh air I am breathing. I am grateful that it doesn't hurt to breathe, that I'm not wheezing, or huffing and puffing anymore.’

‘I am thankful for being able to smell the delicious smells of nature’.

‘I am thankful for being able to taste food again’.

‘I am thankful for the life I live now, free of the poison of cigarettes’.

‘I am grateful for all the energy I now have. This is truly the best thing I’ve ever, ever done for myself.’

‘I love what stopping smoking has done for my self esteem. I now know I can create my own destiny.’

So now it’s important to build the new natural non-smoking you in the same way. Practice is a necessary part of your journey of healing and renewal, so try to relax and let time be your friend. The more time you put between yourself and that last cigarette you smoked, the more natural it will feel to be a non smoker. This is because, bit by bit, you’re changing the associations you had with smoking, and you're reprogramming your responses to events that, in the past triggered you to light up.

Another step in finding permanent freedom from cigarettes involves your attitude. I'm sure you've heard about people who still struggle years after stopping. They're the ones who say they "still miss smoking" 25 years later. That's a frightening thing to hear, but don't let it bother you. The reason they are in this unfortunate situation is because they never did the work to change what cigarettes meant to them.

So, along with reprogramming your associations with smoking, it is also important to change the way you think about cigarettes. Are they really your little friend? If so, what sort of a friendship is it? (Is it healthy or is it toxic?)

’They can because they think they can.’
- Virgil

’Our minds can shape the way a thing will be
because we act according to our expectations.’
- Federico Fellini

‘Allow the eagle within you to teach you to soar.’
- Ruth Tearle

’The life each of us lives is the life within the limits of our own thinking.
To have life more abundant, we must think in limitless terms of abundance.’
- Thomas Dreier

’All that we are is the result of what we have thought.
The mind is everything. What we think, we become.’
- Buddha

’I believe that if you think about disaster, you will get it.
Brood about death and you hasten your demise.
Think positively and masterfully with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught with action, richer in achievement and experience.’
- Eddie Rickenbacker

’As you think, you travel, and as you love, you attract.
You are today where your thoughts have brought you;
you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.’
- James Lane Allen

’The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity;
the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.’
- L.P. Jacks

’Your imagination has much to do with your life...
It is for you to decide how you want your imagination to serve you.’
- Philip Conley

'Develop an attittude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you,
knowing that every step forward is a step towards achieving something
bigger and better than your current situation.'
- Brian Tracey

'God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.'
Reinhold Niebuhr

'To change your world,
change your perspective.'
- Ruth Tearle