The question on every smoker's yellowing lip will always be "Is there an easy way to quit smoking?" The instant answer to that would be yes, as there is a mountain of anecdotal evidence to suggest it is possible. There are millions of smokers who can testify that they packed in a long-term habit overnight, and never desired another cigarette again. The real question then, is how did they do it?

The answer is simple: if you wish to quit smoking easily, then you need to change your mindset. After years of smoking, your brain will be configured to believe that smoking is an integral part of you. As a former smoker myself, I know full well just how emotionally connected the smoker is to the cigarette, and this is something non-smokers often overlook. It's not just a question of willpower - it's about being able to sever the emotional links we have with the habit.

The fact is that nicotine is one of the least physically addictive drug substances out there. We can sleep for eight hours every night without our body waking us up in a cold sweat to smoke, which is more than can be said for a hard drug such as heroin. Although this sounds like a big claim to make, the amount of anecdotal evidence mentioned earlier should be testament to this. The smoking habit is not the nicotine habit - it is the psychologically addictive habit.

The easy way to quit smoking is to shake up the beliefs you associate with smoking. It's not enough to simply say it's bad for your health, because that is a rational fact. Smoking breeds irrational, emotional attachments, and it is those attachments which you have to perceive in a different way. No smoker is going to argue that smoking is good for their health, but many will claim that a cigarette helps them relax. This is an important difference to compute. Smokers have more irrational beliefs than they would think, and it's these irrational beliefs which have to be turned on their head in order for the habit to be left behind.

This calls upon a great deal of introspection. Head to the cafe with a notepad and pen and start writing about how you feel about smoking. Compare smoking to a girlfriend or boyfriend, if you will, because that's the level of emotional attachment most smokers will feel towards the habit. Start assessing how you feel about smoking and make a list of all the positives you feel smoking brings to your life. Then try to detach yourself and question these "positives". Before you started smoking you never had any need for these positives, so ask why you need them now.

Ultimately, if you want an easy way to stop smoking, then you need to realise that all that is really required is a re-wiring of your thinking patterns. You do not need gum, patches or any other gimmick. Such gimmicks only give you relief from the physical pain, but give almost nothing to soothe the emotional pain. You need to beat both the physical attachment and, particularly, the emotional attachment. If you can change the way you think about smoking, then you've taken a major step forward in your quest to kick the habit for good.