CAMH

Home
Main Forum
Quit Smoking
Stats Parade
Nonic, Hall of Fame Winner for March!

Advanced Search Form

Nonic, Hall of Fame Winner for March!

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 880

Lolly

So good to hear from you. I have read your many responses to folks in crisis around here and am always impressed with the compassion, dignity and hope that your words give to people. I know that you have over come a great many things in your own life and the insights you have gained from those battles, so well fought, always shines through.

stay well

nonic

Quit Meter

$70,518.00

Amount Saved
Quit Meter

Days: 1543 Hours: 21

Minutes: 55 Seconds: 53

Life Gained
Quit Meter

6716

Smoke Free Days
Quit Meter

201,480

Cigarettes Not Smoked

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 880

Eyja:

Sorry for the delay on this, but I took some time out of the schedule to visit my Brother, Sister-in-Law and nieces and nephews this weekend. It was time well spent. I have been working a great deal and getting a bit to focused on the job. One of my problems is that I do not know when enough is enough. Sometimes I lock on to a task with the a laser like intensity and forget that I need to rest now and again. This was one of those let it all go times...Great stuff.

Interesting that you mention betrayal both of the self and by others. We do betray ourselves when we fail to hear ourselves clearly. I do it all the time...That is certainly a type of betrayal that we can do something about. I believe that we all have the ability to know ourselves in a way that helps us navigate the travail that is this life. There is no doubt that we will always have tribulation in this world. But somehow we have an inner sense that allows us to right the ship when ever the waves get to steep. Somebody once described this as the idea of having two wolves warring inside of us. One wolf is decidedly evil, it represents anger, jealousy, greed etc. The other wolf represents the higher aspects of a human; love, peace, respect etc. The wolf that wins the battle is the wolf we feed.

Betrayal by another, especially another human who we loved dearly is another matter. But though we can not control the words and actions of others, we still have the ability to temper our own reaction to the pain and suffering that naturally rise out of the fire of abandonment and betrayal. If we are able to feed the good wolf many painful situations can become new opportunities. That is a hard thing to do, I know, I have had to make that adjustment on a number of occasions during my trips around the sun. I remember one of these in particular which left me standing in an airport, with absolutely no idea of where I was going to go next. The events that followed that encounter with the edge, where in a word amazing and nothing my imagination could have ever conceived.

In the past I would deal with these types of things by either smoking, or drinking or doing other things that where not good for me. I did them not because I wanted to but because I didn't know how NOT to do them. We need to practice hearing that small quiet voice, it has our best interest at heart. We need to feed the good wolf...

stay well

nonic

Quit Meter

$70,518.00

Amount Saved
Quit Meter

Days: 1543 Hours: 21

Minutes: 55 Seconds: 53

Life Gained
Quit Meter

6716

Smoke Free Days
Quit Meter

201,480

Cigarettes Not Smoked

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 618

Dear Nonic,

Many Congratulations for being honoured a second time around! I must say it is a well-deserved honour! Your well thought out posts are so inspiring.

Love Lolly.

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 880

Vincenza:

I hope all is well in your world. Thank you for your kind words. I hope that you find great satisfaction in doing this work. I am sure that it is frustrating at times, but the service that you and your companions provide is much appreciated by many...

stay well

nonic

Quit Meter

$70,518.00

Amount Saved
Quit Meter

Days: 1543 Hours: 21

Minutes: 55 Seconds: 53

Life Gained
Quit Meter

6716

Smoke Free Days
Quit Meter

201,480

Cigarettes Not Smoked

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 880

Pen:

So good to hear from you...And thanks for the congrats. I am so glad that you still come around after all this time. When I started here you had been at the site for awhile and it you where one of the original folks that I followed on my own quest for liberation...Thank you for your kind comments...

stay well

nonic

Quit Meter

$70,518.00

Amount Saved
Quit Meter

Days: 1543 Hours: 21

Minutes: 55 Seconds: 53

Life Gained
Quit Meter

6716

Smoke Free Days
Quit Meter

201,480

Cigarettes Not Smoked

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 880

Eyja:

Glad to hear about the time zone confusion on my part..No fun being up at 3 AM unless you have something positive going on...I want to answer this in a complete manner but am at this moment short on time...So I will revisit this once I get back from my current voyage of necessity...

stay well

nonic

Quit Meter

$70,518.00

Amount Saved
Quit Meter

Days: 1543 Hours: 21

Minutes: 55 Seconds: 53

Life Gained
Quit Meter

6716

Smoke Free Days
Quit Meter

201,480

Cigarettes Not Smoked

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 2534

Hey Nonic!!

