Urge Surfing

Urge surfing is a technique that can be used to avoid acting on any behavior that you want to reduce or stop. Some examples of behaviors may be: smoking, over-eating, substance use, spending, lashing out at someone, etc.

Some facts about urges

1. Urges rarely last longer than 30 minutes if you don’t “feed” them. We feed urges through ruminating, giving them attention, planning to fulfill them, engaging in apparently irrelevant and unimportant behaviors, justifying, etc. Urges will pass on their own if we allow them to.

2. Suppressing a thought, feeling or sensation ultimately increases it. Fighting urges (even by trying to talk oneself out of them or distracting from them) often makes them bigger.

3. When urges grow, it can feel like they are never-ending until you give in to them.

4. The mindfulness understanding of urges is that you can’t get rid of them—you can practice ways to accept them and ride them out without giving in to them.

Purpose of urge surfing

1. Whatever you repeat gets stronger, and whatever you don’t repeat gets weaker. If you ruminate on the urge, it will likely grow. If you practice urge surfing, then your ability to surf the urge will likely increase and improve.

2. With urge surfing, you can learn to experience the urges in a new way and to "ride them out" until they subside.

Tips for success:

1. Try to only surf one urge at a time. Making changes is challenging and we only have a limited capacity for willpower and self-regulation at any one time. If you try to make too many changes at once, you will deplete your self-regulation reserves and you will likely decrease your effectiveness.

2. Use “reducing vulnerability” skills (treat physical illness, balance eating, balance sleep, avoid mood-altering substances, get exercise and build mastery) so that you are not depleted as you work toward not giving in to urges.

3. Studies show that willpower is strengthened the more we practice self-regulation (what we practice and repeat can grow). With practice, you will become more skilled at urge surfing.

4. Praising yourself for trying even if you don’t have success will help you to stay motivated in order to continue working toward your goal.