First of all, try and keep calm and remind yourself that a cravingA craving is a real, physical experience we get when we change our drinking, which the mind interprets as needing a drink. More is a growing pain – a sign that your body is learning something new – that will likely pass in about 30 minutes, and it’s a normal and natural part of the process of change.
To help you ride it out, try this specific mindfulness technique known as urgeUrges are that overwhelming feeling of needing or wanting a drink. They can happen after a craving or a trigger. More surfing.
Imagine the cravingA craving is a real, physical experience we get when we change our drinking, which the mind interprets as needing a drink. More 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 cravingA craving is a real, physical experience we get when we change our drinking, which the mind interprets as needing a drink. More:
- close your eyes and focus on your breathing – calmly and naturally in and out
- don’t imagine you can fight the cravingA craving is a real, physical experience we get when we change our drinking, which the mind interprets as needing a drink. More any more than you can stop the wave rising – just notice it and then let it go
- remind yourself that even as the cravingA craving is a real, physical experience we get when we change our drinking, which the mind interprets as needing a drink. More increases, it will ebb away again
- continue to focus on your breathing until your sense of calm returns.
UrgeUrges are that overwhelming feeling of needing or wanting a drink. They can happen after a craving or a trigger. More surfing takes practice and patience, so go through the sequence now, even if you’re not feeling a cravingA craving is a real, physical experience we get when we change our drinking, which the mind interprets as needing a drink. More. Later, you’ll thank yourself that you did this.