Quit Smoking: Why People Do Bad Things (Even When They Know They Shouldn't)

Do you do Bad Things? Even though you know you shouldn't?

It's not your fault. It really isn't. You know you should stop doing it, but no matter how much you know that, and how much you try, you just can't stop!

Everyone knows how to lose weight. Don't eat fattening foods. exercise. Everyone knows how to give up smoking. Dont light the cigarette. Yet having this knowledge just isn't enough. Sometimes even having the desire isn't enough! Time and again I hear about people who get really close to quitting smoking. They can get all the way down to one or two cigarettes a day, but just can't give up those last two. Many even make it all the way down to zero, but the cravings, oh the cravings! They are wretched, those cravings. Most will go back to smoking within the first few days. They can cut away most of the "stuff" that keeps them glued to the cigarettes, even not be addicted to nicotine anymore(!), but there is just something deep in their core that magnetically pulls them back in, like two lovers who know they are bad for each other but just can't help themselves.

What is this thing? What is at this core?

Let me take a step back for a moment. How many adults do you know who are happy? I mean really, truly happy? Think that question is foolishness? Let me ask you this. How many people do you know who love their work? I'm talkin' jump out of bed in the morning, can't wait to start. Sadly, the percentage is very small. Why is this?

We live in an interesting quick-fix culture. People don't really have to deal with their issues. We've got:

* television
* movies
* shopping
* toys
* and hitting the gym

to distract us and make us feel better. Even more than that, many people's issues are quite buried. Think of dreams that were squashed when we were young. "An artist? You could never make a living at that! You should be a doctor!" People often forget what their dreams once were.

As a result, I see an awful lot of unhappy, unfulfilled people walking around. They don't know what is bothering them, they just have that gnawing feeling that there must be more. Advertisers pray on this, selling us more and more bottles and gizmos to give us that ever elusive Happiness.

True inner needs? People either:

* think they're impossible to fulfill
* are too scared and resigned to fulfill them
* or are so disassociated from those needs that they don't even know what they would be even if they had to guess!

All those "bad" things -- smoking, overeating, gambling, alcohol, the list goes on and on -- are easy ways to fill the void. Smokers will be able to relate to this one -- if you've just had a fight with your family, what do you do? You go for a smoke. Smoking makes it feel like the problem goes away. (I call this the "smokescreen." Har har!)

I'll let you in on a little secret--the real reason it's so hard to quit is not the nicotine. It's this void-filling. When you quit smoking (or any bad habit), you're suddenly faced with real life. All those stresses and needs that you've been avoiding? There they are, pulling at your coat tails, yelling, "Pay attention to me! Pay attention to me!" If you got in touch with your real inner needs and took baby steps to start fulfilling them, you would actually have little desire for cigarettes. It's true! I see it happen time and again in my Stop Smoking Coaching practice.

How do you do that, you ask? Here are some baby steps that you can start trying out now:

* Next time, instead of taking that quick fix--stop.
* Have a little quiet time and listen to what your insides have been trying to tell you.
* Try journaling -- don't edit your thoughts, just write.
* Some people find meditation and yoga to be great accesses.
* Try deep breathing.
* Go for a quiet, leisurely walk by yourself.
* Personally, I find it easiest to just start noticing where in life I seem to be avoiding things the most, or if I want something more immediate and active, doing a mindmap (a word drawing) to figure out what I'm really thinking.

For each person, the key to figuring out your needs is different. play around with it, don't give up! You'll be glad you did!

Jill Binder is The Stop Smoking Coach with a 90 day program to show people the 8 steps to quitting smoking forever, with a 100% success rate. She is the author of "What's Your Smoking Type?" and has appeared on "Daytime" (TV), "Radioactive women" (Radio), "Good times" (magazine), and "Metro toronto Today" (newspaper).

You can sign up for her newsletter, "YourTurn - Turn Your Weaknesses Into Your Perfect Life" at http://www.StopSmokingCoach.ca

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The Playstation Experience

A few months ago a friend entered my apartment to announce that he has decided to perform a very important investment for our future in entertainment. I remained calmly at my sit waiting for him to continue and explain how lucky he was as he managed to find an incredible deal over the internet for the newest version of PlayStation 2. Frankly, I could not believe my ears. I have never played PlayStation in the past and the last video game I have played with my friends when I was still a kid, was an old version of Atari. I could not grasp how someone over twenty-five would pay any amount to become another of those inert players stack in front of their TV screens for hours or even days. But the experience I had when PlayStation 2 entered the premises of my house was not exactly as the one I originally imagined. PlayStation has proven to be an extremely fun and instructive gaming experience. After the first couple of weeks I realized that when someone knows how to keep a balanced life it is possible to spend time exploring this unique gaming experience without the feeling of guilt.

Produced by Sony computer Entertainment, PlayStation 2 is the successor of the original PlayStation console that has been a tremendous worldwide success since its original introduction. By March 2005, the sales margin of PlayStation surpassed the 100.49 million units, becoming the first home console to ever reach the threshold of 100 million sold games. Dated back to 1986, nintendo was the first to attempt to work with disk technology, but after encountering a number of problems nintendo decided to approach Sony in order for the second to come up with a solution. Soon Sony recognizing the emerging video-gaming market planned to initiate production of its own console, leading Nintendo's management team to cancel all deals and form an alliance with Philips; this time securing control over its licenses on the Philips developed machines. By the end of 1992, Sony and nintendo reconciled their major differences and Sony launched the first version of PlayStation in 1994 in Japan. By September 1995, PlayStation was introduced to the USA, European and Asian markets and its initial success was a prelude of its future sales breakthrough challenge.

The extreme popularity of the PlayStation console introduced the term "PlayStation Generation" and titles like Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Gran Turismo, and Silent Hill, have become the favorite pastime games of millions of users worldwide. Having enjoyed over eleven years of continuous videogame production, Sony has announced that the next PlayStation generation, known as PlayStation 3, or ps3, will be launched in November 2006 and will also be a backward compatible device; meaning that it with be able to play all the games that have already been released for the other PlayStation versions.

Although the genius creators of the PlayStation consoles argue that the new version of this popular videogame will advance the user's experience, I doubt that it will actually manage to have the same success in the desired time frame. A vast variety of other videogame competitors, including the powerful nintendo, have launched a number of games for their consoles, which have increased users' expectations and have made them extremely conscious regarding their next videogame choice. But, I am sure that my friend and I will continue playing the PlayStation games of our choice, like nba 2K6 or Grand Theft Auto, as PlayStation 3 will be outside our budget for at least a while.

Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles for http://everythingaboutgames.net/ - In addition, Jonathon also writes articles for http://erecreationstation.com/ and http://esportssource.net/

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