When you feel good, when you feel centered and in control, when you feel balanced, confident and secure, and happy with the decision you have made and the actions you have taken:

Write about it on a piece of paper.

Don’t be shy when you do this – choose rich language that clearly conveys your feelings. Go for it, be generous with your words and write about it on a piece of paper. Once you’ve done that, read it and then put your name on it. Now turn the note over and write these four words – ‘This too shall pass’ – then hide the note in your purse or wallet.

If we’ve happened to catch you in such a good moment right now, please be our guest and open your notepad immediately to jot down your words.

If it happens later, so be it, but don’t forget to write down a few words about how great and strong you feel. Don’t dismiss this as nonsense – you’ve got nothing to lose.

But let’s face the fact there’s a good chance you will sometimes feel the opposite to this. At such times you may feel miserable, angry, insecure, lacking in confidence, hopeless, lonely and hurt. The hollowness inside you might be burning your chest. The feeling is awful, utter misery, a cavity, an open wound. You cannot think or feel anything else – you want to die, you want to burst into tears. The grief and agony is too much to bear and, to hell with it all, you are going to light a cigarette and suck that sweet smoke straight in.

Remember that such feelings may be encountered at the pinnacle of your withdrawal, and they also may occur in various degrees during the first few weeks of abstinence. Please promise yourself, right now, that if you ever feel that bad you swear, no matter what, that …

‘I pledge to read my note and contemplate for a couple of minutes before I smoke a cigarette.’

Carry the note in your wallet or purse but, more importantly, engrave the message on your brain: ‘I felt great before, I feel awful now, but this too shall pass’.

If you ever get that bad and really feel like giving it all up and smoking a cigarette, remember the pact that we’ve made and pull the note out and read it. It will be difficult to believe that it was you who wrote those shining words so beautifully. It now seems impossible that you could have experienced such feelings of joy and confidence. You may very seriously doubt it, yet it is a fact that you will have to acknowledge – it is your writing, and your name is on it.

Trust and know that life swings like a pendulum: soon you will be up there again feeling strong and confident. You will gradually relax and find a more stable place, from where you will be able to manage your abstinence with relative ease. Within a short time, being a non-smoker will become your new pattern.

Life is like a wave: nothing stays in one place for too long. Change is the only constant in the universe. Whatever is happening now will be replaced by something else tomorrow.

The sage said – ‘This too shall pass’.

If you feel miserable, lonely and deserted, and all you want in life at this moment is a cigarette, remember and repeat this to yourself, as if it was your mantra:

‘This too shall pass.’

The sage said that this too shall pass, so why wouldn’t we listen?

This too shall pass, for sure!

Then, when you feel strong, happy and confident again, remember ‘This shall pass as well’. The pendulum is swinging, swinging.

Relax and you will find the middle way, the middle path. And this too shall pass.