February 18, 2021 • 24 mins
If you listen to the Bobby Bones Show you might be aware of Amy’s Pile...she does it every day (Monday - Friday) and it’s a segment where she shares a pile of random stories or studies or tips that she finds interesting. Well, today’s 4 things kind of feels like one of Amy’s piles: FIRST THING: Tips from TikTok that might help you fall asleep faster. SECOND THING: Bad habits you need to ditch in the morning to set yourself up for a better day. THIRD THING: List of ways you can compliment someone without talking about their looks!! FOURTH THING: Gratitude and an interesting perspective about this crazy winter weather from ‘Home Street Home’ (a homeless organization here in Nashville) that you maybe haven’t considered.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Okay, cass up little food for you. So life. Oh
it's pretty Bay, it's pretty beautiful than that. A little
(00:23):
moth kicking with foury Thursday. What up? Welcome to four Things.
I am Amy and I started looking over today's episode
and it's very random and it makes me think about
my pile on the Bobby Bones Show. So if you
(00:43):
listen to the show, you may be aware of my pile.
It's something that I do every day Monday through Friday,
and it's a segment where I share three random stories
or maybe even studies or tips that I find interesting.
And yeah, Today's four Things kind of feels like my
pile for me. In just a second, I'm gonna share
tips from TikTok that might help you fall asleep. Then
in the second thing, I'm gonna tell you bad habits
(01:04):
that you need to ditch in the morning to set
yourself up for a better day than In the third thing,
I've got a list of ways that you can compliment
someone without talking about their looks. And then lastly, I
want to get into gratitude and an interesting perspective that
a homeless group that I work with here in Nashville
showed me on Instagram, and I want to share that
with you because I think it's something that everyone needs
(01:25):
to consider or keep in mind, especially as we're going
through this winter craziness right now across the country. All right,
let's get into the sleep aacs from TikTok first. And
some of these are going to sound so weird and strange,
but I think, hey, maybe one of these ideas will
work for you. And full disclosure, I don't have TikTok anymore.
I deleted it a while ago, and I honestly don't
(01:46):
even really know how to use it, which makes me
feel old like I'm missing out on stuff. But it
reminds me of a funny meme that I saw the
other day that just said something like I wish someone
would compile all of the cool TikTok's from the day
and then put them in one place for me to watch.
Like I felt that mean big time. Like if anybody
knows of an account that just does that so that
I can see the cool things from TikTok but I
(02:07):
don't have to go to TikTok, then that would be amazing.
Now Here are the hacks from TikTok that I read about, though,
one person said, toss a pillow. That was the name
of their hack, which basically is that if you're thinking
of something that you need to remember for the next
morning and it's keeping you up, then toss your pillow
on the floor, and then in the morning, when you
(02:29):
see the pillow, it'll jog your memory and it'll come
back to you. But when you toss the pillow, you'll
know that you have that reminder on the floor, and
then it'll ease your mind and you'll be able to
fall asleep. You also could maybe just like type it
into your phone real quick, or send yourself a text
or an email. But maybe this is just like if
it's really dark in your room and you shouldn't even
be grabbing your phone, you want to toss the pillow down.
(02:51):
That's their tip. Another tip is to make it chilly,
lower the temperature in your bedroom to help you fall
asleep faster. I've heard that one before, makes sense. Brew
some tea, camerabil tea can help calm your body down
and ease you into resting mode. Now, this TikTok person
suggested brewing some half an hour to an hour before
bedtime to signal to your brain that it's time to
(03:13):
wind down. I was at my friend Tracy's house for
the Super Bowl and when there was about thirty minutes
left in the game, we decided to have some ninety
nine tea and it worked out perfectly. I was home
within the hour and it did kind of put me
straight to sleep. So that is a brand of tea
that I know that worked for me. We might be
the only people in the world that drank ninety nine
(03:34):
at a Super Bowl gathering. Another tip is tap into
your breathing forget counting sheep. This TikTok person says, try
counting breaths instead. And now this is something I've definitely
talked about on the podcast. Before breathing the four seven
eight routine. That's exactly what they say here inhale for
account of four, hold your breath for account of seven,
(03:54):
then slowly exhale for account of eight. Research backs it
up and says that four seven eight breathing method can
relax your nervous system and ease anxiety to help you
sleep better. I'm a big fan of that's for sure.
