Coaching practices for Urges Are Normal
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Urges Are Normal, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- The urge shows up as this relentless voice in my head making the case for why I should just do it, and as long as I’m arguing with the thought it owns me
- The urges seem to come out of nowhere, but I’m starting to suspect they don’t
- When a craving hits it feels like it’ll just keep climbing forever until I give in
- The craving to pour the drink, raid the fridge, send the message lands like it absolutely cannot wait
- The second I feel a craving I start beating myself up for being so weak, and the shame somehow makes me want the thing even more
Practices that may help
- Locate the urge in your body
Track where the urge lives physically — in tension, heat, agitation — rather than engaging with the thought that wants you to act.
Ride the Wave (Urge Management), Made Practical - Map your urge triggers
Know the specific situations, emotions, and states that reliably trigger your urges — so you can intervene before they crest.
Ride the Wave (Urge Management), Made Practical - Understand the anatomy of an urge
Learn that urges have a beginning, a peak, and an end — and that acting on or fighting them changes the arc.
Ride the Wave (Urge Management), Made Practical - Urge Surfing: Riding Out the Impulse Without Acting
Treat an urge to act impulsively like a wave — observe it rise and fall without being swept away.
The STOP Skill: A DBT Technique for Crisis Moments - Meet the urge without judging yourself
Treat having an urge as normal and human, not as evidence of weakness.
Urge Surfing: Riding the Wave of a Craving - Ride the Wave (Urge Management), Made Practical
"Riding the wave" is a mindfulness-based urge management technique: rather than acting on an urge or fighting it, you observe it as a rising and falling wave of physical sensation, without doing anything. Urges are time-limited; if not acted upon or fought, they peak and subside. The technique has observational support specifically in addiction contexts (urge surfing), and the underlying mechanism — that urges are temporary physiological events — is consistent with mindfulness and DBT research. - Surf the urge to avoid instead of obeying it
Treat the avoidance impulse as a wave to observe and outlast, not a command to obey.
Embracing Discomfort: Turning Resistance Into Growth - Postpone rather than eliminate reassurance-seeking
When you feel the urge to check or ask, wait 20 minutes first — and usually the urge passes.
Accepting Uncertainty: The Core Skill in CBT for GAD - Observe without obeying
Watch the urge fully — feel its pull, note its strength — without doing anything it demands.
Ride the Wave (Urge Management), Made Practical - Surf the escape urge without acting on it
Treat the urge to flee as a wave — it rises, peaks, and falls without requiring your action.
Panic Surfing
Related concerns
- Urges Pass
Track where the urge lives physically — in tension, heat, agitation — rather than engaging with the thought that wants you to act.
Locate the urge in your body
- Mindful Urge Management
Track where the urge lives physically — in tension, heat, agitation — rather than engaging with the thought that wants you to act.
- Nonjudgmental Urge
Track where the urge lives physically — in tension, heat, agitation — rather than engaging with the thought that wants you to act.
- Physical Sensation Urge
Track where the urge lives physically — in tension, heat, agitation — rather than engaging with the thought that wants you to act.
- Ride The Urge
Track where the urge lives physically — in tension, heat, agitation — rather than engaging with the thought that wants you to act.
- Ride The Wave Urge Surfing
"Riding the wave" is a mindfulness-based urge management technique: rather than acting on an urge or fighting it, you observe it as a rising and falling wave of physical sensation, without doing anything. Urges are time-limited; if not acted upon or fought, they peak and subside. The technique has observational support specifically in addiction contexts (urge surfing), and the underlying mechanism — that urges are temporary physiological events — is consistent with mindfulness and DBT research.
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