Smoking myths and misconceptions

2nd June 2012

There is green everywhere. The trees are in full leaf and the beauty of the snow covered landscapes is difficult for the imagination to recapture. I once considered the winter scenery to be impossible to improve on but it really is very beautiful even after the all covering snow has gone.

Distant yellow fields are mistaken for rapeseed but on approaching, dandelions reveal themselves. These are no normal dandelions or except they are but just bigger - I have seen some with up to seven flowers on one plant with stalks nearly two feet long. A field that is yellow one day will appear green the next if the sun is not out. The next sunny day, the flowers open up again and the field is returned to its magnificent yellow once again.

Why is there such an abundance of these plants that we consider to be such a nuisance? Perhaps it is to do with the chemicals used back home in the UK.

There is certainly no shortage of the good old fashioned bumble bee here either. On a walk with the kids the other day, we came across a bank of dandelions and upon seeing them the kids jumped in and started collecting arm-fulls of them. They would occasionally pull back to the verge edge and move on very calmly. Nothing was said, there was no panic; they were just reacting to a normal occurrence - a bumble bee collecting nectar from a flower.

That's something I haven't seen for a long time.

...

It's been a week now since I gave up smoking and I am surprised with how easy it has been.

The main myth about smoking is that the habit helps us to relax and is good for stress. The opposite couldn't be more true. We all know about the poisons and nasty additives included in tobacco but putting this aside, let's just break this one myth. When a cigarette is smoked, the body's supply of vitamin C and calcium are diminished and it is exactly these elements that the body needs to improve relaxation and lessen stress. In times of stress, rather than reaching for a cigarette, instead go for an orange juice. If you make sure your vitamin C and calcium levels are sufficiently boosted, stress should not be an issue. All that smoking does is add to the problem rather than solving it.

I remember now taking up smoking again after an abstinence of three years. I was working the night shift at Goldman Sachs on Fleet Street in London. Starting at 10 at night and finishing at 6 in the morning, it was a hellish experience driving to and from work through the dark London winter nights with the riches of the British Empire staring down on me in my beat up old VW; the great wealth built up by our ancestors based on slavery, wars and plundering. I felt very depressed by the whole situation of being back in the UK and away from my loving Japan.

I thought to myself, 'It was easy giving up smoking last time. If I start smoking again, I will be able to stop whenever I like.' But after starting again, the nasty little addiction didn't allow me to think about giving up and so a number of years has passed since I took up the habit again.

What I had anticipated to be an endless chant of encouragement backed up with positive thoughts and images turned out to be an occasional pang followed by a simple, 'I'm happy to be a non-smoker.' I felt no desire to smoke when I smelt the lingering remains of a cigarette on a passer by although the smoke from someone nearby prompted a slightly stronger chant than usual, 'I'm happy I don't smoke. Look at that poor person.'

The clear head in the morning and the smell of fresh cut grass and the blossom on the trees as I go upstairs to bed are encouragement enough to stay the course.