Another person said, just eat a banana because bananas are
packed with magnesium and it's a mineral that can help
(04:15):
your mind relax. Bananas also have potassium and that helps
relax your muscles. I don't know, I'm just kind of
grows stop eating a banana at bedtime? But hey, am
I work for some of you. You can also trick
your brain. One person put up that putting pressure on
yourself to sleep can make you feel more anxious. So
tell yourself that you're just taking a quick little nap
(04:36):
and it'll trick your brain into letting you rest. That
one would definitely not work for me, but maybe for you.
And then lastly, one person said that you should watch
your comfort show. Turn on the show that you can
quote in your sleep, and it may help soothe your
anxiety and let your mind slip into that calm, familiar
space so that you can sleep. Now, this one is
(04:58):
weird to me because you hear from so many experts
to avoid screen time before bed. But again, this is
TikTok and this trick might work for someone. Or maybe
you could try this hack and go ahead and watch
the comfort show. But where your blue light blocking glasses?
And I often get asked like where mine are from?
And I have the clear frame ones with the blue
(05:19):
light lenses from Warby Parker and I'm obsessed with them,
but I know that Amazon also has some good options too,
So if you don't own a pair of those glasses yet,
I recommend looking into those in case you do. Maybe
even just computer work or phone work or any lights
in your house actually before bed. And that wraps up
all the sleep packs that I have, you know, but
actually in my pile. Earlier this week, I did have
(05:40):
a sleep story from Keith Urban, so it's probably worth
mentioning here too. Keith came out with a sleep song.
It's called I Am Home and it's almost an hour long.
He created it for the Calm app, which is designed
to help people sleep better and reduce stress and anxiety.
So I'm gonna play a clip of Keith Urban's I
Am Home right now. So yeah, I could see how
(06:15):
that would be calming. And again, Keith's song is on
the Calm app, and maybe that'll be another option for
you if you're having trouble sleeping. Alright, Five bad habits
to avoid first thing in the morning. See if you're
doing any of these hitting the snooze button. Apparently over
half of us do it, but studies show that those
(06:36):
extra few minutes of sleep don't actually help, so you're
better off setting your alarm for more realistic time and
training yourself to wake up the first time it goes off.
Now I am a recovered snoozer. I used to snooze
all the time. In fact, I would say things like
I was born to snooze. I thrive off of snoozing.
I'm better when I snooze. But now that I don't snooze,
(06:56):
I realized like that was all a lie. I better
not snoozing. And I would recommend to you, if you're
a snoozer, to try to give it up. I'm not
saying that it's easy, but there are definitely things you
can do. We've even talked about how to stop snoozing
here on the podcast, so you can check out an
episode there. Just google it find some tips and tricks.
But snoozing is no bueno. Another bad habit to avoid
(07:17):
first thing in the morning is immediately checking your phone,
checking text and emails, or reading the news and bed
or some of the most stressful ways to start your day.
Better options include stretching, deep breathing, drinking some water, or
saying hi to your kids. Another thing you should avoid
doing is starting your day with a sugar rush. It
sets up for a roller coaster moody. You might be tired,
(07:40):
maybe like cereal and sweetened coffee or two of the
biggest culprits. Now me personally, I don't like saying what
to not eat or eat in the mornings anymore. Here
on the podcast, I used to push that stuff out
like crazy, but really, just listen to your body and
whatever you're craving. But I do think there is something
to setting up your day strong and like knowing how
a food makes you feel. Now, in my recovered way
(08:03):
of thinking, there's no good foods, no bad foods, but
I do know how I personally feel after I eat
certain things, so I know how my body is going
to respond, and I actually start to want other things
that make me feel a certain way. But I am
allowed to have whatever I want when I want it.
So this third thing here, I just want to put
(08:24):
a little asterix by it in case anybody else is
like me and you're in recovery. You just listen to
your body and do what feels best for you. Now.
The fourth bad habit to avoid first thing in the
morning is not washing your face. What I always have
to wash my face. Pillows are covered in oil and
dead skin, especially if you haven't washed them in a while,
which I think you should be washing your sheets like
(08:46):
once a week. For sure. You can do your pillowcase
even more if you have other loads of laundry, just
throw your pillow case in with towels or something and
then they'll get washed even more So, even if you
wash your face before bed, it's not a bad idea
to wash it again in the morning. Just don't use
a harsh cleanser both times. Soap and water are fine.
