One of those ...ummmm ... moments

So yesterday I was working with a Smoking Cessation Client and was using a technique that I learned where you have the person imagine that they are a 6 year old little girl or boy. In my case since my client was female a 6 year old little girl. Now the idea here is to have her imagine herself as a 6 year old little girl wearing a very special pretty dress or sweater or something that she had been given as a present and then say now as an adult you know how silly it would look if you came out wearing that pretty dress with a cigarette hanging out your mouth. Isn't it silly for you to want to smoke now. (I've condensed it just to save space here, those of you that have used this will know that it's more detailed)

Anyway, so I have the client nice and deep and I go into this.
Me: Can you remember when you were about 6 or so and perhaps were given a special present, maybe a pretty dress or pretty outfit?
Client: Yes
Me: OK what were you given that was a special present
Client: A gun and holster

Now come on there was no way I could go on with "wouldn't it look silly to see a cigarette hanging out of you mouth while wearing that guy and holster" all that ran through my mind was "The Marlboro Man" (big grin)

Yep, I had to take a deep breath, reframe my thoughts without laughing outloud and then ask if there was another time that she received a peice of clothing that she really loved and she came up with a "pretty pink sweater when she was 17" so again, since she started at 16 I went...bugger....but then went with the wouldn't it have been a shame to ruin that pretty sweater with ashes or a burn, and how many clothes have you ruined since then.

Thinking about it now I guess I could have used the gun and holster and connected it with maybe, how guns kill and so do cigarettes, hmmm.

But it sure as heck gave me a chuckle and my husband when I told him what happened. Being in our career field you definitely have to know how to "think on your feet" as it were.