Our focus in this issue is on education, and my focus — in this lifetime, apparently — is on smoking and smobriety, and the freedom to choose.
How are smoking and education related? It may surprise you to learn that smoking, smobriety and education are related in several important ways:
Personal Education
The higher your level of education, the less likely it is you’ll smoke, or ingest other toxins for comfort, for focus or for pleasure. Of course, your level of education also correlates with other factors, too, such as the safety and stability of your environment and the quality of education available to you, both within and outside your home. Socioeconomic status figures into this, too. As your wealth and self-determination go up, your opportunities for education rise, too, and the likelihood that you’ll smoke goes down. The more choices you have available to you, in all areas of life, the less likely it is that you’ll choose toxins of any kind, for any reason. In the military community, for example, smoking goes down as rank goes up. The same is true in other hierarchies.
Choices
The more you learn about tobacco and nicotine, and about the vast array of other options available to you besides those substances, the more likely it is that you’ll stop using them and choose other options instead. Seek alternatives such as exercise, medication, tapping, hypnotherapy, acupuncture, meditation… the list goes on and on. Once you decide to take tobacco off the table, there’s room to add more life affirming activities.
Shared Learning
As with other kinds of education, teaching is one of the best ways to deepen our learning. One of the best places to learn and teach, often within the same hour, is in mutual support community. Many people are unaware that there are meetings for nicotine recovery, just as there are for freedom from other substances and addictive patterns. These meetings blossomed and went global during lockdown. Visit nicotineanonymous.uk to learn more about connecting with others.
REFERENCES:
National Library of Medicine: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7025916/
American Journal of Preventive Medicine: https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(22)00450-0/fulltext