I prefer a gentle cleanser on my face. I use
(09:08):
Zeo gentle cleanser. That's a question I get a lot.
And actually anytime I say ZO, I don't know if
people say zero or zo, but if you know, you know,
you know what I'm talking about. At the Nashville Beauty
Girl can answer any and all questions about that skincare line.
But another one that I like from the drug store,
which is pretty cheap, is Saravey Gentle foaming wash. So
(09:29):
that's another good one that you can keep on hand
if you need. And then the final bad habit to
avoid first thing in the morning is completely overlooking your
own mental health. Having to rush around is what makes
morning so stressful. So going to bed and waking up
earlier really is important because it gives you more time
to ease into things. That said, even a small routine
(09:51):
like opening up the shades and letting some sun in
can help. It wouldn't really help me because I wake
up so early for the Bobby Bones show. And I'm
sure a lot of you wake up early early if
ending on what you do, or if your mom or
you've got to get to work. So maybe that one
doesn't apply, but maybe on a Saturday or a Sunday
or something. But I agree that rushing in the morning
is no bueno. Does not set you up for a
(10:12):
good day. All right, let's talk complimenting people's bodies and
why we just need to not do that anymore. Complimenting
someone's appearance or looks can be super harmful, and here's why.
Oftentimes if we use like hey, you look skinnier, you
look fitter, what are you doing? Are you working out more?
(10:33):
You look so great, these words can cause harm and
reinforce the wrong message because you never know what someone
else is really going through. I'll give you an example.
I will use me as that example. When I was
in the throes of my eating disorder, I definitely thrived
off the skinny comments. No, that wasn't like I was
walking around begging for them. But trust me, if someone
noticed that I was skinny, it was fuel to the fire.
(10:56):
It motivated me to keep going in my disordered pattern,
whether that orthorexil like I was really meticulous about everything
that I ate and had to be this certain ingredients
and how to be organic and how to be fit
in this column of foods. I labeled foods good and bad,
and I hate everything from the good. If I ate
the bad, then I went completely off the rails. And
(11:16):
then I would restrict for like three days to make
up for that. I mean, I was in this vicious cycle.
It was not healthy, or I would work out excessively
whatever I had to do to keep going. Oftentimes, compliments
from people were like a nudge of motivation in the
right direction to keep going, which actually now I know
(11:36):
was the wrong direction. But anyway, when you do that,
you could reinforce some unhealthy behaviors for someone. Not only
that someone may not even have food or body image
issues at all, whatsoever. They're not even trying to lose weight,
but they might be depressed, or they maybe have cancer
or some other awful disease that you don't know about
(11:57):
and you may never know about. They might be super
private about it. It might be a co worker where
you just don't know them on that level, but yet
you compliment them on their body or they're looking so great,
and then inside their brain they're like, oh great, I'm
losing weight because of my disease. This is horrible. I
would much rather have my weight back on and not
be sick. But while that person will never know or
(12:20):
you know, then they're thinking, I wasn't even trying to
lose weight. And then they're like, did I look bad before?
Why are they complimenting me now? So I'm going to
share with you eleven ways to compliment someone without talking
about their looks. These are things that you can keep
in your pocket and start to use them, start to
throw them out to your friends, your co workers, your
family members. Because the more we practice, the more this
(12:43):
will become natural. Because society has told us the complimenting
someone on how they look or if they've lost weight
or they look skinny, that that is normal. I am
guilty of it. I'm guilty of receiving those compliments, and
I am guilty of passing them out. So this is
something that's going to take work. So I just encourage
you to start imp lamenting these compliments into the way
you speak to people. So here you go. You can
(13:04):
say these things to compliment someone without talking about their looks.
I love your confidence. Your work ethic is inspiring. You
have the best sense of humor. I always learn new
things from you. I love how passionate you are. Your
laugh is contagious. It's inspiring to see you take care
of yourself. I love seeing you take risks. It inspires me.
(13:27):
You are so creative. Thank you for always including me.
