Welcome! The Human Resources and Talent Management team at Thompson Hine are pleased to announce the kick-off of “Work Well,” a new firm-wide health and wellness program created to support, promote and sustain the well- being of lawyers and staff. The new wellness program is intended to help provide a healthy work environment and support the adoption of healthy habits by employees who want to improve their own health and fitness levels.

We have partnered with the Ardelian Kuzma Group for a 3 month Wellness program with customized content to educate and empower us with easy to implement tools we can leverage at work and at home. We will learn and discuss how we can take control of our schedules and create proactive routines to prevent stress and boost our immune systems; habits that supercharge our self-care journey and create increased mindfulness, focus and clarity; tools that can relieve tension and anxiety … and more!

You'll leave empowered and equipped to implement these techniques in your life long-term and make sustainable positive changes. 

Day 2: Gratitude

Start and end your day positively with a gratitude practice that will help to transform your thoughts.

Friday 11/13 at 12-1pm ET: Mindful Moment Video + Activity

Day 3: Meditation

If you’ve wanted to start a meditation practice or incorporate it more regularly into your schedule, now is a great time to begin! Start with the meditation here and complete today’a activity. Meditating for only 10 minutes per day has been shown to produce great benefits.

Listen to today’s short meditation focused on our breath.

Day 4: Mindfulness

Today's challenge: Enjoying the small moments in our lives. We each have approximately 960 awake minutes everyday. How many of those are we fully aware, present and mindful of what is happening around us? What if we made a conscious choice to be fully present and mindful for even just 1 minute every hour, leveraging all of our senses?

Monday 11/23 at 8am ET: Monday Motivation + Mindful Moment videos and activity + Survey

Today is a great day to start a new evening ritual. 1/3 of all Americans have a sleep disorder. For today’s challenge, listen to the body scan meditation and incorporate any of the other suggestions in today’s video.

Balanced Immune System: What is a balanced immune system?  This month we will focus on boosting your immune system so you can emerge stronger and more resilient.  Our immune system is an elaborate system of organs, cells and proteins that protect us from bacteria, viruses, parasites and other micro-organisms that cause disease. The best way to boost your immune system is to focus on healthy lifestyle choices such as a healthy diet, moderate but regular exercise, adequate sleep and rest, and stress reduction.

Healthy Diet: Strengthen your immune system with 12 foods that boost your immunity.  Eating a healthy diet filled with whole foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, and limited processed foods and sugars is an easy way to strengthen your immune system in order to fight infections.   Today, complete today’s activity focused on small changes you can make to your diet.

Daily Movement: Good morning! Strengthen your immune system with daily movement and moderate exercise. One of the best things we can do for our immune system and mental health is to incorporate movement into our daily routine. Yoga is a great form of movement that is beneficial to your mind, body and spirit. Join us today for our LIVE yoga class!

Monday 12/21 at 8am: Monday Motivation Mindful Moment video + activity

Reduce stress: Long-term stress can negatively impact our immune cells, making us more susceptible to infection, and slowing down our ability to heal. Today, take some time for yourself to go outside and enjoy the walking meditation I've provided for you. Allow yourself to be fully present and mindful.

12/28 Rest, Renew, and Recharge

Today’s challenge is to rest, renew, and recharge.  Today, many of us are not working, or work may be quieter because of the holidays.  Take some time today to unplug and rest.

We spend most of the year rushing, striving, inundated with images and messages.

• Today, put your phone away in another room.  

• Limit your screen time.

• Find other activities to relax.

• Enjoy your time with your family or with yourself.

Finish the holidays and this year more rested, renewed, and recharged.

Tiny changes make a big difference

Are you ready to start 2021 strong with new health habits? Starting new habits and quitting some less than healthy ones can seem daunting, however, did you know that improving by 1% everyday for a year has a compound effect that can result in meaningful change?  Just a small shift daily can guide your life in a different direction over time.  I’ll share with you how this works and what you can do today to start creating some of your own “Atomic Habits”.  Get started by completing today’s activity.

The power of atomic habits

• If you are or have had trouble creating new habits, the problem isn’t your goals, but the system you are using. In order to create new habits, it’s important to change the systems you have been using that have allow your bad habits to prevail. Instead of focusing on setting new goals, instead create new systems that will allow you to create better results.

Three levels of change: 

• There are three levels of change: outcome change, process change, and identity change. The best way to change a habit is to focus not on the goal, but instead on who you want to become. Your identity emerges from your habits and should be upgraded and expanded regularly as you make progress.

Four steps to building better habits:

• Habits allow us to live productive lives with little effort or energy. As humans our habits allow us to think less during the course of our day. The process of building a new habit follows four steps: cue, craving, response, and reward. Learn how to leverage these steps to achieve the goals you’ve set.