Weight Loss and Smoking Cessation; for Real and for Good!

The beginning of the New Year is here and many of us suffer from the indulgence hangover. There is nothing wrong with using regret to make resolutions for change, but when this becomes a yearly cycle without any real progress, how do you really use this as an opportunity?

Real change for issues like weight, health, and smoking for example are often not reflective of our cognitive desires, so just changing our mind isn’t going to be enough.  These are habits that are deeply engrained, some are impulses directed from our brainstem, others are marbled into our lifestyles and often even linked to our self-esteem and our deeper consciousness. Despite this, making real change isn’t as difficult as one would expect; in fact we change ourselves all the time and aren’t even aware of it.

Get to know yourself – the longest journey doesn’t start with a step, it starts with the thought of a step, so getting to know how you work inside is the first real step.  What are your thoughts and feelings around a particular behavior or habit that you want to change?   Exactly what are you getting out of it?  even smoking has benefits people fail to recognize; it gives you a break, it gives you reward for your work, it can help to alleviate stress.  It is important to recognize these before moving on to how to satisfy these needs in another way.

Make a plan – while a holistic view of your life is more balanced overall, breaking up your resolution into smaller manageable goals and tasks is an important part of the process.  It is at this stage where most practitioners or products start. Do your research and as needed get the advice of professionals, you are unlikely the first person to ever want to lose weight or stop smoking, so let the experience of those who went before you help you.  It may even re-define your goals altogether, for example there have been many who have done nothing more than eat healthier but ended up losing weight and having better health as well without even expecting it.

Have Patience – Rome wasn’t built in a day.  Who you are today is the culmination of your whole life’s journey, it is rare to actually change your life permanently with just one thought or action.  Except in the case of accidents, if you look more closely at anyone’s seemingly “extreme” actions, there are usually early signs that this was going to happen.  So be good to yourself by not adding extra stress with tight timelines or unreachable goals.   Real change happens organically, not when you are watching it.  Bamboo can grow up to 3 inches a day, but I bet you’d never see it move once.  Follow your plan and the good advice you get along the way and before you know it … you’ll be 5 pounds lighter.

For more information, check out these links on smoking cessation and weight loss, or contact Kurt at kurtjurek@acufeelgood.ca or call 604-365-3655.

Kurt Jurek is a practitioner of Oriental Medicine in private practice in Vancouver, Canada

2 Responses to “Weight Loss and Smoking Cessation; for Real and for Good!”

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