I feel so lucky to have you as a friend, daughter,
a son, a boss, an employee, or insert whatever it
is that works there. And there you go eleven ways
to compliment someone without talking about their looks. On the
Outweigh podcast that I co host with Lisa Haym, we
love using the adjective radiant, so you could throw that
in there, or you're glowing. Whatever it is that works
(13:50):
for you, you figure it out and you start making
those your go too for compliments. I mean you can
still be sincere about it. I'm not saying sprinkle these
out to people when it doesn't apply, But if you
can find a way to complement someone in a genuine
way without making reference to their looks, then that is
what I am encouraging you to do. And also our
(14:11):
Outweigh podcasts, yes, it focuses on disordered eating and eating
disorders and body image. In fact, the tagline for Outweigh
we called it outweigh because a life without disordered eating
outweighs everything. And I truly believe that it does outweigh everything.
And maybe you've never struggled with the needing disorder or
body image issues, I still think you could benefit from
(14:34):
listening to Outweigh because I'm sure you have a friend
or a sibling, or a daughter or a mom or
somebody that maybe has. And if you listen to some
of the stories that we share and the experts that
we have on UM, you may be able to better
understand what someone in your life is going through and
that can be helpful or also it may reveal to
you some things that you're doing that actually are disordered.
(14:59):
I know that I earned so much from Lisa before
we even started taping out way because she has a
whole program called Fork the Noise. I started following her
on Instagram. I started implementing things that she was saying
and really taking in some of her posts and stuff
from her Fork the Noise course, and I was like,
oh wow, I had no idea this was even considered disordered,
and this was like shackles on me and I had
(15:20):
no freedom because I was so wrapped up in it.
But now that I'm on the other side, I see
how miserable I was. I thought I was happy, but no.
I mean, actually some days I knew I was miserable.
But all in all, there were some things. I'm not
even talking about the eating disorder part. I'm talking about
disordered ways that we can all have that are so
accepted by society that you don't even realize that they're disordered.
(15:40):
And when you really take a look at it, you
do realize, like, oh man, that is not bringing me
joy at all whatsoever. And that's what this podcast can do.
It can maybe help be a realization for you in
that sense, or it'll better equip you to help friends
or family members that might be struggling. So yeah, that's
outweigh A new episode is up every set or day,
(16:16):
all right, So for this last thing today, I am
going to share with you four things that I am
thankful for. I often have guests do it, but I'm
going to do it today mainly to encourage you to
sit down and think of four things that you're thankful
for today, but also just to give you a peek
into my life and what I'm thankful for at the moment.
And then if you want to share with me four
things you're thankful for, I would love to hear from
(16:37):
you four things with Amy Brown at gmail dot com
is our email account, and also you can hit me
up on Instagram at Radio Amy. It will be me
talking to you if we do start conversing. My Instagram
was hacked in case you missed Tuesday's episode or the
Bobby Bones show where we talked about it on someone
got my password, I guess, and got into my account
and was d m ng with listeners and got their
(16:59):
self phone numbers and then was texting with them. So
thankfully we got that sorted out. But if you have
been texting with me, uh this week, heads up, it's
not me, all right. The first thing that I am
thankful for today is a warm house, and I really
think of our homeless community whenever we have these cold
(17:20):
bursts pop up where it's snowing and freezing cold and
the roads are icing, we can't go anywhere. And while
we might be like, oh man, I can't drive, or frustrated,
like I'm into the grocery store since Thursday because I
left town before this snowstorm rolled in. My flight got
canceled from Missouri. I couldn't even get home. We had
to rent a car and drive back, and really bad weather.
And while those are things that I could get wrapped
(17:41):
up in and complain about, when I really think a
bigger picture, there's people that are suffering far more than that. Now,
I think it's okay to acknowledge things like that when
they happen to you, like oh man, because that is
a real bummer. But just for some perspective, I'm going
to read a post that Home Street Home put Up,
which is a homeless ministry that we work with here
(18:02):
in Nashville. Stephen the founder, who was actually homeless himself
for five years. He no longer is, but this is
his organization and he's come on the podcast a couple
of times, and here is the post that they put up.
It was titled The Beautiful Death. Most of us can
look out the window or bundle up good and go
outside and see an incredibly amazing natural portrait that lay
(18:24):
before us. The untouched beauty of a new fallen snow
that spreads across the landscape. The patch worked artistry that
turns trees into almost cathedral like structure as the heavy
laden branches bow toward the earth. Yes, to most of us,
it is beautiful. However, to the homeless it is known
as the beautiful Death. When snow and ice began to fall,
(18:45):
the homeless began their almost NonStop battle to protect their tents,
their belongings, and their lives. As it starts to collect
on the tents and the tarps, they must continually knock
it off to keep the weight from collapsing and destroying
their shelter, and they do so around the clock until
it stops falling. However, the threat is far from over.
