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: Releasing the Limits You’ve Outgrown
💖Longevity & Wellness: The Simplest Way to Measurably Lower Stress
✨Daily Affirmation & Daily Prompt

We hope your week is as marvellous as you are!
Ps. You can do whatever you set your mind to.

Happy Monday 💛 Before this week begins to take shape, let’s create space by releasing what no longer fits.

Take a slow breath in. And a long, steady breath out.
Let your shoulders soften. Let yourself arrive.

Now call to mind an old belief you’re holding.
A limitation that you’re ready to let go of.
Maybe it’s a quiet voice that says “I can’t,” “I’m not ready,” or “this isn’t for me.”

Notice how it feels to carry that.
And then… gently question it.

Is it still true? (Maybe it never was or you’ve outgrown it.)
Or is it something you learned in a different time… a different version of you?

You’ve grown since then. What once protected you… may now be holding you back.

You don’t have to force anything. You don’t have to leap into something you’re not ready for.

But you can begin to loosen your grip. Imagine that limitation softening. Creating just a little more space around it.

Space for possibility. Space for curiosity. Space for a new way of seeing yourself.

See if you can soften a little further.
Maybe releasing some muscle tension, unclenching just a little.
Maybe even imagining brushing away, releasing, or throwing out some (or all) of the energy of that old belief. 

This week, you don’t have to carry every old story forward.

Some beliefs can be questioned. Some can be rewritten. Some can be released.

Take one more slow breath.
Letting go just a little more on the exhale.

You are allowed to grow beyond the limits you once believed.

You are powerful and can set yourself free.

^{Love, Lola Graham}

One of the most effective stress-relief tools is outside your door. A study followed 36 people who live in an urban environment over eight weeks and measured their cortisol (the body's primary stress hormone) before and after spending time in nature. Participants were free to choose the time, place, and duration, as long as it was somewhere they genuinely felt a connection with nature.

The researchers found that just 20 minutes was enough to significantly lower the participants’ cortisol levels. The sweet where cortisol dropped at its greatest rate, about 21% per hour beyond the hormone's natural daily decline, was between 20-30 mins in nature. It is important to note that the benefits kept building after that, however, more slowly. So, more time in nature will continue to provide benefits

It is important to note that "nature" here did not mean a remote forest. A backyard, a city park, a tree-lined street all worked; what mattered was that it gave participants a sense of being in nature. So for yourself, think of what places you feel a connection to nature, and those would be spots that benefit you from spending time in.

In a world where stress is easy to trigger, this is one of the simplest, most affordable and accessible tools you have to lower stress and feel better.

✅ Action Step: Get outside for 20 to 30 minutes today, anywhere you feel a connection with nature, then notice how you feel afterward.

^{By: Joshua Graham | Sources: PMID: 31019479}

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

Notice a sound that feels soothing or uplifting: music, laughter, wind, rhythm.

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!

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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).}