Want a more positive, encouraging Instagram feed? Then follow us!
@Living_Well_Community
@LoveLolaGraham
@RetireHealthier

Welcome to Living Well Daily, the newsletter serving up a daily dose of care designed to support you, cheer you on and remind you, always, just how wonderful you already are.

In Today’s Edition:

🥰Well-Being & Self-Care: Monday Healing Moment: Letting Your Heart Expand
💖Longevity & Wellness: Not All Relationships Help Well-Being
✨Daily Affirmation & Daily Prompt

Your worthiness is innate.
It is woven into every part of you.
Take a deep breath and allow yourself to feel it

Happy Monday 💛 Let’s begin this week by making a little more room in the heart.

Take a slow breath in. And a long, soft breath out. Bring your attention gently toward your chest.

Imagine your heart there, not as something fragile that must remain closed to stay safe, but as something living.

Something capable of stretching. Softening. Healing. Expanding.

Life gives us plenty of reasons to armour ourselves. And sometimes that armour is necessary.

But healing can also mean discovering that protection and openness don’t have to be opposites.

Your heart can have boundaries and still be soft. It can know grief and still welcome joy. It can have been hurt and still choose love.

With each breath, imagine creating just a little more room within you.

Room to care deeply. Room to receive love. Room for wonder, connection, compassion, hope.

Your heart does not have to become smaller because the world has sometimes been hard. It can become wiser and wider.

As you move into this week, notice the moments that invite your heart to open rather than close.

Take one more slow breath, feeling that gentle expansion.

May everything you’ve lived through deepen your capacity to love without asking you to disappear inside it.

^{Love, Lola Graham}

We’ve talked a lot about the health benefits of social connection, but there's another side to that equation.

A review of 28 peer-reviewed studies found that negative social interactions may actually have a stronger effect on psychological well-being than positive ones. In 19 of those 28 studies, harmful interactions outweighed the benefits of supportive ones.

Some researchers also argue that the absence of negative interactions may matter more for mental health than the presence of positive ones.

This means that quality over quantity applies here just as much as anywhere else in health, as a large social network isn't automatically a healthy one. A small network of genuinely supportive relationships consistently outperforms a large one riddled with conflict or negativity.

✅ Action Step: Take a look at the relationships in your life and assess which relationships fill your cup and which drain it.

^{By: Joshua Graham | Source: PMID: 26594064}

^{A gentle prompt to help you create small feel good moments of beauty, appreciation, and delight.}

Notice a moment where you felt connected instead of alone, even briefly.

Before you go, let us know what you thought of today’s edition and if there are any subjects you would like us to cover in the future reply to this email and let us know!

If you find our newsletter helpful, we’d love for you to share it with a friend! If you’re that friend, you can subscribe here. Thanks for spreading the word! xo

With love and care,

Lola & Joshua | The Living Well Team

^{Living Well Daily is for educational purposes only and is in no way a substitute for professional medical and mental health advice and diagnosis. Please consult a qualified professional for care unique to your needs.}

^{Remember: It’s okay to ask for help. Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988 (Canada & US).}