Danger also lurks above as tree limbs begin to come waited,
(19:08):
break off and fall. The slightest wind could cause hundreds
of pounds of snow to come crashing down seriously injuring
or possibly killing someone or destroying all of their worldly possessions.
And this is not a rare occurrence. It happens quite often.
We have seen several tints damaged or completely destroyed with
only two inches falling snow. And this is in addition
(19:30):
to the possibility of hypothermia, frost, by, etcetera. Yes, it
is beautiful for most, but please remember, for some it
can be a beautiful death. How can you help pray
and if possible, donate Every dollar counts help us keep
the death out of the beautiful. And I just thought
that that was a great reminder and maybe something you
had not really even thought of. Home Street Home's website
(19:53):
in case you feel compelled to donate, which you don't
have to at all, but again, every dollar helps. Even
if just every single person to listen to my podcast
donated one dollar, that would be amazing. Home Street Home
TN dot org is their website. You can even choose
to how your donation is going to be used. But
I just love Stephen and all that they're doing. Or
(20:15):
find a way to support the homeless in your community
that happens to be right here in Nashville. But maybe
there's something in your town that you can help with.
The second thing I am thankful for today is healthy kids.
And you know, I don't want to be want wat
wall here and Debbie Downer with my gratitude, but I
really am. We have had several callers on the Bobby
Bones Show that have had kids that either had cancer
(20:36):
or liver disease. And then I even know someone personally
right here in town that is dealing with a child
that has a braid tumor, and I just feel super
thankful that both of my kids are really healthy, and
my heart goes out to any parents right now that
are dealing with that. I mean, shoot, we work so
closely with St. Jude and visit there, and that, gosh,
(20:57):
that gives you perspective to be thankful for healthy kids
because when you walk in there, I mean you just
see all of these kids, and of course they're doing
great work at St. Jude, and the kids are happy
and they seem like they're in the best moods ever,
which is like, oh man, I can't believe I was
in a bad mood about something silly or stupid. But
it's just a reality check that there's a lot of
(21:19):
kids out there that aren't so healthy at the moment,
and a lot of parents that are having to deal
with that. So I am thankful for my healthy kids. Secondly,
my sister, I'm just super thankful that she can be
a rock and like pick up where I can't. Like
we've been dealing with some stuff with our dad and
I almost had like a little meltdown the other day
(21:41):
because there was just a lot happening and I couldn't
believe it. It all just was like happening at once,
and she was there, like she heard it in my voice,
and I just said out loud to her, I am
really struggling right now and I don't think I can
take this on. And she's far away, she's in Colorado,
so she she's not able to do a lot, but
(22:01):
she did what she could to help out. And I'm
just thankful that I have a caregiver partner because I
know there's a lot of caregivers out there that don't
have a sibling to help out, or a friend or
another family member that can help them like they are
the primary and that can be really hard. And then lastly,
I'm thankful for Instagram and Twitter. Lighten it up here
(22:22):
with this, but you know, I do think that breaks
from social media are good, and social media definitely has
its downsides, but like on Twitter, that's where I met Mary,
and think of all the cool things that have come
from that, and only do I have an awesome friendship,
but also Pimp and Joy Merch was born from our relationship,
and so was Spua and all the four Things items
(22:42):
and all the good that we get to do for
Haiti and other organizations. So definitely thankful for Twitter and that.
And I had kind of stopped going over to Twitter
for some reason, but now I'm going back more and
more and it's a great place to get news. So
I'm trying to up my Twitter game again, not necessarily
staying as much over there, but I am frequenting the
(23:03):
app a lot more. And then Instagram has introduced me
to so many cool people. In fact, that's how I
met my co host for Outweigh, Lisa, literally started following
her on Instagram and then invited her to be on
the Four Things podcast as an expert. So, you know,
cool relationships can come from Instagram. And then if you're
on Facebook. I don't ever go over there, but in
case you ever do, I know the b team for
(23:24):
the Bobby Bones Show has a really awesome, positive, uplifting
Facebook page, so you can go and check that out.
