My current column is titled, a la Winnie the Pooh, "in which it comes to be known that inflatable cigarettes do exist."
They aren't filled with sand and so could not be punched, but at 3-feet long a couple of them would be just the thing for an inflatable cigarette fight with a friend.
Or, they would be perfect to carry around with an invitation pasted to them: "If you see me smoking, please hit me with this giant inflatable cigarette!"
We could go out to dinner, my inflatable cigarette and I. And, even though we are in non-smoking New Hampshire, it could accompany me to hear music at The Press Room.
At night, it could rest next to my little inflatable scream guy by Munch. In the morning ...; oh, never mind, you get it.
In all seriousness, inflatable cigarette novelties are actually learning tools for kids, so they can escape this blasted need to quit in the first place.
Some years ago, I came across a group of theorists who studied successful changers. These changers were of many stripes; people who were successful in quitting smoking, losing weight, stopping drinking or leaving the inflatables at home. Being an academic-head myself, this material was for a time like finding the Holy Grail, fountain of youth and secret of life all in one.
Until I realized this: knowing that is not the same as knowing how. Knowing that successful changers go through distinct and predictable stages, does not in itself make one a successful changer. To wit, here I am.
The Stages of Change model is very Western in that it analyzes and categorizes, each conclusion leading to and influencing the next. Eastern thought on changing has been around a little bit longer and is found in the classic Chinese text the I Ching or Book of Changes.
Each mode of thought proposes distinct stages in changing, markers that can guide us in our efforts to change. In both views, change in its incipient state is invisible. It is the energy in a seedling, a life spark, a quickening. The theorists call this stage Precontemplation, in which there is little to no desire or intention to change. Although the person in this stage can be under aware, something is nonetheless brewing.
Contemplation follows Precontemplation, implying an awareness of a problem and the thinking that goes along with knowing something has to give. What does not occur in this stage is a commitment to take action. That comes next, in the Preparation stage, where intention and intent merge to become an action plan.
This is the stage to write home about, but not too fast, for it is also the stage where the company includes backsliders from the Action stage. Whoops-ers who tried to make overt behavioral changes but were unsuccessful. If at first you don't succeed, get back to the Action stage, and recommit time, energy and behavioral strategies.
Eventually, you end up in the Maintenance stage, where the commitment is to preventing relapse. Maintenance can last, in the case of addictive behaviors, for a distressingly long "indeterminate time period past the initial action." Man, I may really be fighting this for a long time to come.
Being hooked on tobacco is undeniably an addiction. Medical research is getting ever more sophisticated in this area of study and the mechanisms of addiction are slowly being revealed.
In this country and time, lay people use the term "addictive personality." This misnomer has taken on breezy explanatory qualities, when in fact addiction is a change in the neural architecture and hormone soups of the brain. And if you don't think that is powerful, watch a child's development between the ages of zero and 10 months or so. That's what we're up against, only in grown up, smelly tobacco-brain form.
There are plenty of days when I am tired of myself and barely have the energy to change my outfit, never mind my brain. On those days I usually end up thinking less than positive thoughts, like "oh brother, just get over it, move on." That is when I conjure the research showing that positive changes to the brain, any brain, whether because of addiction, or traumatic events, take a long time.
There is good news, though. I speak for myself only and not to the model of change. Although I may backslide from Action to Preparation, it would be impossible for me to return to the halcyon days of Precontemplation.
There is no innocence here anymore.
Suzanne Danforth wants Bobbie Krewson's son to stay quit smoking. E-mail tips to suzanne.danforth@gmail.com.
