Your Ultimate Gift Of Love   by Rizal Shaik

This could be one of the most important article you will ever read.

Ahh, the Gift of Love. The gifts you would give your loved ones. The things you would get to express your love to the other person.

We go through this several times a year. Whether it is the gift for Valentine's Day, for your wedding anniversary, birthday or Christmas.

However, let's first ask the question - What price is love?

Can love be expressed by an expensive gift to our loved ones? Can love be adequately portrayed with just the utterance of "I Love You" and the serenade of a wonderful love song? Can love be measured by how expensive the dinner is or how exotic the holiday is going to be?

Yes, all these are manifestations of love. All these are ways to express our love. All these make us feel good and wanted. We need them once in a while to remind us of our love for each other.

But more often than not, the greatest expressions of love are typically the simple things in life. From the simple gestures of the eyebrows, the subtle nod of the head and the gentle stare of the eyes, all these exudes more warmth and love than most monetary gifts. These simple acts of love are what make a relationship lasts a lifetime.

In fact, if you are a smoker, the greatest gift of love you can give for your loved ones is to kick the bad habit. I consider this the Ultimate Gift Of Love. If you are really looking for that gift that really makes a difference to your life and the ones you love, then this is THE ONE. Please let me tell you why.

You know that your habit is killing you. You know your habit may also be killing your loved ones (through passive smoking). Yet you still do it. Why? It is simply because of your unwillingness to take action to overcome your addiction.

This brings up a real-life story. My wife has a colleague at work that she knows for several years. Several years back, her colleague volunteered for a retrenchment exercise at her company. Her colleague decided to quit and stay at home to spend more quality time with her three children. She was quite well off materially and could afford to do so. Things went well for a year and suddenly my wife heard the news that her colleague was hospitalized for lung cancer! How could this be? Her colleague is a non-smoker. She never smoked in her life. Regrettably, she found out later, it was her colleague's husband who was a heavy smoker. Her colleague is still undergoing cancer treatment and we hope that she recovers from it. She was only 44 years old when she got lung cancer.

It is indeed a tragedy that a lot of times we do not stop and think of the impact of our own actions on others. I am always amazed that it only takes the action of one member of the family to affect the fate and misery of the entire family. I am even more amazed that typically, this particular family member continues doing what he/she does and seemed totally oblivious to the impact that their actions have on the rest of the family. The irresponsible action of the colleague's husband has affected his wife, their three children and the wife's family. Do you think any expensive gift that he buys now will make a difference to her life and the rest of those affected?

There are many personal real-life examples I can give you. My father-in-law was also a smoker. He died of esophagus (windpipe) cancer at a young age of 46. I still remember the agony he caused my wife and her family while he was hospitalized. It weighed down heavily on them that they could do nothing about it.

My sister-in-law's father is also now stricken with lung cancer. He is waiting and hoping for a lung transplant. All his life he has been smoking. He was a businessman and used to make a lot of money. Now he is laying helplessly in hospital hoping that the cancer cells stop reproducing and desperate for some miracle. My sister-in-law is also thinking of how to raise the money for the operation. It is a huge sum and she is thinking of selling her house in order to do so.

How much reminder do we need before we take the right decision to quit smoking? How much pain do we need to see before we say enough is enough? How much time do we think we have to make that life-changing decision to stop smoking?

The fact of the matter is you just need the next minute of your life to decide. You just need to say I AM QUITTING TODAY! Do it now!

Remember, 90% of lung cancer occurs in those who have smoked. Each package of cigarettes delivers the equivalent of one chest x-ray. Isn't it time you said "no IF's, AND's or BUTT's" to smoking?

I sincerely hope that if you are a smoker, you take that decision TODAY to quit for good. Start today and you will be well on your way to a smoke-free, healthy life for the rest of your live.

This decision will then truly be your Ultimate Gift of Love for your loved ones.

About the Author

Rizal Shaik is the webmaster of a Quit Smoking website. Get your FREE Tips and Guide about how to quit smoking at QuitSmokingThisInstant.com. Take Back Your Life. Be Smoke-Free This Year!

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