Stopping smoking is easy. Loads of people have done it. I've helped loads of people to do it. But the interesting thing is, that not one of them has arrived at my office thinking it's going to be easy.

The biggest barrier to stopping smoking is fear.

The fear has several components:

• Fear of failing.
• Fear of the 'pain' i.e. withdrawal.
• Fear of removal of the only pleasure in life.
• Fear of the removal of a crutch i.e. I smoke when I'm worried.
• Fear of over-eating
• Fear of succeeding temporarily and then 'relapsing'.

None of these fears has any substance when you look at it closely, but as a mythical beast - a scary shadow on the wall, they all have tremendous power.

Failure

In most areas of life failure is seen as an opportunity to learn to do it better next time. Smokers tend to see it as the end of life as we know it. Better not to try than to fail. And what will people think. It will be obvious that I've failed.

Pain

There is no clinical evidence for addiction to nicotine. This is a myth. But because the Mind is a powerful beast, it can make an illusion real. If you don't believe me, think of a lemon, think of cutting it in half, think of that lemony smell wafting gently and cleanly into your nostrils, then pick up one of those pieces, open your mouth and squeeze the juice out until it fills your mouth. Now notice the saliva content of your mouth and see if you can maintain your belief that illusion can't have a real physiological effect on your body.

Pleasure

Cigarettes poison your body; increase your blood pressure; increase your likelihood of severe and disabling diseases; reduce your stamina; impair sexual function and pleasure in both males and females; age your skin; and damage your voice box. If this is pleasure

Stress

When I'm worried I have a cigarette, it reduces stress. Nicotine increases blood pressure by vaso-constriction and releases adrenaline. So smoking a cigarette increases physiological stress. What it actually does is create distraction. All the fumbling with the packet and the lighter and the sucking (security of a nipple from childhood) takes the mind away from the problem for the length of time it takes to smoke a cigarette. Sucking a pencil, or chewing gum would have the same effect.

Food

People think they will over-eat when they stop smoking. Hypnotic suggestion takes care of this with direct suggestion to ensure that nothing is substituted for cigarettes.

Success then Failure

A lot of people give up for a while and then start again - usually at a moment of crisis in their lives. The fear of failing at being successful prevents them even attempting to give up. Success is easy. If you fail you just give up smoking again knowing that you've done it already it will be even easier next time. If you have this attitude you will succeed forever first time.

Because all of these fears are very real to smokers wanting to give up, there is a way that makes it even easier. Use a hypnosis CD. The benefit of a CD over a one-to-one treatment is that you can listen to it over and over again. And if you obtain a Stop Smoking CD that is designed for frequent use then giving up smoking successfully is almost guaranteed.

You see with this gradual approach, there is no real moment when you become a non-smoker, in the way that there is with a one-to-one treatment. Because choosing when and where to listen to the CD is under your control, and you can do it as often as you like, you will find that all those fears mentioned above become irrelevant.

They become irrelevant because, although you've chosen to give up, although you've chosen to become a non-smoker, you've chosen to do it at a gradual rate a rate that you can modify and adjust on a daily basis.

The CD will help reduce the desire to smoke, and it will help you to see yourself as a non-smoker and because you listen to it regularly the message of the CD is reinforced and becomes stronger each time you listen until finally you realise you've smoked your last cigarette.