Q: I am finishing up my third time with the presence process and this journey has been so beneficial in many different aspects of my life. Per the journal [available as a free download on the website], I have been setting goals, and one of those being to stop smoking. I know in The Presence Process it states that these addictions/behaviors will simply go away as your negative emotional charge is reduced and integrated/replaced with positive emotional charges. I have seen this happen with many of my actions, but the smoking is one that has alluded me. I know it also states not to try to make these types of changes while on the journey, but now that I have done it and am accustomed to the feelings that arise so do you think this urge/addiction to control will just subside or should I actively attempt to quit through other methods along with the process? Any thoughts you might have would be greatly appreciated and have a great weekend.
A: You are now equipped to respond to the deliberately stimulated surfacing of emotional charges. Therefore, take action - take charge. Your action in this regard is no longer reaction - but response. Smoking and alcohol are the most challenging parasitic invasions upon humanity. So be patient, but be firm. Pray for help. Stop identifying with the experience of "[your name]the smoker" - and start identifying with "[you name] the vibrational Presence". Daily application of Consciously Approaching The Vibrational is useful in this regard. The hardest thing about quiting an addiction is our identification with the addictive experience. When we say, "I am a smoker", we are reinforcing a lie which keeps us lying to ourselves and living in this lie. Rather say, "I am Presence having an experience of smoking cigarettes". You are not your experience - identifying with it traps you in a self-defeating lie. Onward then - be the Presence you really are and the manufactured experience of "[your name] the smoker" goes up in smoke.
