Tiny Transformations: Recent Episodes
Jen Connell & Cindy Donahue
Now living thousands of miles apart, one with kids and one consciously without them, old friends Jen and Cindy test out those habits and changes we are told will make our lives better or easier and compare notes. Each episode Jen and Cindy will discuss their two week experiment with the intent to see what sticks and what gets debunked. This podcast is geared toward those who are searching for peer-led self-improvement, reality-based opinion, and friendly, relatable humor.
Thanks for your patience! Here is the conclusion to season 2 on stress busting.
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
We've had some personal hiccups, so there will be a small delay in our Season 2 wrap-up about the stress-busting techniques we tried. Stay tuned for that conclusion episode coming soon.
For two weeks, Cindy and Jen went on daily walks outside to relieve stress.
There are many benefits of walking outside:
- A brisk 20-30 minute walk can have the same calming effect as a mild tranquilizer
- Walking in green space can lead to a type of meditation known as involuntary attention
The benefits of walking can be boosted through mindfulness or walking with friends.
Walking outside can also help you get vitamin D, a necessary nutrient. But be sure to wear sunscreen!
And there are some funny posts about not putting too much pressure on your afternoon walk out there. Humor can also be stress-busting!
Check out the episode for the results of this experiment!
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
For 2 weeks, Cindy and Jen crafted every day for at least 10 minutes. The type of craft was each host's choice.
Some potential benefits of crafting include entering a flow state, increased self-reported happiness, reducing stress, shifting focus, decluttering, and increased self-confidence or self-esteem.
Listen to find out more about why your choice of craft is likely of vital importance.
And check out our Instagram feed or Facebook page for photos of our craft projects.
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
For 2 weeks, Cindy and Jen journaled every day for at least 10 minutes. Emotional release journaling was the primary type of journaling tried, but a general brain dump was okay also.
Journaling has been found to have a variety of potential benefits:
- Developing clarity and problem solving
- Freeing your mind from processing events or trauma
- Can affect one’s immune system
Journaling is a form of organization. Bullet journaling is very common and can be elaborate or simple.
Like other forms of stress-busting, journaling is most effective when done consistently.
Jen was inspired by Morning Pages from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.
Check out our Instagram feed or Facebook page for a photo of Jen’s journal.
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
For this episode, Cindy and Jen committed to reading at least 20 minutes per day for pleasure. There are a lot of known benefits to reading:
- Lower stress levels.
- Slow cognitive decline.
Improve sleep.
- Enhance social skills.
- Improve focus.
- Engage imagination and creativity.
- Improve language development and so much more for children.
Read what you like! Don’t worry about reading best sellers or what you think you “should” read.
Some places to buy books, besides Amazon:
- bookshop.org
- bookoutlet.com
- thriftbooks.com
- halfpricebooks.com
Ways to fit in more reading, from the Happier Podcast with Gretchen Rubin:
- Read 21 in 21 tracker
- Tips for reading more
Books we read:
- Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
- Taking Point: A Navy SEAL’s 10 Fail Safe Principles for Leading through Change by Brent Gleeson
- Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
- My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
- The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
Lots of ideas and resources are out there for starting a social justice book club of your own, including many virtual clubs you may be able to join. Reach out to Jen if you want to talk about anything like that.
And read the news for personal education, not for stress relief!
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
For two weeks, Cindy and Jen spent at least 5 minutes a day meditating. There are lots of different types of meditation out there, but both hosts did guided meditation and used apps to make that possible. Jen used the UCLA Mindful app while Cindy used the Peloton app (particularly the sleep meditation!).
Research for this episode was from the Mayo Clinic and WebMD.
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
For two weeks, Cindy and Jen committed to spend at least 15 minutes per day working on jigsaw puzzles.
Links to some of the things we talked about:
- The University of Delaware found a beneficial effect on students by having jigsaw puzzles available for study breaks in their library. So we decided to test out if puzzles had the same for us.
- Back when Jen went into the office regularly, she would start her day with the NYT mini crossword, NYT Sudoku puzzles, and daily Set game.
- Jen's mom is a big fan of logic puzzles.
- Jen's kids are fans of the Jigsaw HD app for puzzles. It allows you to independently select the picture and the number of pieces in the digital puzzle.
- There are some interesting photos of puzzles and the people that completed them out there. Particularly great - Nick Offerman and Megan Mullaly.
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Welcome to season 2 of Tiny Transformations! This season Jen and Cindy test out stress-busting techniques. The last year has been busy and crazy and stressful for all of us. So are there some small changes we can make to lower our overall feelings of stress?
This season we will be measuring our stress using two scales: a perceived stress scale for thinking back on our stress over the last two weeks and a daily question to rate our stress between 0 and 2 every day. Research backs up both methods of stress assessment.
