I'm a huge fan of expressing gratitude, particularly as a tool to relieve stress.

I take a few minutes each night before going to sleep to acknowledge 3 things I'm grateful for. Particularly in times of stress, focusing on what we're grateful for is an effective way of putting things into perspective.

For instance, let's say you've had a tough day at work filled with long meetings, aggressive deadlines and difficult co-workers.

It's easy to ruminate on the stress for the rest of the night and this is what comes naturally to many of us. But consider what would happen if you took a step back and instead of focusing on the negatives, you focused on and expressed gratitude for all of the positives. Maybe you're grateful for having strong legs that allowed you to go on your morning run. Or perhaps you're grateful for being in a loving, supportive, healthy relationship with the person laying down next to you.

Making the shift from focusing on what you're NOT happy about to focusing on what you ARE happy about is very powerful and I encourage you to give it a try.