Dare to Dream

Mental imagery is a technique that many birthing class instructors teach to their students. These women who have heard all the horror stories of their friend’s births and are hoping to use mental imagery to ease away the pain of labor. I can attest that this technique worked for my labors for only a short period of time, although I did not practice it as much as I should have. But is there any proof it works and what can happen when you pair mental imagery with your desire to stop smoking?

Recent studies now show that you are able to physically change your body by thinking differently. Ancient texts, such as the bible, support these findings. Renewing your mind and thinking good thoughts are not new concepts, but they have been forgotten for a few thousand years, especially in clinical research. However, a recent study by Tacon and Wing, two British researchers in mathematics education, revealed that standardized test scores rose dramatically with the use of mental imagery techniques. These findings show that the technique does work.

Mental imagery is useful to the quitter because it sometimes can simply take away the strong desire to smoke. When I stopped smoking for the first time, I still imagined myself as a smoker. I was constantly battling with my self image. Was I a smoker or wasn’t I? If I was a smoker, why wasn’t I smoking? I eventually went back to smoking a pack and a half a day. The last time I quit, I decided to envision myself as a non-smoker. Even if I slipped and smoked, I still maintained that non-smoker identity. I did not realize it at the time, but changing the mental picture of who I was enabled me to break out of the old smoker self and embrace the new non-smoker self. I literally became a new person simply by changing the way I thought.

While I did this on my own, it’s much better to get a counselor or your doctor involved with this process. A professional can give you some hints on how to avoid the mistakes I made in the beginning. Plus it always helps to have someone available to build you up when you slip. Think about trying mental imagery and your dreams of becoming a non-smoker may soon come true.