Today I want to share a short story with you about gratitude.
This well-known parable is a great reminder to practice being grateful every single day:
A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which read, "I am blind, please help."
There were only a few coins in the hat - spare change from folks as they hurried past.
If this resonates, our full guide to tapping for confidence and our confidence and performance articles continue the thread.
A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. Then he put the sign back in the boy's hand so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.
Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.
That afternoon, the man who had changed the sign returned to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"
The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way."
I wrote, "Today is a beautiful day, but I cannot see it."
Both signs spoke the truth. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second sign conveyed to everyone walking by how grateful they should be to see...
When your life seems full of troubles, it seems difficult to maintain an attitude of gratitude, doesn't it? All we see are our problems, like a blackened storm cloud casting a dark shadow over our lives. If that sounds like where you are right now, tapping for anxiety relief is often the gentler place to start before gratitude feels reachable again.
And the times when everything just seems to be going smoothly? We often take these precious moments for granted too, don't we? Caught up in the bliss, comfort, and familiarity of it all, we can simply forget to be thankful.
Free. The best place to start.
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Join the free summitSo what, then, is gratitude?
Simply put, gratitude is a habit. It's a way of looking at the world and all the good things in it with a feeling of appreciation, regardless of whether or not your current situation is to your liking.
Gratitude is a heart-centered approach to being at peace with yourself and with all you have. When you practice this feeling of gratitude, it attracts even MORE things into your life for which to be grateful.
Go ahead, try it out right now. What or who do you have in your life to be thankful for? :)
A 2-minute gratitude tapping round
Some days gratitude just isn't there, no matter how hard you try to feel it. That's normal, and it's exactly what tapping is good for. This short round helps you open the door to gratitude instead of forcing your way through it.
Start with your setup statement, said three times while tapping the karate chop point on the side of your hand:
- "Even though I'm having a hard time feeling grateful right now, I deeply and completely accept myself."
- "Even though it's hard to see the good today, I accept myself and how I feel."
- "Even though gratitude feels far away right now, I'm open to feeling it again."
Then move through the eight points, saying a short phrase at each one:
- Eyebrow. "It's hard to feel grateful right now."
- Side of eye. "So much is going on."
- Under eye. "I can't see the good today."
- Under nose. "And that's okay."
- Chin. "I don't have to force it."
- Collarbone. "I'm willing to notice one small good thing."
- Under arm. "Even one small thing counts."
- Top of head. "I choose to stay open to gratitude."
Take a breath. Notice one small thing you're grateful for right now, even if it's tiny. That's the whole practice. For more phrases you can use, see our guide to EFT tapping phrases.
5 gratitude exercises you can do today
Gratitude works best as a habit, not a one-time effort. Here are five simple ways to build it into your day. Pick one and start there.
| Exercise | Time | How |
|---|---|---|
| Three good things | 2 minutes | Before bed, write down three things that went well today, even small ones. |
| Gratitude jar | 1 minute a day | Write one thing you're grateful for on a slip of paper and drop it in a jar. Read them back on a hard day. |
| Thank-you note | 5 minutes | Write a short note to someone who helped you, and tell them exactly what it meant. |
| Gratitude walk | 10 minutes | Walk outside and name what you notice as you go: the sun, a friendly face, the air in your lungs. |
| Gratitude tapping | 2 minutes | Use the tapping round above, especially on the days gratitude feels out of reach. |
Why gratitude is hard when you're stressed
If you've ever tried to feel grateful while your mind was racing, you know it doesn't work very well. That's not a personal failing. When your body is in a stressed, on-alert state, it's busy scanning for problems. Gratitude needs a calmer state to actually take hold.
This is why tapping and gratitude work so well together. Tapping helps your body step out of that alarmed state first. Once your system settles, gratitude has somewhere to land instead of bouncing off. If stress is the bigger issue for you right now, tapping for anxiety relief is a good place to start, and our tapping points chart shows you exactly where to tap.
What our data shows
Inside The Tapping Solution App, people rate how they're feeling from 0 to 10 before and after every session. We've measured that shift across more than 18 million sessions.
A peer-reviewed study of 270,461 App users (Church & Stapleton, 2020, published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth) found an average drop of 44% in anxiety and 45% in stress after a single session. Less stress and less anxiety both make more room for gratitude to actually land.
If you want to feel this for yourself, try Intro to Tapping free in the App.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a simple gratitude exercise?
The simplest one is three good things: before bed, write down three things that went well today, even small ones. It takes about two minutes and it's enough to start shifting your focus toward what's good.
How do I practice gratitude daily?
Pick one exercise, like a gratitude jar or a short gratitude walk, and do it at the same time each day. Consistency matters more than length. A short daily practice beats a long one you only do once.
Does gratitude actually reduce stress?
Gratitude and stress work against each other, so building more of one tends to ease the other. In our app, people rate how they feel before and after every tapping session, and across more than 18 million sessions we see a real drop. Less stress in your body makes it easier for gratitude to actually land.
What if I don't feel grateful?
That's more common than you'd think, and it's okay. Don't force it. Start small: name one tiny thing, even something as simple as a warm cup of coffee. If nothing comes to mind, try the 2-minute gratitude tapping round above first, then come back to the question.
How long does it take to work?
A single practice can shift how you feel in a couple of minutes. Lasting change, where gratitude becomes more automatic, tends to show up after a few weeks of daily practice. Both are worth doing.
Can kids do this?
Yes. Kids often take to gratitude naturally. Try a family gratitude jar, or ask each person at dinner to share one good thing from their day. Simplified tapping works well with kids too. Just keep the words short and let them use their own.
Until next time,
Keep Tapping!
Nick Ortner
If you want to build on this, my book The Tapping Solution for Manifesting Your Greatest Self goes deeper on gratitude as a practice, not just a moment.
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- Fall asleep faster and sleep better
- Boost productivity, stay motivated
- Relieve chronic or occasional pain
- Release anger, find peace
