 There are always negative stressors in life, sometimes much more than others, and these stressors can affect our mood, energy levels, anxiety, and overall outlook. I want to share one simple practice I've made part of my daily routine that has helped me get through some of my most difficult times. When I wake up in the morning, I have the tendency to want to open up my phone or my computer and read through emails, go through social media, and check all the latest news headlines. I could literally spend hours doing that, but I noticed that the tone I set for myself in the morning influences my mood, my energy levels, and my resilience throughout the rest of the day. Because of that, I realized that setting the right attitude and tone in the beginning of the day is so important, and an attitude of gratitude is what I found empowers me the most. So the first thing I do when I wake up is I sit down, open up my journal, and write down five to ten things I'm grateful for, and I try to make them different every day. Gratitude reminds me of the things I do have, things like my life, health, medicine, food, running water, family, friends, loved ones, and my dog Duke. Instead of fixating on the things I don't have, gratitude helps take me out of my own immediate circumstances. It gives me the opportunity to see the bigger picture, instead of just me or just today. Gratitude trains me to focus on the positive things. It helps me become more solution-oriented instead of just fixating on the problems. The result of all these things together is an elevation in my mood, and in my energy, and a reduction in overall stress and anxiety. Gratitude journaling is something that I've done for a very long time, and it's something that I see myself doing consistently every day for the foreseeable future. I hope this video and the idea of gratitude journaling as a part of our daily morning routine helps you as much as it has helped me, and I'm grateful that you took the time to watch.