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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: 2-Minute Self-Care Ritual: When Your Inner Critic Is Loud
💖Longevity & Wellness: A Simple Calming Exercise
✨Daily Affirmation & Daily Prompt

You ARE enough.

The inner critic can be relentless.

“You should be further ahead.”
“That wasn’t good enough.”
“You’re going to mess this up.”
“Everyone else is doing better than you.”

Sometimes self-criticism develops as an attempt to protect us from failure, rejection, judgment, or disappointment. If we criticize ourselves first, maybe we can prevent someone else from doing it.

But protection through self-attack still hurts.

👂 Step 1: Catch the Critic (30–45 seconds):
Notice what you’re actually saying to yourself.

Try putting the thought into words: “I’m telling myself that ______.”

Creating a little distance between you and the thought can help you recognize that your inner critic is a voice, not an unquestionable truth.

🔎 Step 2: Get Curious About the Fear (45 seconds):
Ask: “What is this criticism afraid would happen if it stopped?”

Maybe it’s afraid you’ll fail, become complacent, be rejected, embarrass yourself, or not be enough.

Understanding the fear underneath criticism can help you meet it with compassion instead of fighting yourself.

💬 Step 3: Find a Kinder Truth (30–45 seconds):
You don’t need to replace the thought with something unrealistically positive. Find something both compassionate and believable.

“I’m allowed to still be learning.”
“One mistake doesn’t define me.”
“I can care about improving without being cruel to myself.”

You don’t have to bully yourself into becoming someone you’re proud of.

✅ Action step: Catch one critical thought today and rewrite it in the voice of someone who genuinely wants you to grow and loves you along the way.

^{Love, Lola Graham}

I have been having a harder time being present lately, so I have been bringing back this mental exercise to help root me in the moment more and wanted to share it with you.

Pick a colour, then find 5 things that are that colour.

For example, blue. Then name 5 things that you can see that are blue; for me, that is my water bottle, pen, line on a mug, the sky and the spine of a book.

Then you pick another colour and find 4 things that are that colour.

Then another colour and now 3 things, another colour and 2 things and one more colour and one thing.

This can be useful to stop rumination or mental spiralling, to create some space, presence and lower stress so you can move forward more intentionally.

✅ Action Step: Try this exercise now

^{By: Joshua Graham}

^{A mini-care practice for grounding, calming, and nervous system support.}

Relax your eyes and soften your focus for a few moments.

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).}