Mindpower is something you already have! The program trains your mind so you can use your mindpower to change how you think about smoking and silence craving thoughts.
It’s okay if it takes a bit of practice to tap into your mindpower. Once you do, you’ll be able to use mindpower consistently and reliably. It’s a life skill, so be patient with the process. It’s worth it.
Every lesson and exercise in the program is designed to help you practice using your mindpower bit by bit. Then, everything comes together on Day 8. On this day, you will learn practical tools about mindpower and you’ll be able to use it successfully to shift your thoughts and make cravings vanish are discussed in more depth.
Until then, the steps are designed and placed in a way that allows you to release the tendency to rely on willpower and help you develop mindpower.
What if you’ve only known willpower your whole life, and using mindpower seems hard?
That’s okay, and you’re not alone! Before trying to use mindpower, start by simply trying to not use willpower.
How to do this: Experiment with sitting with the experience of having a wanting for a cigarette. Observe with curiosity what your mind tells you during a craving, and do not resist it. Allow yourself to just see what it’s like and how it feels not to use willpower. This mindfulness exercise gives you the space to stop relying on willpower and the foundation to use your mindpower later on.
When you notice yourself using willpower, resisting smoking, and feeling deprived while cutting down or doing your experiments, smoke and record that cigarette. Logging your cigarette after putting it out will allow you to capture the thinking that makes a cigarette seem compelling. This awareness of what narrative or thinking you have about smoking will make it easier to use your mindpower to change those thoughts moving forward.
The more you practice using your mindpower, the sooner it becomes natural for you to rely on it to silence craving thoughts and rewire your brain so it won’t remind you to light up anymore. Trust the process, and aim for progress, not perfection!
Related resource:
🧠 How to tell if you’re using willpower or mindpower.
Mindpower tips and experience from CBQ Program Members:
Louise ”Keep practicing mind power it becomes second nature in a very small amount of time I promise you and it is very empowering when you have it mastered”
Amber
“I had a hard time differentiating that too. To me willpower is “you can wait” mind power is “it’s gross and will make me wheezy and stinky after I smoke it… I don’t want it.” Take the “need” out of it and it makes a world of difference.”
Paula
“I tried several different times in the past and failed because I was using will power instead of mind power. There is a huge difference. The program teaches you the difference and how to use it.”
Rick
“The program taught me how to use mindpower to achieve my goal and I felt the program was very well thought out and easy to follow.”
Ashley
“Don’t use willpower. Use mindpower and use the opportunity to learn what is the trigger and how you can better cope with it next time. Progress over perfection.”
Christine Anne
“Mind power to me sounds like “I don’t smoke anymore” when a ‘smoking thought’ crosses my mind..I litterally tell that thought this and I put the smoking thought out of my mind by redirecting my thoughts to something else!!”
Need more inspiration? Watch these Ask-an-Ex interviews:
Manuela: She used the following Mindpower techniques: talking back to the craving thought, talking herself out of smoking, delaying the next cigarette, and not acting on impulse
Sheena: She shared how she experienced the difference between Mindpower and Willpower, “Mindpower, to me, takes away the situation. Willpower to me, I still have the craving, but I just, I’m not going to smoke. I’m not going to smoke, I’m not going to smoke. That to me is willpower.”