- Model PSS survey, along with some other possible stress assessment surveys
- Article on the validity of daily self-assessed stress
Our stress assessments were set up through a Google quiz and www.askmeevery.com
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
This episode's experiment was getting ready for bed right after dinner, or as early as was possible. Listen to the episode to hear our experiences.
References in the episode:
https://intothegloss.com/2019/05/daily-skincare-routine-at-home/
https://www.sleep.org/articles/train-go-sleep-earlier/
https://gretchenrubin.com/podcast-episode/244-go-outside-into-the-sunlight/
If you have any suggestions for future transformations for us to try, please email tinytransformationspodcast@gmail.com.
Our website is tinytransformationspodcast.com.
The music is "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
During this week’s episode, Jen and Cindy tried to wake up just a little earlier than normal, in an attempt to get their days started on a better note. They were reminded, yet again, that these are not normal times.
Listen to the episode to hear our experiences and conclusions! And check out the episode notes on our website for more details.
If you have any suggestions for future transformations for us to try, please email tinytransformationspodcast@gmail.com.
Our website is tinytransformationspodcast.com.
The music is "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
During this week’s episode, Jen and Cindy worked together (remotely) to sort through some of Cindy's clothes and clean out her closet.
Listen to the episode to hear our experiences and conclusions! And check out the episode notes on our website for more details.
If you have any suggestions for future transformations for us to try, please email tinytransformationspodcast@gmail.com.
Our website is tinytransformationspodcast.com.
The music is "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
During this week’s episode, Jen and Cindy tried tidying and cleaning for 15 minutes each night.
Listen to the episode to hear our experiences and conclusions! And check out the episode notes on our website for more details.
If you have any suggestions for future transformations for us to try, please email tinytransformationspodcast@gmail.com.
Our website is tinytransformationspodcast.com.
The music is "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
During this week’s episode, Jen and Cindy discuss doing short yoga routines before bed.
Listen to the episode to hear our experiences and conclusions! And check out the episode notes on our website for more details.
If you have any suggestions for future transformations for us to try, please email tinytransformationspodcast@gmail.com.
Our website is tinytransformationspodcast.com.
The music is "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
During this week’s episode, Jen and Cindy discuss practicing journaling their gratitude daily for two weeks.
To read more about the science behind having a gratitude practice, check out this article on Happify.
For gratitude prompts, try using this recommended list from deveopinggoodhabits.com.
Listen to the episode to hear our experiences and conclusions! And check out the episode notes on our website for more details.
If you have any suggestions for future transformations for us to try, please email tinytransformationspodcast@gmail.com.
Our website is tinytransformationspodcast.com.
The music is "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Listen to the episode to hear our experiences and conclusions! And check out the episode notes on our website for more details.
If you have any suggestions for future transformations for us to try, please email tinytransformationspodcast@gmail.com.
Our website is tinytransformationspodcast.com.
The music is "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
This week Cindy and Jen talk about their two weeks of wearing “real” clothes each day. No sweatpants, sweatshirts, t-shirts, or yoga pants. This episode was inspired by the podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin, Episode 154.
Read more about the research around Enclothed Cognition – the effect our clothes seem to have on various psychological processes like emotions, self-evaluations, attitudes, and interpersonal interactions.
Additional reading specifically around women and clothing choices: Link Between Clothing Choices and Emotional States
Listen to the episode to hear our experiences and conclusions! And check out the episode notes on our website for more details.
If you have any suggestions for future transformations for us to try, please email tinytransformationspodcast@gmail.com.
Our website is tinytransformationspodcast.com.
The music is "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
For two weeks, we planned our meals in advance and attempted to limit our grocery shopping.
We hypothesized this would result in lower grocery bills overall, as well as decreased stress.
Listen to the episode to hear our experiences and conclusions! And check out the episode notes on our website for more details.
If you have any suggestions for future transformations for us to try, please email tinytransformationspodcast@gmail.com.
Our website is tinytransformationspodcast.com.
The music is "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
For two weeks, we left our phones out of arms reach of our bed, ideally on the other side of the room.
We hypothesized this would result in lower amounts of screen time and more and better sleep.
Listen to the episode to hear our experiences and conclusions!
References from the episode:
- Effect of yellow light from screens
- Tracking screen time on Apple devices
- Tracking screen time on Android devices
If you have any suggestions for future transformations for us to try, please email tinytransformationspodcast@gmail.com.
Our website is tinytransformationspodcast.com
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Welcome to the Tiny Transformations Podcast! Join hosts Jen and Cindy as they try out all of those "life hack" suggestions -- from meal prepping to morning yoga, technology use to household chores, and everything in between. Jen and Cindy will design and test out habits and small changes that are thought to improve our daily lives and give their honest feedback to listeners on whether or not these new habits proved useful. The first episode drops Tuesday February 4th, followed by a new episode every other Tuesday. Join us to discover how tiny transformations can lead to big results.