Pubs and restaurants in Beijing were supposed to stop smoking. Then there was a big uproar and China had to allow smoking in the end, despite the Olympics.

Clearly this was a PR exercise that failed. But the point is, most people do not associate athletics with smoking. Just like you would not associate healthy living with smoking. Put it this way, if you were to choose a new doctor, would you feel confident choosing a doctor who smokes? If you were to visit a hypnotherapist, would you feel assured of the outcome with a hypnotist who smoked?

Although smacking of Big Brother, it does actually make sense to stop smoking in restaurants and bars, I have just come to Cape Town in South Africa from London in the UK. In Cape Town, smoking is allowed in bars and restaurants. Some restaurants make an attempt to make a non-smoking section, the rare coffee bar is non-smoking, but most bars and restaurants frankly stink. In London, smoking was banned in all public places last year, and it is a pleasure now to go out for a drink or a meal. There was initially much worry about going smoke-free. Businesses were worried about losing custom. However, in the UK most people are non-smokers now, and so this was a great deal easier.

And despite the health risks, in Cape Town, just like Beijing, there is a need for a drug. Nicotine happens to be a perfect drug. It calms you when you need calming, wakes you when you need to be alert, is easily delivered into the body, and is legally available.

Smoking is a coping mechanism. Smoking takes the not-Fun out of life and the smoker is left with Fun. Smoking takes the not-Happy out of life so the smoker is left with Happy. Without smoking, the smoker is faced with a great deal of not-Fun and not-Happy, and life is very grim indeed. People need to be healthy. However, they also need to be happy. Sometimes being happy is more important than being healthy. Why should it matter if you die early of cancer or a heart attack, if you have lived a happy life? And who actually wants to live a long and miserable life?

This is why nicotine replacement and various wonder pills alone fail. When the smoker is given ways to be naturally happy, such as with EFT, hypnosis, or meditation, then they can finally be calmly free from smoking. And when a nation is healed, when it becomes stronger from within, you get smoke-free restaurants. It really is a holistic matter.

China has a great deal of trauma from the past, as does Cape Town. The pain of the people needs the balm of nicotine. I sincerely hope that one day, this pain will release. With this release, there will no longer be a need for cigarettes. And then China can rest assured that its bars and restaurants will be smoke-free.

Suzanne Zacharia

Author and Stop Smoking Expert