Welcome to Living Well Daily, the newsletter serving up tips to help you live a joyful, healthier life.

In today’s edition:

There a billions of people on the planet, and you are one of our favourites on this whole dang planet! Yes, you!

When anxiety loops, the mind races far into the future or deep into “what-ifs.” Grounding anchors help bring you back into your body and into this moment. They remind the nervous system: we are here, we are safe enough, we can return. 

When our mind is spiraling, it’s often thinking about the past, planning for the future, and running deep into potential scenarios, “what-ifs,” planning, etc. We can get swept away from what’s in front of us. By bringing our attention intentionally into the moment and into our senses, we can remember that we are not our thoughts, we can see what’s really in front of us, and we can see what is actually in our current sphere of control so we can move forward meaningfully.

Anchors gain strength if you practice them in calm moments so you create a familiar action to lean on in times of stress. 

🌟 Ways to anchor during a thought spiral

✅ Action Step: Choose one grounding anchor and practice it daily so it becomes automatic when anxiety rises.

As someone with Lynch syndrome, which puts me at a much higher risk for most cancers, including colon cancer, I do my best to keep my gut healthy and feeling good. One of the ways I do that is with resistant starch.

Resistant starch is a type of carbohydrate that resists digestion in the small intestine and travels to the colon, where it becomes food for beneficial gut bacteria. When these bacteria break it down, they produce short-chain fatty acids that reduce inflammation, strengthen the gut lining, support immune health, and even improve blood sugar regulation.

You can get resistant starch from foods like cooked-then-cooled potatoes or rice, green bananas, plantains, oats, chickpeas, and lentils. Cooling increases the resistant starch content, even if you reheat the food later.

✅ Action step: Eat a food that is high in resistant starch to give your gut a healthy boost!

After trauma we can get stuck searching for what we “should have done” in an effort to make sense of our pain. This week is about loosening that weight and remembering what is real: you were not at fault.

Even when you know logically that the harm wasn’t your fault, your emotional body may still carry guilt or shame. Self-forgiveness is not about excusing anything, it is about releasing what was never yours to hold. It is an act of care for the younger, hurting parts inside you.

• 📝 Write a letter to yourself: “You did the best you could with what you had.”
• 🫂 Offer compassion to your past self, they survived.
• 🌊 Imagine releasing blame to water, wind, or flame, a symbolic letting go.
• 🕊️ Self-forgiveness is choosing not to carry what was placed on you.

^{Darling, don’t give up on yourself, you’re so worth it. Sending love} 💕

Write about a time you felt truly seen. What allowed that moment to happen?

Notice one thing you did well today… even if it feels small, especially if it feels small.

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).}