1 to 3

Make up your mind. Smoking is fatal and you must quit the habit.

Keep a sheet of white paper or a pocket notebook handy. Keep this within easy reach throughout the therapy. Well, you may even decide to make notes in your mind and forget about writing. Remember that writing disciplines better and helps determination.

4 & 5

When you feel like smoking, hold on for a moment. Write down on a piece of paper or the small note book 'what makes you feel like smoking' on each occasion

6

Will any cigarette satisfy you ? If not, change over to one you like less. If possible choose the brand you like the least.

7

Repeat the exercise of 4 & 5. Today is Sunday and you may have some different reasons to smoke.

8 to 10

Decide that YOU ARE QUITTING SMOKING Declare your intention to your family, friends and colleagues. Remove ash-trays, and anything that will remind you of smoking. If possible destroy them. Let some one in the family check for the smell of tobacco in the linen, kerchiefs, even curtains and replace them with fresh ones. Stop buying by packets; buy in sticks or fill an empty packet with half the previous day's consumption. Stick to this limit.

11 & 12

Decide that from tomorrow you will not touch a cigarette. Consult your doctor and collect suitable medicine to counter reactions if any. Mostly you will need nothing. When you feel like smoking tell yourself that what you need is a glass of cold water not hot smoke. Drink plenty of water

13

You may be already in a week-end mood. Drink plenty of water when-ever you feel like smoking. Plan for a full day activity for Sunday. Prompt your family  or nonsmoking friends to join you.

14

Another Sunday. Spent your day with the family or non-smoking friends. See that you get fully involved in whatever  you do. Getting tired will induce a good night's sleep.

15 to 19

Spent some half hour in the morning before you go to work, to fully relax you body and mind. May be you can do some meditation, yoga or engage in prayers. Listening to soft musicals or kirtans or bhajans has a soothing effect on the mind and body. Let the cassette player please you until you actually leave for work. At your work place try to keep the cool. Provocations and irritability could be felt more acutely than usual. You might feel like dissolving the tension with a puff. Hold back, take a glass of water, smile at yourself and tell your body conscientiously that you will not react to temptations. Spend the evenings with family or non-smoking friends in relaxing activities. Avoid cinema with crime and overtones of sex; hilarious melodrama would ease the body and mind. If you are a nature enthusiast indoor or outdoor gardening can be relaxing. By the end of the week you will feel more relaxed and healthier, as the intake of smoke and toxin had been totally avoided and the oxygen in the blood preserved.

20

While you continue with the same routine, it will be a good idea to sit back and count on the number of occasions you might have reverted to smoking and how you did avoid them. This will give you better confidence that you can do it.

21

Make walking a habit or choose an exercise plan, may be you would love a gym.

22 to 26

Continue with the routines.

You will have a feeling of lighter weight on your shoulders, greater amount of energy and a good lot of freshness about you. You will start realizing that the world around you is more pleasing that you had thought or experienced. You will be less irritable now. The level of self-confidence is all-time high. If you had been feeling suddenly tired while playing any games or taking part in sports activities it is time NOW to start them again, with renewed energy.

27

You have proved yourself that YOU CAN DO IT

Go ahead, there is no looking back

28 to 31

You now have a strong will to deny yourself the so called pleasure of a deep puff. You are far better off without it and will not return to consuming smoke and tar. Your energy and vitality are more important to you now. AND THAT IS THE END OF THE THERAPY AND THIS CALENDAR.

SMOKING LAWS ARE WORKING, STUDY SHOWS

California laws prohibiting cigarette smoking in indoor workplaces have reduced adult workers' exposure to secondhand smoke, investigators report in the American Journal of Public Health. Based on survey data from 1990 through 1999, researchers at the University of California San Diego Cancer Center found that "over the past decade, Californians have reported steadily decreasing exposure to secondhand smoke in the workplace, as well as increased smoke-free home environments." The state first enacted anti-smoking regulations covering indoor work environments in 1994, and bars and restaurants became smoke-free in 1998. The investigators want stepped-up enforcement of the smoking prohibition laws, particularly in bars and restaurants, because in 1999, 31 percent of bar and restaurant employees reported being exposed to secondhand smoke compared with only 11 percent of office workers. Many nonsmokers also reported being exposed to secondhand smoke in bars and restaurants.

    All those California laws banning smoking in places of work and play appear to be making a difference, according to cancer researchers. Adults are being exposed to less second-hand smoke as a result of laws prohibiting cigarette smoking in workplaces and restaurants, say scientists at the Rebecca and John Moores University of California, San Diego, Cancer Center. "Over the past decade, Californians have reported steadily decreasing exposure to second-hand smoke in the workplace, as well as increased smoke-free home environments, which indicates that clean air legislation combined with education is making an impact," said Elizabeth Gilpin, author of the study in the American Journal of Public Health. "Although enforcement of workplace smoking restrictions continues to be a concern, these results are very encouraging." Between 1990 and 1999, the percentage of smoke-free places to work in California shot up from 35 to 93 percent and the number of tobacco-less homes doubled, from 36 to 73 percent. "Being unable to smoke in one's home establishes norms against smoking around non-smokers, while also protecting children from asthma and other serious illnesses that can be triggered by second-hand smoke," Gilpin said.