Urge Surfing: How To Resist The Urge To Gamble

When we experience addictive cravings, they usually come in waves. Waves that get more intense over time.

Some of us give in to these cravings and hope they go away but they always come back. Bigger and stronger than ever. Suppressing them doesn't help either.

Don't believe me, try this. Do your best to not think about a shark. No shark. Shark? What shark? Just block that image of the shark out of your head. Now what do you see?

Urge surfing is a great way to cope with recurring patterns of gambling addiction and it's not done with a surfboard but with your mind.

Instead of giving into gambling urges or suppressing those feelings, try mindfulness. By staying present and focusing on our breathing, we can ride out each way and watch as it passes.

It might be hard at first but gradually your brain starts to realise that these cravings eventually go away. That's right. Just breathe. Observe. Acknowledge.

So you can spend less time worried about gambling and more time to enjoy some actual surfing.