The
Timer Exercise
Smoking
is an extremely simple behavior. Initially it was your response
to the onset of nicotine withdrawal but it quickly became
your primary response to ANY experience that felt like nicotine
withdrawal.
Such as:
· muscle tension
· changes in breathing
· inability to concentrate
(physical sources)
· shifts in emotion (physical
source)
Once
your smoking response to symptoms of withdrawal was established,
it then became automatic. Because your auto pilot operates
just below your radar, you, the ‘you’ reading
this, were rarely ‘consciously’ involved. For
example, while you’re busy thinking about tonight’s
supper or the traffic, last night’s game or the shoes
you saw on sale, your auto pilot is busy watching intently
for body cues and is ready to connect a response. The only
way you, again, the ‘you’ reading this, can begin
to be aware of your cues is to pay attention with some frequency.
Since you are normally unaware of them, you need a tool that
will remind you to stop and pay attention. Enter... the hour
timer.
Hour
timers are everywhere and easy to find e.g. a microwave, stove,
cell phone, or PDA. Check your local dollar store and get
a small digital timer, something you can carry with you for
a few days. If you want to splurge, I recently bought a cheap
digital watch ($19.99) that has an hourly ‘beep’
feature. Aside from an hour timer, you’ll need the Timer
Template which looks like this:
Time
-
Situation -
Body Cues -
Rational Responses -
Copy
that several times on a piece of paper so you can fill in
those fields once an hour.
Here
is how to work with the timer and the template.
Start
by doing a quick ‘body cue check’: (1- how are
you breathing? 2- what parts of you are tense? 3 – are
there any other body cues you can identify?). Set your timer
for an hour later and then fill in the template. Keep it simple,
only use a couple of words per entry.
Time
- (Obviously, when your timer went off)
Situation
- (What’s going on? What are you doing? Or how are you
feeling right now? Name one.)
Body
Cues - (Look for body ‘parts’. Are you experiencing
muscle tension? Where e.g. back, shoulders, neck, jaw, arms,
legs? How is your breathing, shallow, rapid, etc? Do you notice
anything else physical e.g. churning stomach, tight chest?)
Rational
Responses - (what non-smoking responses will effectively address
each of the body cues you identified? Stretch specific muscles
or areas? Deep breathe properly? Eat if hungry, rest/take
break if fatigued, etc? If you're unfamiliar with proper stretching
and deep breathing, please check these links to Stretching
and Breathing)
And
then, carry out those rational responses. If you want to create
new patterns, you must actually walk yourself through ‘responding
to your body cues in a non-smoking manner’.
Put
your notes aside and carry on with your day until the timer
reminds you in an hour. Run through your ‘body cue check’,
reset your timer, and fill in the next set of timer notes.
Do this 6-8 times through the day.
Here
are a few sample timer notes:
Time
- Noon
Situation - About to eat lunch
Body cues - Tense neck, tense hands, shallow breathing, churning
stomach
Ration responses - Stretch neck, stretch hands, breathe deep,
eat lunch
Time
- 1:00 PM
Situation - On the phone
Body cues - Tense lumbar, breathing shallow
Rational responses - Stand, stretch back, breathe deeply
Time
- 2.00PM
Situation - On the computer
Body cues - Tense neck and shoulders, tense legs, shallow
breathing
Rational responses - Stretch, breathe deeply
At
first you may have difficulty identifying subtle body cues.
Remember, your autopilot has always dealt with this so it’s
going to take a bit of practice for you, the you reading this,
to learn to be aware. Just keep at it and do the best you
can. You’ll find that each time you go through this
exercise you’ll recognize your body cues quicker and
in more detail. This should take about 1 minute, once an hour.
It took you approximately 5 minutes to smoke each cigarette.
You made time to smoke, now make time to check your body cues
and look after yourself.
***VERY IMPORTANT NOTE***
The
purpose of this exercise is to create a clear and focused
awareness of your body cues. This exercise is NOT an examination
of your smoking. It IS ENTIRELY about how your body experiences
your life.
If your timer goes off and your Situation is "an Urge
to Smoke", find your Body Cues, and then provide and
follow through with a Rational Response.
Do
the Timer Exercise for 1-3 days and you’ll have a very
accurate and personal data base that includes:1- Situations
that you experience every day.
2- The body cues that are linked to each situation.
3- Non-smoking responses for dealing with your body cues.
These lists are important because every cigarette
a smoker lights is triggered by some body cue.
In
35 years of smoking I never lit a cigarette because I ‘thought’
it was needed. Every cigarette I ever lit was because I ‘felt’
it was needed. What I ‘felt’ were body cues. They
were my triggers to smoke. My interpretation of how to respond
to them was my smoking habit.
While
the primary purpose of the timer and the notes is to increase
awareness of your body cues and get you to make better choices;
the secondary purpose is to provide you with a realistic and
workable view of your smoking. The following is a common belief:
“I was a pack and a half per day smoker - my response
to EVERY situation was to reach for a cigarette”. A
lot of us can relate to that nonstop reaching for a cigarette
view of smoking. The problem with that view is that it is
overwhelming.
However,
a list of daily situations and their times with specific body
cues and associated responses provides a very finite and clear
picture of when, where, and how you can take control. It does
take a bit of work, but only 60 seconds or less at a time.
Sometimes a timer is not an option during the work day. If
that’s the case, then use the timer before and after
work. ‘When’ you do it is unimportant. ‘That’
you do it, is.
The
first step to changing your established smoking response is
to become aware of the cues that trigger it. The Timer Exercise
is a fairly simple, yet very dramatic, exercise that will
help you accurately identify and manage the subtle physical
cues that are at the root of all urges to smoke. With this
information, you’re ready to take the second step and
retrain your auto pilot to tell you to ‘take a deep
breath’ instead of ‘take a deep drag’.
