How much money do you spend on cigarettes per week? Per month? Per year? Depending on how many cigarettes (or packs of cigarettes) you smoke per day, you could be wasting thousands of dollars a year!** This is nothing compared to the risks that you are putting on your health and the costs that you will pay in doctor and hospital visits. Many people made New Year’s resolutions to quit smoking. It’s a difficult task and you might find yourself wanting to give up about now. Stay positive! Using hypnosis for smoking cessation can not only help you continue to quit smoking (or start out!) but it can also save you a lot of money. *
Believe that You Can Do It!
Smoking might be a habit that you incurred decades ago. It is part of your day.
- When you wake up in the morning, you look forward to sitting outside and greeting the morning with your pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
- It’s your excuse to leave your desk a few times a day.
- It’s your “go to” out for awkward social situations and it’s where you meet all the other smokers whom you relate to at those events.
- You don’t even think about it when you light up in the car. For you, it’s just as important as putting on your seatbelt.
Instead of beating yourself up every time you catch yourself in one of these situations about to light up or bum a cigarette from a nearby smoker, be positive. Say “Yes” to throwing away your pack, stopping yourself from asking for cigarettes from others, and reward yourself for taking another step in quitting.
- Take a walk outside instead of smoking.
- Read a book on the porch instead of your morning cigarette.
- Treat your car to a detailed wash to deter memories from the smell of cigarettes.
How Does Hypnosis Help?
The habit has become completely subconscious. Hypnosis for quitting smoking is an excellent way to stop this habit for good. In the relaxed state that your hypnotherapist induces, the lines of communication to your subconscious will be open and susceptible to suggestion. You can learn to deter the desire to smoke in any situation.
- Work with your hypnotherapist to come up with suggestions that will help you stick to your decision not to smoke anymore.
- Replace negative behaviors (like slipping away from your desk for smoke breaks) with positive behaviors of your choice (like taking a refreshing walk around the building to stretch your legs and clear your head).
- Use hypnosis to keep yourself from overeating as you quit. It’s a common problem when quitting smoking, that smokers replace the action of putting a cigarette to their lips with putting food to their lips. You can avoid this with hypnosis for quitting smoking!
For some smokers, quitting isn’t that difficult until they come up against the conflict of being around others who smoke or encountering a habit that always used to coincide with smoking, like having a cigarette with morning coffee or smoking while drinking out at the bar. Your hypnotherapist can also work with you to help you resolve this inner conflict that might have caused you to have trouble quitting smoking in the first place. Hypnosis can shift the part of you that has the desire to smoke so that the conflict is refocused on achieving your goal. That shift may be exactly what you need to stop smoking for good!
*I.R.S. Tax Credit for Hypnosis You Can Get 100% Reimbursement for your Weight Loss and/or Smoking Cessation Hypnotherapy Programs with an I.R.S. Tax Credit! Tax laws passed for 2003 onwards mean you can get a tax credit that reimburses you 100% for money paid for smoking programs. You can also be reimbursed 100% for weight loss programs if you were advised by a physician to lose weight. This is a tax credit – not a tax deduction, so that means 100% credit on your taxes! The information below is presented as a courtesy from Academy of NLP & Hypnosis and is quoted from pages 12 and 15 of IRS Publication 502 year 2003. Stop-Smoking Programs You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay for a program to stop smoking. However, you cannot include in medical expenses amounts you pay for drugs that do not require a prescription, such as nicotine gum or patches that are designed to help stop smoking. Weight-Loss Programs You can include in medical expenses amounts you pay to lose weight if it is a treatment for a specific disease diagnosed by a physician (such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes or heart disease). This includes fees you pay for membership in a weight reduction group and attendance at periodic meetings. You cannot include membership dues in a gym, health club, or spa as medical expenses, but you can include separate fees charged there for weight loss activities. How to Report To claim the credit, complete Form 8885, Health Coverage Tax Credit, and attach it to your Form 1040 or Form 1040NR. Report the credit on Form 1040, line 67, or Form 1040NR, line 62, and check box c. You cannot claim the credit on Form 1040A or Form 1040EZ. You must attach invoices and proof of payment for any amounts you include on line 2 of Form 8885 for which you did not receive an advance payment. If you file your return electronically, attach the invoices and proof of payment to your Form 8453. Proof of payment may include a pay stub if insurance is through a spouse’s employment, a bank check, or bank statement for premiums that are automatically deducted from your account. If you claim this credit, you cannot take the same expenses that you use to figure your health coverage tax credit into account in determining your: Medical and dental expenses on Schedule A (Form 1040) Self-employed health insurance deduction, or Archer Medical Savings Account (MSA) distributions.
**According to the American Cancer Society