January Wellness Newsletter - It's Time to Thrive in 2025!

#Thrivein2025 focuses on the wellsprings of energy for health and harmony. New Life on Mindfulness information including Youth on Mindfulness! Your top employee wellness programs to tap this year and more wellness trends in the news!

Time to Thrive in 2025 & Growth Goals

January is always a big month. Some of us may have pretty lofty goals for the new year and, while goals are great, we can get a little lost in how to accomplish them. Competing priorities pull us away from our well-intentioned efforts, and if we haven't figured out a way to break down the big goal into daily actions, then we tend to flounder.

Admittedly, dialing back a big goal into small steps can be tedious. This is the intention behind our Thrive in 2025 initiative. We've done the tedious - all you have to do is participate!

Sometimes we pick 'resolutions' or goals that don't really excite us. We think more about what we 'should' do, instead of something we feel inspired to do. 

 As we embark on our Thrive in 2025 journey, I want to introduce you to growth goals. Growth goals are areas in our lives where we want to expand our social/emotional connections and enhance intellectual and spiritual well-being. 

 Generally, growth goals are things we strategically place in our lives that we look forward to - connections with people, places, and activities that relieve stress and bring us joy. This could be joining a community group, or a dance class, re-engaging in a hobby you enjoy but fell to the wayside, learning something new that piques your interest, or intentionally reconnecting with friends or family regularly.  A growth goal might also be personal/professional development like earning a new certification or taking a class in an area that interests you. It doesn't have to be in your field of work, it could be just something you're curious about. Also, these goals don’t have to put a dent in our finances. TEDx talks, LinkedIn Learning, and YouTube Masterclass series are either free or inexpensive options for learning.

Read the expanded Wellness Wire - Growth Goals with a step list on how to identify and accomplish a growth goal. 

When we think of learning, growing, and connecting, we're bolstering our well-being emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually in ways that are more sustainable because they hold deeper meaning and purpose for us.  These become intrinsic motivators - we naturally feel more drive to care for our health so that we can achieve growth goals; and have the physical energy for the class, community group, or other activity for emotional, spiritual, or intellectual well-being. 

But - and this is important - It's very difficult to achieve goals in any area of our lives if our physical energy is depleted. 

This is the purpose behind the APS Thrive in 2025 initiative and why we started with our physical energy wellspring and nutrition.  As we move through the year we will intentionally stack more wellsprings of energy management to achieve areas of growth that nourish our soul and bring meaning, purpose, and inspiration back into our lives so we can finally connect, thrive, and experience true health and harmony. 

We're going to do it together! This is a yearlong focused program with the flexibility to participate in various activity challenges, nutrition resets, education, short videos, and wellness journeys. 

• The year is structured into four quarters for the wellsprings of "energy management". 
• Activities and challenges will center around physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being. 
• Everything is hosted on the Wellness at Work well-being platform and information will be duplicated on the APS Employee Wellness event calendar. 

January - March Physical Energy 

We kick off January with a nutrition "sugar-free me" reset.

We start the year with a nutrition reset because there isn't any other activity we do daily that affects our physical, mental, and emotional energy and well-being than what we eat and drink.

All information, including short eye-opening videos, is in the APS Employee Wellness event calendar and on Wellness at Work. (The APS well-being incentive platform - see instructions below.)

January's Focus

• Eliminate obvious sugars, artificial sweeteners
• Flagging your triggers and identifying what kind of 'sugar' eater you are
• Curbing cravings
• Adding healthy, whole, less-processed foods to our plates. 

Simple steps to participate: 

If you haven't already done so, join the Wellness at Work, wellness incentive platform. 

1. Join the APS Employee Wellness "group". (Click "social" and browse "groups", find APS Employee Wellness group, and join to receive invitations to nutrition reset activities, "sugar-free me" cleanse, kitchen-clean up, movement challenges, stress and burnout-busting activities, and so much more!)
2. Under "Social" click "Events Calendar". Browse and read the information on a daily or weekly basis.  All monthly and quarterly information will be pre-loaded starting January 1, 2025.  Challenges start Jan. 6, 2025. 
3. Earn wellness incentive points for rewards and ongoing gift card prizes for participation throughout the year! (Gift card prizes are in addition to your wellness incentive point rewards.)

• To join challenges and be included for additional raffle prizes please join the "APS Employee Wellness Group" on the Wellness at Work platform. This step ensures you get invitations to join challenges when they come up. You can pick and choose what to participate in throughout the year. 

