Welcome to Living Well Daily, the newsletter serving up tips to help you live a joyful, healthier life.
In today’s edition:
😊Mental / Emotional Well-Being: Mental Contrast: Calming Catastrophic Thinking
💖Longevity & Wellness: 💪Fitness Friday: the Longevity Engine
🌱Trauma Healing: Reframing Triggers: From Overwhelm to Information (Day 5/5)
☀️Journal & Joy Prompts
🧠 Inner Reps: Mental & Emotional Well-Being Interval Workout
👇 And more good stuff!
Today’s Edition
It is said that the universe stretches into infinity, which means you and the universe have something in common because the reasons you are fantastic are infinite!
Mental Contrast: Calming Catastrophic Thinking
Anxiety often leaps to the worst-case scenario and I personally had a bad habit of latching on to that catastrophic scenario when I wasn’t actively intervening. Since that worst-case scenario often comes on auto-pilot, this practice is insanely helpful for regaining perspective. Mental contrast balances the brain by looking at best-case, worst-case, and most likely outcomes. This technique reduces fear and restores perspective, helping you move forward without spiraling.
🌟 How to practice mental contrast:
📝 1. Write (or think) down the worst-case scenario.
⚡ 2. Write down the best-case scenario.
🔍 3. Write down and identify the most likely outcome, often far less scary than the worst.
🚶 Plan one step for the likely scenario, and let the extreme go.
✅ Action Step: Next time anxiety spikes, do a quick mental contrast: name the best, worst, and most likely outcomes. Focus your energy on the likely one.
💪Fitness Friday: Cardio is the Longevity Engine for Your Heart and Brain
Cardiovascular exercise (anything that raises your heart rate) does far more than build endurance. It strengthens your heart, improves blood flow, supports metabolic health, and is linked to a lower risk of heart disease, dementia, diabetes, and premature death.
Research consistently shows that regular cardio extends lifespan and healthspan by keeping blood vessels flexible, reducing inflammation, and improving oxygen delivery throughout the body and brain.
You don’t need to be a marathon runner to reap the benefits.
The minimum you want to try and do each week is:
150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity cardio (like brisk walking, cycling, or swimming)
or 75 minutes per week of vigorous-intensity cardio (like jogging, HIIT, or dance)
For optimal outcomes, it is a good idea to do some moderate and vigorous intensity each and every week to train your cardiovascular system in different ways.
✅Action Step: Schedule in your cardio like a walk, bike ride, or jog. Then sprinkle in some higher intensity, like interval training.
Reframing Triggers: From Overwhelm to Information
Triggers can feel like setbacks, but they’re not proof you’re broken, they’re signals from your nervous system. This week reframes triggers as information, giving you tools to respond with compassion and grounding instead of shame.
Day 5: Building Capacity Around Triggers
Over time, you can strengthen your response system, anchor in additional safety, and develop new patterns as you continue to meet yourself with compassion.
🧡 Practice grounding in non-stressful moments so tools are easier to access when needed (seriously, this helps to create new patterns and is easy to fall back on during stress).
🫂Ask for help: there’s no shame in support from a professional, a support line, etc.
🐢 If you are safe and ready, you can expose yourself gently and gradually to areas that have caused triggers, AND you can draw stronger boundaries to avoid situations you that are not in your best interest.
👯 Share your triggers with trusted people who can help support you (optional, of course, safety first).
🌞 Celebrate small wins: every trigger you navigate builds resilience. Every time you show up with kindness over shame or blame, you increase psychological safety with yourself.
Darling, don’t give up on yourself, you’re so worth it. Sending love 💕
Rest is part of the plan, not a detour. It’s the recharge that makes progress possible.
📖Journal Prompt:
Building a Caring Relationship with Yourself
Write a pep talk from the part of you that knows your strength, your worth, your magic.
🌟Spark of Joy:
Let Little Things Move You
Say a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ with complete satisfaction… feel the joyful resonance of listening to yourself (even if it’s something as little as changing a song that you weren’t feeling).
Today’s Mental and Emotional Workout:
This workout will increase your ability to:
Cultivate self-compassion to strengthen your confidence, self-esteem, and sense of worth
Acknowledge your inherent worth to unlock more self-confidence and appreciation
Open your heart through mindfulness to experience a deeper connection and peace
In under 8 minutes, you’ll strengthen positive neural pathways for long-term well-being and end the workout feeling better than you started! (Click on the photo below to access the workout)
Thank you for being here!
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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).