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Urge surfing

Happier Holidays with Club Soda Dealing with cravings Urge surfing

Building your physical resilience to deal with cravings helps, but what do you do when a craving hits you out of nowhere?

First of all, don’t panic. Remember that a craving is a sign that your body is learning something new. It is a normal and natural part of the process of change. And the craving you feel will pass. You must need to ride it out.

You can help yourself ride out a craving using a specific mindfulness technique known as urge surfing.

Surfing the urge

Imagine the craving as a wave that bobs you up and down as it moves towards the shore. However big the wave is, it will pass by and the sea will be calm again.

Try this when you feel a craving:

  • Close your eyes and focus on your breathing – calmly and naturally in and out
  • Don’t imagine you can fight the craving, any more than you can stop the wave rising – just notice it and then let it go
  • Remind yourself that even as the craving increases, it will ebb away again
  • Continue to focus on your breathing until your sense of calm returns.

Urge surfing takes practice and patience, so go through the sequence now, even if you’re not feeling a craving. Later, you’ll thank yourself that you did this.

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