COPD Expert Jim Christopher shares COPD management news and commentary at COPDConnection.com. The HealthCentral Network, Inc. (www.HealthCentral.com) is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092 http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092 http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/78690/consequences Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:35:00 -0400 Jim Christopher When icons die -- especially one after the other, e.g., Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett, and the legendary Michael Jackson -- we, at least momentarily, tend to focus on our own mortality. Life in progress or finite follies as I sometimes call it, can include powerful addictive disorders. When celebrities croak, we may feel more vulnerable than usual and that's a moment of opportunity to address a long-entrenched nicotine enslavement and to take... http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/78690/consequences http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/74238/times-smoking Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:11:00 -0400 Jim Christopher Challenging times can mean increased sales for cigarette companies but scary stuff can also bring folks into the light, catapulting them back to basics. There are, after all, exciting endorphin-producing alternatives like healthy exercise, both singularly and in groups.   Our communities already have low-cost and free support systems in place via local nonprofit agencies, churches, synagogues, youth groups, support for families,... http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/74238/times-smoking http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/69823/resurrection Tue, 05 May 2009 15:11:00 -0400 Jim Christopher I was very pleased with the second annual International Festival of Recovery, held all day Saturday, April 25, 2009, in the Center for Inquiry, Los Angeles. Secular Organizations for Sobriety/Save Our Selves (SOS), founded by yours truly in 1985, celebrated 24 years of service at this well-attended event. SOS is an alternative to faith-based, 12-step groups. SOS welcomes all persons struggling with addictive disorders, including folks who... http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/69823/resurrection http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/67441/empowerment Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:42:00 -0400 Jim Christopher Please ask yourself a question; this is a crucial query concerning chances of success in stopping smoking: Do you have a strong desire to stop; to free yourself from cigarette-after-cigarette? Has your slavery to smokes become a real drag? Are you at a point - no matter how you've arrived - to reach out for real, for you, no matter what? It's not unusual, not uncommon to reach this power point with cigarette-in-hand, ash tray by... http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/67441/empowerment http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/67278/addiction Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:36:00 -0400 Jim Christopher The 10th Annual Funeral for the unknown Smoker - which I began back in the day, will again be an important component in our 2nd Annual Festival of Recovery, this year to be held in the popular Steve Allen Theater at the Center for Inquiry, Los Angeles, on April 25th.     The idea is to present - under one roof - all the addiction recovery resources we can for a full day so that folks who seek help can find help.... http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/67278/addiction http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/65812/glamour Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:07:00 -0400 Jim Christopher The following fantasy had great appeal to me back in the day: We close friends - tortured, creative, young, exuberant, inquisitive, out to make our mark on the world - meet at a dark coffee shop, cigarettes ablaze, each individual holding forth, till the wee hours, perhaps till dawn, reluctant to leave in our separate cars, exhilarated and exhausted.   Or, road trip: We, young and Kerouacesque, drive cross-country, sharing... http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/65812/glamour http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/64694/cigarette Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:07:00 -0400 Jim Christopher If you've been contemplating quitting smoking of late and you live alone, put cigarette realness in your face - so to speak. Save a favorite ashtray full of butts; don't dump this toxic treasure, spiriting it out of sight as though it never happened. It does happen and it's been a very real part of your life for some years now, hasn't it? OK. Keep an accumulating array of butts-in-trays around. That's right. Showcase this growing collection... http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/64694/cigarette http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/62709/bring-smoking Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:54:00 -0400 Jim Christopher I had a bad dream last night: collective human excrement seeped from an overflowing toilet inside a tiny rickety shack covering the floor in broad daylight as well-dressed impatient embarrassed parent figures accompanied by important friends with frozen, disapproving smiles, awaited my delayed emergence as I anxiously searched for decent (acceptable) clothing - shoes, etc. - all the while attempting to clean away, hide the hideous... http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/62709/bring-smoking http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/57982/addiction-isn Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:22:00 -0500 Jim Christopher If your initial seduction re: smoking cigarettes, a pipe, a cigar, or even sniffing snuff has long gone away, then why haven't you stopped? Rather than a mindless repetition of a behavior that one could -- with minor annoyance -- change, i.e., dump, you most likely keep smoking due to a powerful cellular addiction to nicotine, accompanied by mindless associated behaviors/rituals: fumbling for a familiar pack of smokes, lighting up,... http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/57982/addiction-isn http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/56851/necessarily Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:54:00 -0500 Jim Christopher I suspect halting an addiction to cigarettes (and other drugs, for that matter) happens most effectively, solidly, enduringly when an individual experiences (develops) a gut-level revulsion (aversion) for same in this respect: he or she emotionally and intellectually catapults (or gradually pushes) cigarette smoking into the same arena as "immediate flight" stuff, e.g., yanking one's hand away from a roaring fire or escaping as fast as humanly... http://www.healthcentral.com/copd/c/91092/56851/necessarily