When Mother’s Day Doesn’t Feel So Simple: A Tool for Mental Wellness and Resiliency

While everyone has a mother, not everyone has a mother to celebrate. For some, the day brings joy, brunches, cards, and gratitude. For others, it’s marked by grief, estrangement, longing, or painful memories. That’s why today, instead of focusing solely on the holiday, I’d like to offer a gift that can benefit almost everyone, no matter how you feel about this day: the practice of tapping for mental wellness and resiliency.

I first learned about tapping—also known as EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)—when my 18-year-old son Luke was diagnosed with leukemia. A therapist who specialized in working with parents of children with cancer introduced me to The Tapping Solution, and it became a lifeline during some of the darkest days of my life. It helped me move through fear, helplessness, and overwhelming sadness. Tapping became more than just a tool; it became a companion in healing.

Tapping is a simple, self-administered technique that combines ancient Chinese acupressure with modern psychology. By gently tapping on specific points on the body—like the side of the hand, eyebrows, or under the eye—while focusing on a particular emotion, thought, or belief, tapping can help calm the nervous system and rewire the brain’s response to stress.

What can tapping help with? Almost everything.

Tapping has been used to:

Calm anxiety and stress
Improve sleep
Relieve chronic pain
Support trauma recovery
Improve performance in sports or academics
Navigate relationship struggles
Aid in weight management
Help manage grief, sadness, or fear
Motivate action and restore a sense of control

It covers one of the most exhausting and far-reaching ranges of mental health needs I’ve ever seen in a single coping skill—and I’ve spent over two decades in the field of mental health.

So whether today is a day of celebration or one you’d rather skip entirely, I invite you to try tapping. It’s gentle. It’s empowering. And it’s something you can do on your own.

You can learn more by visiting The Tapping Solution’s website, watching their YouTube videos, or downloading their app, which has guided tapping meditations for anxiety, grief, confidence, and more.

Be kind to yourself today. And always.

With care,
Christina,NP