I started two series of Tobacco-Cessation classes this month. They began on alternate weeks, and for some reason, this has created some confusion for me. I can't seem to keep straight what I need each week for which class. It's all been taken care of in time, but I need to adjust for the different classes.

If I hadn't become aware that there was a core belief that was creating the difficulties, it would have taken much longer to work through the challenges that were presented to me. I would have focused on the individual symptoms, not the general cause. Before any real change can happen, we need to be aware that there's something wrong and stop focusing on the specific conditions. When we have a pebble in our shoe, instead of limping or walking differently to minimize the discomfort, we need to stop, take the shoe off and dump out the offending stone.

When I work with smokers, the first thing I recommend is for them to become aware of every time they light a cigarette. There are many different techniques to do this, but the goal is to take the act of smoking out of the unconscious habit and bring it into conscious awareness. Learning about what triggers them to smoke gives them insight and helps them realize what they need to do to change it. Becoming conscious of when they light up is the first step to becoming a non-smoker.

We tend to go through our lives on autopilot. Most of the time this is helpful, because it frees up our conscious mind to think about more important issues. But in our fast-paced world, where we're trying to simply keep up, many things go unnoticed that might normally catch our attention. A funny noise the car makes, the drip of a faucet, tense shoulder muscles, trouble with the intestinal tract, all are things that might be asking for our attention, but we don't notice them because of other priorities.

It's so easy to get caught up in the mindset of simply dealing with the immediate day-to-day crises. This keeps us distracted from what's really going on deep within our consciousness. When we begin to get overwhelmed, this is a signal that something else is going on. It's imperative to become aware that something is amiss. Then, we need to discover what's really causing the problems. Only then we can change our direction.

Answer: Remember that an affirmation only works on your consciousness, that's what it's changing. What is different in the way you use it in the first couple of days and the way you use it after that? Many times, when using an affirmation, it will be effective when a person is not putting pressure on it to perform. I know that may not seem to make sense. But when a person tries to force the outcome, or has the attitude of "Okay, where is the result," the conscious mind has taken control and is trying to force the issue. In that case, the subconscious doesn't have the energy to fulfill its mission. The conscious mind is using it all.

A good analogy would be to imagine cupping your hand to hold water in it. If your hand is more relaxed and open, it will be able to hold the water. While if you place your hand in the water, but try to grab it by making a fist, the water will escape. When using an affirmation, you have to use it gently, and know that even when it doesn't seem to be working, it is working on changing your consciousness.

I think letting go of control one of the most difficult things to learn in mind power. We have to trust the subconscious to manifest the subject of the affirmation, and our left-brained, western society is directly opposed to that. We're taught to try to control the outcome by thinking constantly about it. That doesn't work. Whenever you think of the issue, just remind yourself that your subconscious is handling it.

Most of us have heard that our thinking affects not only our lives, but also our health. Unfortunately, many times that concept is dealt with in a simplistic, cookbook type of way. The belief is that a certain ailment always is due to a particular thought pattern. Although the basic idea has merit, the reality is much more complicated than that.

Dr. Friedman, professor of psychology at the University of California at Riverside, has done extensive research into why one person is able to recover from a serious illness, and another isn't. Bringing together ancient medical philosophy and modern studies, he explores the differences between people with the same disease. He has found that there is a connection between emotions, personality and how resilient a person is, and disease.

Though a person might have an illness-prone personality, this book gives hope that they can turn themselves into one that self-heals. Making practical, healthy changes in habits, as well as finding social support are a couple of ways the author has found to be useful. By learning new ways to respond to the challenges of life, a person can actually impact the way their body heals.