I’m a smoker. When I say I’m a smoker, I’m making reference to the fact that I smoke cigarettes, but I also smoke marijuana, so I guess I can classify myself as a dual smoker. Those are the only two forms of smoking I participate in, just to clarify, in case anyone associates the term ‘smoking’ with a crack pipe or some shit.
I’ve been smoking cigarettes for about eight years now, which is hard to believe if I’m being honest. I’ve tried to quit a few times without success, but one of the methods I tried years ago when trying to quit was hypnosis. It obviously did not work for me, personally, but because I find the idea of hypnosis to be quite interesting while simultaneously terrifying, I thought I would dedicate a post to the subject.
Hypnosis, in my own words, is a state of mind in which someone remains conscious but no longer has control over their thoughts and behaviours because the person practicing the hypnosis does. It’s been around for a while, and it can be used in therapy, criminal investigations, and as a method of entertainment.
Personally, the idea of someone other than myself having control and influence over my own thoughts and actions isn’t one I particularly like. This may be why I didn’t have much luck with my previous experience with hypnosis; the entire time I was being ‘hypnotized,’ all I could think to myself was that it wasn’t working. Perhaps I wasn’t as vulnerable as I should have been in order to be hypnotized, but then again, the hypnotizer could have been a phony. I’m really not sure.
I realize hypnosis does have advantageous purposes, but for me, I rather remain in control of my own mind as opposed to some stranger, thank you very much.