So there you go. Those are the four things I
think before a warmhouse, healthy kids, my sister, and Instagram
and Twitter. Quick reminder before we wrap the four Things,
Gratitude challenge will be coming up in March, so you've
got I don't know, like ten more days or eleven
(23:45):
more days until March, depending on when you're listening to this.
I guess only twenty eight days or is their twenty
nine days of February this month. I don't even know
if it's sleepier, but regardless, it's fast approaching, so zero pressure.
If you don't want our four Things journal to do it,
you do not have to get one. But if you
happen to be putting it off just because you're a
procrastinator and you're like me, and you're like, oh, I'll
get around to ordering it, this is just your friendly
(24:06):
reminder to order the journal, just go ahead and do
it today. So you got it out of the way,
and you can find a link to that at Radio
amy dot com. All right, I hope you'll have a
great rest of your day and I'll talk to you
next Tuesday for the fifth thing. Bye.
Okay, cass up little food for you. So life. Oh
it's pretty Bay, it's pretty beautiful than that. A little
(00:23):
moth kicking with foury Thursday. What up? Welcome to four Things.
I am Amy and I started looking over today's episode
and it's very random and it makes me think about
my pile on the Bobby Bones Show. So if you
(00:43):
listen to the show, you may be aware of my pile.
It's something that I do every day Monday through Friday,
and it's a segment where I share three random stories
or maybe even studies or tips that I find interesting.
And yeah, Today's four Things kind of feels like my
pile for me. In just a second, I'm gonna share
tips from TikTok that might help you fall asleep. Then
in the second thing, I'm gonna tell you bad habits
(01:04):
that you need to ditch in the morning to set
yourself up for a better day than In the third thing,
I've got a list of ways that you can compliment
someone without talking about their looks. And then lastly, I
want to get into gratitude and an interesting perspective that
a homeless group that I work with here in Nashville
showed me on Instagram, and I want to share that
with you because I think it's something that everyone needs
(01:25):
to consider or keep in mind, especially as we're going
through this winter craziness right now across the country. All right,
let's get into the sleep aacs from TikTok first. And
some of these are going to sound so weird and strange,
but I think, hey, maybe one of these ideas will
work for you. And full disclosure, I don't have TikTok anymore.
I deleted it a while ago, and I honestly don't
(01:46):
even really know how to use it, which makes me
feel old like I'm missing out on stuff. But it
reminds me of a funny meme that I saw the
other day that just said something like I wish someone
would compile all of the cool TikTok's from the day
and then put them in one place for me to watch.
Like I felt that mean big time. Like if anybody
knows of an account that just does that so that
I can see the cool things from TikTok but I
(02:07):
don't have to go to TikTok, then that would be amazing.
Now Here are the hacks from TikTok that I read about, though,
one person said, toss a pillow. That was the name
of their hack, which basically is that if you're thinking
of something that you need to remember for the next
morning and it's keeping you up, then toss your pillow
on the floor, and then in the morning, when you
(02:29):
see the pillow, it'll jog your memory and it'll come
back to you. But when you toss the pillow, you'll
know that you have that reminder on the floor, and
then it'll ease your mind and you'll be able to
fall asleep. You also could maybe just like type it
into your phone real quick, or send yourself a text
or an email. But maybe this is just like if
it's really dark in your room and you shouldn't even
be grabbing your phone, you want to toss the pillow down.
(02:51):
That's their tip. Another tip is to make it chilly,
lower the temperature in your bedroom to help you fall
asleep faster. I've heard that one before, makes sense. Brew
some tea, camerabil tea can help calm your body down
and ease you into resting mode. Now, this TikTok person
suggested brewing some half an hour to an hour before
bedtime to signal to your brain that it's time to
(03:13):
wind down. I was at my friend Tracy's house for
the Super Bowl and when there was about thirty minutes
left in the game, we decided to have some ninety
nine tea and it worked out perfectly. I was home
within the hour and it did kind of put me
straight to sleep. So that is a brand of tea
that I know that worked for me. We might be
the only people in the world that drank ninety nine
(03:34):
at a Super Bowl gathering. Another tip is tap into
your breathing forget counting sheep. This TikTok person says, try
counting breaths instead. And now this is something I've definitely
talked about on the podcast. Before breathing the four seven
eight routine. That's exactly what they say here inhale for
account of four, hold your breath for account of seven,
(03:54):
then slowly exhale for account of eight. Research backs it
up and says that four seven eight breathing method can
relax your nervous system and ease anxiety to help you
sleep better. I'm a big fan of that's for sure.
