.Letters to the Editor/"Ask Mark" Q & A

The letter so touched me that I felt compelled to write back to him, and later, decided to publish the letter on the PresMark website. I’ve asked him if it was okay to use his name here, and he said yes.

So here is, with only a little editing out of the purchasing information, a letter from Terry King, followed by my reply.

Dear Mark,

As a long time smoker who has tried the patches, gum, cold turkey, etc., without success, I was convinced that I might not be able to quit. I have the desire to quit. I just haven’t had enough willpower. It is my hope that your book will be the answer I am looking for.

Thank you in advance for helping me quit a life long "bad" habit.

 Sincerely,

 Terry L. King

Renton, WA

Dear Terry,

Sorry I couldn't see your new site. I'll be back when the "construction" is completed. Just let me know.

As to your order for our book, "How to Quit Smoking Without Willpower or Struggle", your payment was received today, and your book will go out by "Priority Mail" on Monday morning. You should receive it by Thursday's mail, at the latest.

I was very pleased to receive your letter with your order. Usually, if there is any message at all, it's just "Send my book to...". It made me feel very personal about this order, and very pleased to know that I am going to help you make one of the biggest positive differences in your life. When you said, "I was convinced that I might not be able to quit," I knew exactly what you were feeling. BEEN THERE...FELT THAT! In fact, that was the feeling that motivated the information in this book. You see, I didn't just end the habit last month or last year, I did this twenty years ago. I've just now gotten around to putting it on paper for my daughter, who is in the same predicament as I was then, as you are now. When I started reading and editing it, I realized I had something to share with more than my family, I had something I must share with the world.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not the crusading type. But on this subject, I just may be the most educated person in the world right now. I know that's a huge brag, but in all my research, I have not been able to find any other material that approaches the solution to this addiction the way you will find in this book.

What you will find is that you will not be attacking your smoking. You may do all of that you want...you REALLY want. What this system attacks is your "wanting" to smoke. Doesn't it make sense that if you no longer wanted to smoke, you simply wouldn't? Yet every other system ignores this facet and tries to get one not to smoke IN SPITE of the wanting. They try to sublimate the wanting with patches and gum, or just FIGHT it by going "cold turkey". But has anyone ever asked you just to examine why you smoke? Asked you to ask yourself, why this cigarette now? Has anyone ever suggested that the decision to become a smoker was made and implanted deep into your subconscious many, many years ago, and that you can go back in time (in your mind) and CHANGE THAT DECISION? Think about it. If you hadn't decided to smoke back then, would you be smoking now?

You will find in the book a statement that I know from years of being a clinical hypno-therapist to be true. It is this. "We cannot change the past, but we can change the way we remember it, and how those memories affect our lives today." I cannot believe this to be a revolutionary concept, yet nowhere in my research have I seen any suggestion of going back into past memories and changing the decision to be a smoker. AND IT WORKS!!! I smoked for sixteen years, nearly a carton a week. Not only can I not clearly remember doing it, but have a hard time believing that I wanted to. I was, as you and every other smoker in the world now is, hypnotized! Yes, hypnotized to believe that sucking toxic, chemically saturated smoke from a burning weed wrapped in chemically treated paper every day of my life, nearly every waking hour, would somehow make me happier, sexier, more attractive, and (the worst lie) more mature, when exactly the opposite was true.

Okay, enough for now. If I keep going, I'll wind up making this into another whole book just for you.

Please keep me informed as to your progress, and if you need me, call my toll-free number (888) 720-7206 pin 2093, and leave me a message. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Leave the best time to call.

Sincerely wishing you the best of luck, and the most of commitment!

 That’s our Letters to the Editor column for this first issue. I hope that by the next issue, which will be out by the first week of November, we have our box full of letters to answer. If you have any questions, or if you have any answers, let us know. We’ve got the space for you, right here.