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I prepared the above chart back in 2000 from data in a very detailed study that actually had smokers stopping and recording each crave episode. Although the data reflects only the average number of daily crave episodes experienced by this particular group of quitters during their first ten day, it evidences peak frequency at day three which hopefully gives every new quitter seeing it a bit of hope.

Keep in mind that which day is your peak day can, to some degree, be altered by hiding under your pillow or locking yourself in a closet and thus delaying encountering many of your everyday triggers. The opposite may be true as well in that by more fully engaging life earlier than day three you may be able to trigger a greater number of everyday triggers a bit earlier than shown above.

Assume for a second that you are not average in that you have somehow conditioned your subconscious to expect the arrival of nicotine in twice as many situations as the average smoker in this study. Let's do the math.

First, although a recent study indicates that significant time distortion during nicotine cessation appears to be an almost universal recovery symptom, if you actually time each anxiety episode that the subconscious triggers in its attempt to obtain compliance in bringing new nicotine into the body, you'll discover that unlike with conscious thought fixation, no subconsciously triggered crave episode will last longer than three minutes.

Looking back at the above chart. If you have in fact established twice as many routine nicotine feeding cues as the average nicotine addict then that is 12 episodes times (x) a maximum duration of 3 minutes, or a maximum of 36 minutes of significant challenge on your most challenging day (12 x 3 = 36 minutes).

Can you handle 36 minutes of anxiety challenge? Absolutely! Every smoker you know can! But recovery is a process, not an event, so your recovery odds will be substantially enhanced if you develop a few skills that are naturally foreign to someone who is used to sensing and feeling their dependency urges satisfied within 8 to 10 seconds of that first puff of nicotine.

First, patience and adoption of a one day at a time outlook for dealing with recovery and measuring victory. Forget about measuring success in terms of quitting FOREVER, a mighty big bite to chew upon and a standard that almost all new quitters feel impossible to achieve when first starting out.

Second, invoke complete self-honesty in beginning the process of tearing down that thick brick wall of conscious rationalizations, minimizations, and blame transference that we each built and hid behind to help insulate us from a world that never seemed to understand, and that allowed us to maintain our sanity and a wee bit of self-dignity while looking in the mirror knowing that we were engaged in our own senseless self-destruction. We knew that each and every puff was destroying a bit more of our body's ability to receive and transport life-giving oxygen and we knew that each puff allowed another attack of tobacco's 43 known carcinogens from mouth to tail.

Attitude is also important because we are what we think. If we see this amazing process as our greatest opportunity ever to engage in self-healing, as the most loving gift we've ever given to ourselves, as recovering the "real" us and taking back control of the more than 200 neurochemicals that were compliant to flowing in response to nicotine's two-hour chemical half-life clock, then it truly can be one of the most amazing adventures you've ever experienced.

Don't fear recovering you, embrace the gradually emerging you! Don't hide from your thoughts of wanting but instead analyze each under honest light. Don't fuel those deep inner primitive protective fears of change and the unknown but instead reassure and calm them.

Your norms are changing and the intelligent thinking mind needs to stay in full control while recognizing that the conditioned protective impulses and suggestions bubbling up from the subconscious are simply part of this amazing journey of healing. Expect them and smile when they arrive as each reflects a brick in a wall that you yourself had built. See each and every encounter as your opportunity to remove another brick.

If, just one day at a time, your intelligence does stay in control then you'll arrive at that magic day where new (but really old) expectations take root. I know you likely will not believe this now but you'll someday soon awake to the expectation of going your entire day without once wanting to smoke nicotine. Oh, you'll still have "thoughts" or even a remote or seasonal trigger now and then but with decreasing frequency and intensity over time. But you won't expect them, they'll take you by complete surprise and you may even wear a smile during the brief encounter as it will likely be your only remaining reminder of one of your greatest accomplishments, and your amazing journey home.

You probably won't believe this right now either but I'm going to tell you anyway. I just reached the five year mark and I have not ANY thought "wanting" to smoke nicotine since about December 2001. I know that each of us are different and that many ex-smokers tell us that they still want for a cigarette now and then. It's probably that I've worked in helping others for too long and have seen far too many horror stories like Sean, Bryan, Noni and Barb Tarbox, including the cancer death of one of my clinic participants, to still be clinging to some romantic image associated with sensing a sudden unearned burst of dopamine flowing within my brain. I'm fully content in getting my dopamine the old fashioned way. I earn it!

Regardless of how long it has been, since that last puff you have traded places with your dependency and it is now under arrest and you are the jailor. The key to trading places is and always has been just one powerful puff of one of earth's most captivating chemicals - nicotine. At times the moment may seem far from easy but it will always l be simple - no nicotine today nicotine ... Never Take Another Puff !

Breathe deep, hug hard, live long! John (Gold x5)