Gambling is an addiction. Like any addiction, it can take over your life and become the main focus of your attention. Before you know it, you’ve lost control as the lure of gambling becomes more important than anything else in your life.
Think of gambling as being robbed. Each time you bet, thinking it will make you rich you are allowing yourself to be tricked. You probably feel like you are addicted to this habit and you are powerless over it, but this is not true.
Admit to yourself that you have a gambling problem first, and make the decision that you want to stop gambling.
Here are some things you can do:

1.    Make a decision each morning that you will not gamble that day. Remember, you have decided to stop gambling, and each morning you need to remind yourself of this.
2.    Stop carrying any money, credit cards and checks with you. Block all access to money. Decide how much you need for the day and only carry with you what you need.
3.    Plan out your day, in 15 minute segments if you have to. Stick to your schedule. Make sure all your waking hours are covered with something to do
4.    Look into a support group like Gamblers Anonymous. Many people like the support of a group and being around other recovering gamblers is extremely helpful to them.
5.    If you gamble online get “Gamblock” you can download it for free and it will keep you from gambling.
6.    Keep pictures of your family and friends around you to remind you that this is for them too, and that your gambling is letting them down.
7.    Think of all of the great things you could afford with the money you waste gambling. Vacations, cars, home improvements, whatever you want you could now have the money for it.
8.    Think about all the bad things that have happened due to your gambling and the negative consequences it has brought into your life.
9.    Stay positive, don’t give up on yourself, know that there are thousands of people who once were addicted to gambling who are now recovering gamblers.
10.    Have a plan in place for when you have an urge again. What will you do? You need to know. Carry phone numbers of friends or support people and positive affirmations with you at all times.
11.    Make sure to find a sponsor or a therapist who has had an addiction and knows what it is like.
12.    Focus on productive activities that you can feel good about instead of gambling.

You may want to listen to our Stop Gambling MP3

Smokers should be prepared to be confronted with graphic labels that will soon cover almost half of the cigarette packages. Images will be showing sickness and death; which is designed to evoke disgust and revulsion. Congress passed a law requiring tobacco makers to put graphic health warnings on cigarette packages. This month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published nine labels, which will appear on cigarette packaging by the fall of 2012.

Americans today fully understand that smoking is unsafe but will these labels make a difference? Despite all the efforts to stop smoking, advertising, taxes, educational campaigns and smoking bans, nearly 50 million Americans continue to put themselves in harms way. The hope is that the nauseating photos on the cigarette packages will kill the urge.

I don’t know if graphic images will stop people but I do know that hypnotherapy works! Typically after 1 or 2 session of hypnosis my clients quit for good. What is interesting to me is that most smokers think it will be too hard for them to quit so they never really try. Once they have spent a couple hours with me their belief system around it being too difficult to quit seems to change and their behavior follows soon after. They find out that an urge only lasts 3 to 5 minutes and then that urge will run its course and pass. They find that quitting using hypnosis is an enjoyable way to become a non-smoker and they didn’t have to be grossed out to do it. The graphic pictures may work for a small percentage and I hope it does because dying of lung cancer is not something anyone wants to do!

It might be a good goal to stop smoking before the new packaging comes out. You can go to our website and see about a session or download a Smoking Cessation MP3.

If you would like additional info on how to quit smoking you may want to check out these articles:

• Stop Smoking to Lower Your Chances of Getting Cancer – Stop … – Why am I writing about a childhood cancer that doesn’t want to go away? Because cancer is the second leading cause of death, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death, and most lung cancer is linked to smoking.
• A Couple Of Techniques To Help You Stop Cigarette Smoking Naturally – Getting rid of your longtime cigarette smoking addiction is going to be a hard task, but it must be accomplished eventually. Smoking is harmful for you and also anybody near you, and will result in a variety of health problems and …
• Question 4: Has The Time Come For Us To Take A Long, Hard Look At … – Why smoke? Why fail to stop? Why succeed quitting smoking? How do you quit effectively? These are just some of the questions we should be asking ourselves.
  We.