Welcome to the "second-time-around" club. So richly deserved for your unstinting contribution here that you really ought to have been one of the first to be recognised in this way. Come to think of it, you are!!!

Many Congratulations!

Penitent

Quit Meter

$60,951.00

Amount Saved
Quit Meter

Days: 1263 Hours: 17

Minutes: 49 Seconds: 17

Life Gained
Quit Meter

5541

Smoke Free Days
Quit Meter

121,902

Cigarettes Not Smoked

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 823

Hello nonic;

Hmmm . . .okay. Now I'll need to re-read that reply of yours a few more times . . . I know therein lies much more than meets the eye first time 'round.

Very interesting observation regarding what our inner voice whispers, Vincenza. It is here that we need to put our ears to the heart and listen. I'm starting to see that, but to shine light on the deception (Umm ... ya; My Own, Darn it! as well as the hurt from Betrayal by others that leads to the deepest falsities that carry on & on it seems) is a bittersweet pill to swallow, and takes more courage than I knew I had before embarking on this journey to rid myself of the addictions you refer to. Sigh . . .

However, I must confess that I didn't write my post to you at 3:00 AM the other night. I live on the West Coast of BC in Canada, so am on Pacific Daylight Time Zone. The default time zone for the SSC site records my posts in Central Time, which is 3 hrs ahead. So I was just checking in to SSC at (my) midnite - I like to go to bed with positive thoughts and am always grateful for all I've been gifted from the richness of this site. Thank you again for your healing perspective and thoughtfulness nonic. I hope you put another of your stories up again soon - is the best medicine for bedtime reading : )

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1853

Hi nonic,

Always a pleasure to read your posts! Your insights help us to look within and examine where we are at in our journeys, whether it is to quit smoking or change other harmful habits in order to reach our personal goals.

Members,

What is your inner voice saying to you??

Vincenza, Health Educator

12 years ago 0 +0 / -0 880

Eyja:

Thank you very much for your kind words. I am most impressed that you wrote them at 3 in the morning. I do hope that that is part of your normal routine and you where not going through a sleepless night for some reason. In any case your thoughts are well appreciated.

Yes, I do believe that addiction in general is only a symptom of a much deeper problem for some people. I happen to be one of those and that is the well from which my verbal and written expression proceeds. Smoking, for me, is not simply a behavior pattern, it is a sign that something is missing or perhaps a bad answer to an ineffable question. That is what it was for me in any case.

Perhaps the proof of that is to look at smoking from a very objective point of view (something that is not always possible during addiction). Would a rational, reasonable person roll up a bunch of weeds in a chemically laced piece of paper, light it, and inhale the fumes? Of course not. The thought would not even come into the mind. But that is what we did.

No, I believe that all addictions are an attempt to answer difficult and perhaps impossible questions. It is a way of destroying the vessel (the body) in order to avoid experiencing its contents (soul, spirit, ghost within the machine). We all have a heart for the eternal. It is that small voice that is barely audible and yet speaks volumes to the ear that will hear. For some people that voice may be frightening or to obscure to identify, but I believe that it exists in all of us. It is the whisper that calls us to be the unique individual that each of us is.

stay well

nonic

Quit Meter

$70,518.00

Amount Saved
Quit Meter

Days: 1543 Hours: 21

Minutes: 55 Seconds: 53

Life Gained
Quit Meter

6716

Smoke Free Days
Quit Meter

201,480

Cigarettes Not Smoked

Reading this thread:

today's top discussions:

This Month’s Leaders:

Most Supportive

Most Active

Most Loved

Nonic, Hall of Fame Winner for March!