Another person said, just eat a banana because bananas are
packed with magnesium and it's a mineral that can help
(04:15):
your mind relax. Bananas also have potassium and that helps
relax your muscles. I don't know, I'm just kind of
grows stop eating a banana at bedtime? But hey, am
I work for some of you. You can also trick
your brain. One person put up that putting pressure on
yourself to sleep can make you feel more anxious. So
tell yourself that you're just taking a quick little nap
(04:36):
and it'll trick your brain into letting you rest. That
one would definitely not work for me, but maybe for you.
And then lastly, one person said that you should watch
your comfort show. Turn on the show that you can
quote in your sleep, and it may help soothe your
anxiety and let your mind slip into that calm, familiar
space so that you can sleep. Now, this one is
(04:58):
weird to me because you hear from so many experts
to avoid screen time before bed. But again, this is
TikTok and this trick might work for someone. Or maybe
you could try this hack and go ahead and watch
the comfort show. But where your blue light blocking glasses?
And I often get asked like where mine are from?
And I have the clear frame ones with the blue
(05:19):
light lenses from Warby Parker and I'm obsessed with them,
but I know that Amazon also has some good options too,
So if you don't own a pair of those glasses yet,
I recommend looking into those in case you do. Maybe
even just computer work or phone work or any lights
in your house actually before bed. And that wraps up
all the sleep packs that I have, you know, but
actually in my pile. Earlier this week, I did have
(05:40):
a sleep story from Keith Urban, so it's probably worth
mentioning here too. Keith came out with a sleep song.
It's called I Am Home and it's almost an hour long.
He created it for the Calm app, which is designed
to help people sleep better and reduce stress and anxiety.
So I'm gonna play a clip of Keith Urban's I
Am Home right now. So yeah, I could see how
(06:15):
that would be calming. And again, Keith's song is on
the Calm app, and maybe that'll be another option for
you if you're having trouble sleeping. Alright, Five bad habits
to avoid first thing in the morning. See if you're
doing any of these hitting the snooze button. Apparently over
half of us do it, but studies show that those
(06:36):
extra few minutes of sleep don't actually help, so you're
better off setting your alarm for more realistic time and
training yourself to wake up the first time it goes off.
Now I am a recovered snoozer. I used to snooze
all the time. In fact, I would say things like
I was born to snooze. I thrive off of snoozing.
I'm better when I snooze. But now that I don't snooze,
(06:56):
I realized like that was all a lie. I better
not snoozing. And I would recommend to you, if you're
a snoozer, to try to give it up. I'm not
saying that it's easy, but there are definitely things you
can do. We've even talked about how to stop snoozing
here on the podcast, so you can check out an
episode there. Just google it find some tips and tricks.
But snoozing is no bueno. Another bad habit to avoid
(07:17):
first thing in the morning is immediately checking your phone,
checking text and emails, or reading the news and bed
or some of the most stressful ways to start your day.
Better options include stretching, deep breathing, drinking some water, or
saying hi to your kids. Another thing you should avoid
doing is starting your day with a sugar rush. It
sets up for a roller coaster moody. You might be tired,
(07:40):
maybe like cereal and sweetened coffee or two of the
biggest culprits. Now me personally, I don't like saying what
to not eat or eat in the mornings anymore. Here
on the podcast, I used to push that stuff out
like crazy, but really, just listen to your body and
whatever you're craving. But I do think there is something
to setting up your day strong and like knowing how
a food makes you feel. Now, in my recovered way
(08:03):
of thinking, there's no good foods, no bad foods, but
I do know how I personally feel after I eat
certain things, so I know how my body is going
to respond, and I actually start to want other things
that make me feel a certain way. But I am
allowed to have whatever I want when I want it.
So this third thing here, I just want to put
(08:24):
a little asterix by it in case anybody else is
like me and you're in recovery. You just listen to
your body and do what feels best for you. Now.
