Q:
How can one cut down on smoking?
A:
And the answer is as follows. He gets up in the morning and the first thing is he makes biur chametz – hegets rid of any cigarettes in the house. He destroys all the cigarettes in the house. And then he makes a neder or a shevuah that he’s not going to smoke today up until 1:00 today. Up until 1:00 it’s possible to refrain; you should swear. Only that you should say it like this: “If I smoke today before 1:00 , it will cost me $1000.”
So now this man, his temptation is not too great because he knows that there’s still a way out. It’s somewhat expensive but still he could get a way out. So he’ll train himself to wait until 1:00. At 1:00 he says “It’s wonderful! I feel so good!” So he can try further. He can say, “I swear I won’t smoke until 4:00 unless I’ll pay $1000.” At 4:00 he feels still better and he can do it again. At 9:00 at night he does the same thing again. And then he goes to sleep and one day, a perfect day, has passed.
Let him repeat that every day with that same protocol. The shevuah is only for a limited time and it’s not a total abstinence because when you know something is forever forbidden so the yetzer hara is working on you. But since you know it’s only a temporary thing, it’s only up until 4:00, and even if I want beforehand so I’ll spend $1000, so it can be done. And so that’s the way to conquer the yetzer hara of smoking. If you want some more advice, speak to me privately.
TAPE # 485