If you have any questions, please contact Becky MacGregor at employee.wellness@aps.edu.  

New! Life on Mindfulness Schedule, Password & Page Information!

The APS Life on Mindfulness program has a couple of exciting upgrades designed to help us all Thrive in 2025! 

This is a free, flexible program for all employees that offers daily drop-in meditations, new weekly and monthly content, and featured meditations. See the link below to enroll in the Life on Mindfulness program for all content and email reminders. Everything is recorded for on-demand access. Links for daily drop-ins are available in the Employee Wellness Google Calendar. This site is mobile phone optimized so you can access a wide variety of recorded meditations anytime, anywhere. *The Life on Mindfulness program is open to all APS employees. 

The mindful center has a new page and a new daily schedule. This allows you the opportunity to flex meditation times and enjoy a stretch break. 

New login in information for Life on Mindfulness

To login: 

• If you have not enrolled in the Life on Mindfulness program, enroll here.
• If you are enrolled, click this link: https://themindfulcenter.com/login/  and go to the top right, orange "member login" button. 
• Enter your email 
• Enter this NEW password: LOMPREMIUM

New Schedule: Monday - Friday 11:45 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.

• 11:45-11:55 a.m. 10-minute meditation
• 11:55-12:00 p.m. 5-minute stretch
• 12:00-12:20 p.m.  20-minute meditation

Feel free to join or leave anytime. According to the above schedule, Michelle begins the sessions at 11:45 a.m. and keeps things continuously flowing until 12:20 p.m.

 Note: The same schedule and Zoom link apply Monday through Friday 

NEW! Youth on Mindfulness Page on the Life on Mindfulness Platform

Bring mindfulness to your students and add another Goal 4 skillset to your classroom! The Mindful Center has added a Youth on Mindfulness page. This is free for APS employees and educators can use any meditations for classroom use. These mediations are suitable for students 10-18 years old. 

To get to the Youth page:

• Click on your Life on Mindfulness account. 
• Go to the "Member login" top right orange button and log in.
• Click the top left menu "Life on Mindfulness".
• Scroll down to the "Meditate Now" button and click.
• Scroll through the audio options. All 18 audio meditations are age-appropriate.
• Note: Starting Feb. 1 additional youth content will be loaded and regularly updated under the "Youth on Mindfulness" tab. 

Three Great Programs That Include One Personalized Benefit - Health Coaching!

Sometimes in order to thrive we need a little extra motivation and support. These three programs offer personalized health coaching. Choose the fit for you and enroll today! 

1. Health Coaching: Open to all APS employees. Get help shifting lifestyle habits, managing a chronic illness, weight loss to improve your health, or simply feel better. APS offers free Health Coaching for all employees.

2. Livongo is an integrated program for diabetes, high blood pressure, pre-diabetes, and weight loss. Livongo offers wrap-around, integrated mental health services and health coaching. *This program is open to all eligible employees and dependents covered under APS Benefits. 

Getting started is easy!  

• Text “GO APS” to 85240 to learn more and join
• Join by visiting  https://www.livongo.com/aps 
• Call 800-945-4355 and use the registration code: APS

3. Hinge Health - Get the relief you need to feel and function better with this virtual physical therapy program by Hinge Health. Hinge Health gives you the tools you need to conquer joint and muscle pain including back, neck, knee, and shoulder pain, recover from injuries, prepare for surgery, and stay healthy and pain-free. Hinge Health also offers a one-of-a-kind, industry-leading women's pelvic floor program. 

Click here and learn more to register. Begin your journey today with a physical therapist and health coach team! *Hinge Health is available at no cost to employees covered under the APS Benefits plans and eligible dependents.  

More Wellness Trends in the News

News: Dopamine and Exercise for Brain Fitness A study found that cardiovascular exercise increased the brain’s dopamine levels, resulting in better cognitive performance.

Nutrition: Nutrients in Leafy Greens According to a study that measured nutrient density, the top five foods with the highest nutrients were all leafy greens.

Mind-Body: 1K Walk Test Can Predict Older Adult Fracture Risks Fit pros working with older adults can use walking to screen for fracture risks and whether bone health should be prioritized.

Recipe: Broccoli Confetti Lentil Salad It turns out a salad-a-day could keep your brain performing at a top level.

Fitness Handout: Strategies to Achieve “Flow” Studies show that increasing physical activity and mindfulness may be a means to better achieve flow states.