Our Time Triggers
The foundation for our mind’s knowledge of how to escalate the intensity of desire, to cause us to bring new nicotine into our body, is “time.” Although the subconscious mind is believed to be incapable of independent reasoning or judgment, our conscious mind has conditioned our subconscious to realize that time depletes our blood nicotine level and that the onset of discomfort can be satisfied with nicotine. When we feel a crave begin to escalate in intensity, it is simply our subconscious turning up the volume control that it has been conditioned to believe will bring the desired result. But in that the subconscious mind is a product of conditioning and not independent reasoning, if nicotine is not ingested after desire’s volume or intensity control is increased to maximum, the subconscious simply gives up and quits.
It is extremely important to understand that no subconsciously triggered crave episode will last longer than three minutes. But, as noted above under physical symptoms, time perception distortion appears to be an almost universal recovery symptom and the minutes can seem like hours. It’s important to look at a clock in order to reassure yourself as it often takes seconds to reach for nicotine and have one powerful chew destroy all your healing and investment in recovering the real “you.” This psychological mind warfare is the downfall of many as they begin to falsely believe that the only way to end the current crave is by means of another fix.
As the body’s nicotine level continues to fall during the 72 hours of physical withdrawal, our mind’s time trigger will continue to be revisited until all nicotine has left the body. It is then that true and complete reconditioning of our time trigger will occur as our physical symptoms begin subsiding and our mind becomes conditioned to realize that time will no longer produce new nicotine. Withdrawal’s peak occurs at or before the 72-hour mark. The average “starter” will experience approximately six desire attacks or crave episodes on day three. By hour 96 or day four the number of episodes will diminish to about 3.5. By day ten the average is just 1.4 per day. In that our basic time trigger was reconditioned upon depletion of our body’s nicotine, we need to explore and understand the reason for our continuing craves.
Overlaying our time trigger atop physical nicotine withdrawal symptoms can, for some, generate a rather intense 72-hour experience, but it’s even more complex than that. Conditioned triggers are being encountered as well. Very few willing to attempt recovery lack the basic core dream and desire needed to carry them far enough (72-96 hours) to begin feeling their physical symptoms begin to gradually subside or to watch the number of subconscious crave episodes become reduced by almost half. With a little self-determination, the battle against physical nicotine addition is over in a matter of hours.
It is hard to believe that drug manufactures have sold so many Chewers on their “Nicotine Replacement Therapy” (NRT) gradual reduction approach, when they’ve done nothing more than recanage nicotine. They are telling Chewers that the nicotine patch, gum, spray, chewer, candy or pills will make them more comfortable and they are 100% correct. Nicotine addicts need nicotine to maintain comfort. The question should be, does NRT’s gradual nicotine reduction approach help Chewers achieve permanent long-term abstinence from tobacco? Sadly, even their own studies (the results of which they hide from their public web sites and refuse to share with Chewers) show that 93% of over-the-counter NRT users in medical studies – studies designed by pharmaceutical companies to test and prove the merits of their product – relapse to chewing nicotine within just six months.
© John R. Polito 2000, 2013
The original article has been modified to be more relevant for dippers and chewers.
