Having a baby is a time of pivotal change. The world will never be the same. You are embarking on the journey of a lifetime together. Much will be spontaneous and unexpected, yet there is also something of a roadmap for this journey already written deep into your being.

It’s no accident that it occurs to so many parents who smoke that this is the time to stop. Whether it’s when parents first learn they are expecting a baby, or when they glimpse their baby on ultrasound, or first gaze into their baby’s eyes, or when their little one first laughs out loud – somehow instinct, inspiration, will, and power often combine to change stubborn, pleasurable, physically and psychologically ingrained habits.

The desire to protect your baby and set a good example becomes even stronger than the addiction to smoking. You want your body and your home to be welcoming and healthy environments. The future matters in a new and living way.

If you also happen to notice a larger smokestack: that our culture has been addicted to, a different kind of smoking (burning oil, in its many forms – from fossil fuels in our cars, to those in our wall sockets, to foods grown with oil-based fertilizers and pesticides), this realization might activate even deeper instinct, grander inspiration, tougher will, and greater power.

And it doesn’t stop there…

Read the entire chapter in Raising Baby Green.