therapeutic_scripts

Suggestions for Quitting Smoking

Suggestions for Quitting Smoking
This is essentially a transcript of a portion of a session with a client who desired to quit smoking. This transcript does not contain any pre-talk, does not include the trance induction or any deepening procedures. In short, this is not a comprehensive therapeutic intervention. This was presented to the client as a means of reinforcing the therapeutic goals that had been worked on in a variety of ways prior to this section of the session.

Immediately prior to this transcript the client had been offered about a five to ten minute guided visualization of a beautiful, peaceful place where they could relax with no time constraints.

…And as you continue drifting
Enjoying your time there
Where you are now relaxing comfortably
You may begin to appreciate
How very relaxed you can be without a cigarette
How you can enjoy relief from stress
In a natural and healthy way
So it’s nice to know
That you have a conscious mind
And that you have an unconscious mind
And that both are you
You are both your conscious
And you’re unconscious … now
With that awareness
It may be reassuring to recognize
That both your parts want what’s best for you
There are no bad parts of you
There may be patterns and habits
That are out of date
And need to be updated now
But all parts of you want you to
Be happy and healthy
All parts of you
Want you to be
A fully functioning human being
And to maintain all the benefits
That old habits used to offer
While finding new ways to
Accomplish that
Just like
Long time ago
My uncle had a dog
Wasn’t much to look at, really,
A mongrel – mostly beagle I think
But she could do certain things real well
Which made her a valuable asset
On my uncle’s farm
She chased off raccoons
Skunks sometimes
And announced the presence of any visitor
Day or night
Which was fine
Nothing wrong with that
The problem was
She had a special weakness for the postman
She seemed to think it was great sport
The highlight of her day, really
To howl and raise a big fuss
And do whatever she could
To try to get a piece of that postman
As a kind of trophy I think
The way a fisherman might
Put a stuffed swordfish up over the mantle
Now, of course, the postman had other views
He didn’t think this game was much fun at all
It got to the point where he wouldn’t walk the mail up at all
Wouldn’t get out of his car
Just wrapped some string around the mail
And did his best to toss it out the window
Up onto the porch of the house
Which, for the most part, he accomplished
Only sometimes
He didn’t quite make it
And he didn’t seem to care
He just let it lie there
And maybe get rained on
Or snowed on
It was all the same to him
So one day my uncle was out at the path
When he drove up
Had the dog on a leash
Said hello to the postman
And invited him in for some iced tea
With great trepidation the postman accepted
And walked up the path with my uncle
And the dog
And sat on the front porch
While Aunt Mary brought iced tea
For everybody
And she gave some dog biscuits
To the postman
For him to give to the dog
And wouldn’t ya know
That dog took one of those biscuits
And sniffed the man’s hand
And after the second treat
Actually licked his hand and sat down
At his feet
And that dog never barked at that postman again
Or chased him again
They became fast friends
The dog chased squirrels instead
But would always be sitting
Quietly, tail wagging
At the top of the path
For his friend the postman to bring the mail
And you are here
Listening to the sound of my voice
And you are relaxing at that level of comfort
That is right for you
And part of you knows exactly what this means
You really can outgrow the old way
And grow into new ways
And the part of you that started you smoking
So many years ago
Can find new ways
Of obtaining the same benefit
That smoking used to provide
In new and healthy ways
You can be a non-smoker now
And discover that your
Conscious and unconscious minds
Both ­ together
Can discover hundreds of ways
To give you the same benefits
That smoking used to
And can find
Form that array of choices
The one or two or three
Best ways
For you to get those benefits now
And as you do
You may begin to notice
That the things or actions
That used to make you think of smoking
Now make you think of being calm and collected And if thoughts of smoking pop in,
They’ll pop right back out again
Everyday you become
More and more
A non-smoker
Strongly
Firmly
After all, even an old dog can learn new tricks
You are a non-smoker
You didn’t need that old disgusting habit
You don’t like that old disgusting habit
You’re bigger than that
And all parts of you want you
To fully become
That who you really are
And it becomes exciting
To see those changes happening now
Old thoughts and desires draining away
More and more everyday
You are a non-smoker
Now
Take as much time as you need
To reorient back to here and now
But don’t open your eyes
Until you are really ready to
See yourself as a non-smoker
Now