Allen Carr - The Only Way to Stop Smoking Permanently: Take Back Control of your Life

This electronic edition published in 2012 by Arcturus Publishing Limited
26/27 Bickels Yard, 151153 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3HA

Copyright Allen Carrs Easyway (International) Limited, 1994, 1995

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person or persons who do any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

IMPORTANT

If drugs like nicotine, alcohol and heroin have such widely different properties and all drug addicts have their unique mental and physical characteristics, how can Allen Carrs method work for all drugs and for all drug addicts?

There are many differences between a house and a tree, but the same ladder will enable any individual to surmount either

PROVIDED YOU UNDERSTAND HOW TO USE IT!

Allen Carrs method is the ladder that will enable any drug addict to escape from the pit of addiction to any drug:

IMMEDIATELY!

EASILY!

PERMANENTLY!

PROVIDED YOU UNDERSTAND HOW TO USE IT!

To do that it is essential to read the whole of this book and to be familiar with Allen Carrs previous bestseller, THE EASY WAY TO STOP SMOKING, or the video or audio tapes of the same name. Details of how to obtain copies are given in the last pages of this book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The common thread running through Allen Carrs work is the removal of fear. Indeed, his genius lies in eliminating the phobias and anxieties which prevent people from being able to enjoy life to the full, as his bestselling books Allen Carrs Easy Way to Stop Smoking, The Only Way to Stop Smoking Permanently, Allen Carrs Easyweigh to Lose Weight, How to Stop Your Child Smoking, and now The Easy Way to Enjoy Flying, vividly demonstrate.

A successful accountant, Allen Carrs hundred-cigarettes-a-day addiction was driving him to despair until, in 1983, after countless failed attempts to quit, he finally discovered what the world had been waiting for the Easy Way to Stop Smoking. He has now built a network of clinics that span the globe and has a phenomenal reputation for success in helping smokers to quit. His books have been published in over twenty different languages and video, audio and CD-ROM versions of his method are also available.

Tens of thousands of people have attended Allen Carrs clinics where, with a success rate of over 95%, he guarantees that you will find it easy to quit smoking or your money back. A full list of clinics appears in the back of this book. Should you require any assistance do not hesitate to contact your nearest therapist. Weight-control sessions are now offered at a selection of these clinics. A full corporate service is also available enabling companies to implement no-smoking policies simply and effectively. All correspondence and enquiries about ALLEN CARRS BOOKS, VIDEOS, AUDIO TAPES AND CD-ROMS should be addressed to the London Clinic.

What on earth are you doing to yourself?

Im enjoying a cigarette.

The inquisitor was my wife Joyce. One of those lucky people that try just one cigarette and find it so obnoxious that they are never tempted to light another.

But how can a non-smoker possibly understand the great joy and pleasure to be obtained from smoking?

The cigarette was dangling from my lips Humphrey Bogart style, and the pleasure was not in the slightest way diminished by the fact that it was saturated with my own blood! The cause was a nosebleed, the second within the space of an hour.

The first was a really bad one caused by the paroxysms of coughing brought on by those very special early morning cigarettes. These nosebleeds had recently become part of my daily routine. Joyce had already given me the usual lecture about what smoking was doing to my health. It went in one ear and, presumably because there was nothing to impede its flow, straight out of the other.

I knew that smoking was killing me anyway, all the nagging did was to make me feel even more stupid than I already felt it just seemed to increase my dependency on cigarettes.

It wasnt that I didnt want to stop I knew that I couldnt stop! I accepted the fact and gave up even trying.

Eventually the first nosebleed ended. I changed my suit and went out to my car. I sat in my car depressed and miserable. I thought: If this is life with my little crutch, there is no way that I could cope with life without it!

I was desperate for another cigarette, but I knew this would start the nosebleeding again. That first nosebleed had frightened me, I estimated that I had lost at least a pint of blood and was reluctant to lose more.

It was an extreme example of the tug of war of fear that all drug addicts suffer whilst they remain dependent on the drug. It was a particularly dismal Monday morning, I was terrified of what the smoking was doing to me and at one and the same time thinking: If ever I really needed a cigarette, its now!

It didnt take long for my addicted brain to come up with a simple solution to the problem. One of the few subjects that I took any interest in at school was biology. I knew that the human body carries about 8 pints of blood, with one pint short, my blood level must have sunk below my nose. Thats obviously why the first nosebleed had stopped, so I could safely smoke another cigarette. Needless to say, I did.

I regard myself as a reasonably intelligent man. I will forgive you at this stage for doubting my word. I remember well Tony Hancocks classic remark in The Blood Donor and his look of horror and utter disbelief when informed that he was expected to donate a whole pint: A pint! Thats almost an armful! Im not going to walk about all day with a floppy arm just to satisfy some legalised vampire!

I was fully aware of how the circulatory system works and in particular, that the brain depends on a constant supply of blood; but isnt this another of the many anomalies of being a drug addict? All our smoking lives we have many powerful reasons not to smoke, but we work so hard to block out those reasons and devote all our ingenuity to finding any flimsy excuse which will allow us to smoke JUST ONE MORE CIGARETTE!

In no time at all I was smothered in blood again, oblivious to everything other than my own misery, I was suddenly aware that Joyce was staring at me through the car window. She had that haunted look on her face that I had come to dread. I gritted my teeth and waited for the usual lecture.

It never came. I believe it had finally dawned on Joyce that rationality and sound common sense are a complete waste of time when dealing with a drug addict. It was fortunate that she allowed natural emotion and feminine intuition to take over.

She had been watching a film about a couple whose child was slowly dying of leukemia. They were stoically trying to build a constructive life, not only for their child, but for themselves. Just watching such a film is a harrowing enough experience, but the actual trauma of the real situation must be infinitely worse.

Joyce said: Do you think that you could handle a situation like that? At the time, I confess to being so wrapped up in my own petty problems that I was oblivious to other peoples. She continued: It must be awful for that couple, but, at least they have the consolation of knowing that they are doing everything in their power and that the disease was not self-inflicted, how much worse do you think it is to have to watch someone you love slowly destroying himself and spending a fortune for the privilege, when you can see so clearly that hes getting no benefit whatsoever from smoking. Have you any idea of the pain that you are causing me and your children? Do you realise how incredibly selfish you are being? How would you like it if I started doing to my body what you are doing to yours?