The fourth bad habit to avoid first thing in the
morning is not washing your face. What I always have
to wash my face. Pillows are covered in oil and
dead skin, especially if you haven't washed them in a while,
which I think you should be washing your sheets like
(08:46):
once a week. For sure. You can do your pillowcase
even more if you have other loads of laundry, just
throw your pillow case in with towels or something and
then they'll get washed even more So, even if you
wash your face before bed, it's not a bad idea
to wash it again in the morning. Just don't use
a harsh cleanser both times. Soap and water are fine.
I prefer a gentle cleanser on my face. I use
(09:08):
Zeo gentle cleanser. That's a question I get a lot.
And actually anytime I say ZO, I don't know if
people say zero or zo, but if you know, you know,
you know what I'm talking about. At the Nashville Beauty
Girl can answer any and all questions about that skincare line.
But another one that I like from the drug store,
which is pretty cheap, is Saravey Gentle foaming wash. So
(09:29):
that's another good one that you can keep on hand
if you need. And then the final bad habit to
avoid first thing in the morning is completely overlooking your
own mental health. Having to rush around is what makes
morning so stressful. So going to bed and waking up
earlier really is important because it gives you more time
to ease into things. That said, even a small routine
(09:51):
like opening up the shades and letting some sun in
can help. It wouldn't really help me because I wake
up so early for the Bobby Bones show. And I'm
sure a lot of you wake up early early if
ending on what you do, or if your mom or
you've got to get to work. So maybe that one
doesn't apply, but maybe on a Saturday or a Sunday
or something. But I agree that rushing in the morning
is no bueno. Does not set you up for a
(10:12):
good day. All right, let's talk complimenting people's bodies and
why we just need to not do that anymore. Complimenting
someone's appearance or looks can be super harmful, and here's why.
Oftentimes if we use like hey, you look skinnier, you
look fitter, what are you doing? Are you working out more?
(10:33):
You look so great, these words can cause harm and
reinforce the wrong message because you never know what someone
else is really going through. I'll give you an example.
I will use me as that example. When I was
in the throes of my eating disorder, I definitely thrived
off the skinny comments. No, that wasn't like I was
walking around begging for them. But trust me, if someone
noticed that I was skinny, it was fuel to the fire.
(10:56):
It motivated me to keep going in my disordered pattern,
whether that orthorexil like I was really meticulous about everything
that I ate and had to be this certain ingredients
and how to be organic and how to be fit
in this column of foods. I labeled foods good and bad,
and I hate everything from the good. If I ate
the bad, then I went completely off the rails. And
(11:16):
then I would restrict for like three days to make
up for that. I mean, I was in this vicious cycle.
It was not healthy, or I would work out excessively
whatever I had to do to keep going. Oftentimes, compliments
from people were like a nudge of motivation in the
right direction to keep going, which actually now I know
(11:36):
was the wrong direction. But anyway, when you do that,
you could reinforce some unhealthy behaviors for someone. Not only
that someone may not even have food or body image
issues at all, whatsoever. They're not even trying to lose weight,
but they might be depressed, or they maybe have cancer
or some other awful disease that you don't know about
(11:57):
and you may never know about. They might be super
private about it. It might be a co worker where
you just don't know them on that level, but yet
you compliment them on their body or they're looking so great,
and then inside their brain they're like, oh great, I'm
losing weight because of my disease. This is horrible. I
would much rather have my weight back on and not
be sick. But while that person will never know or
(12:20):
you know, then they're thinking, I wasn't even trying to
lose weight. And then they're like, did I look bad before?
Why are they complimenting me now? So I'm going to
share with you eleven ways to compliment someone without talking
about their looks. These are things that you can keep
in your pocket and start to use them, start to
throw them out to your friends, your co workers, your
family members. Because the more we practice, the more this
(12:43):
will become natural. Because society has told us the complimenting
someone on how they look or if they've lost weight
or they look skinny, that that is normal. I am
guilty of it. I'm guilty of receiving those compliments, and
I am guilty of passing them out. So this is
something that's going to take work. So I just encourage
you to start imp lamenting these compliments into the way
you speak to people. So here you go. You can
(13:04):
say these things to compliment someone without talking about their looks.
I love your confidence. Your work ethic is inspiring. You
have the best sense of humor. I always learn new
things from you. I love how passionate you are. Your
laugh is contagious. It's inspiring to see you take care
of yourself. I love seeing you take risks. It inspires me.
(13:27):
You are so creative. Thank you for always including me.
I feel so lucky to have you as a friend, daughter,
a son, a boss, an employee, or insert whatever it
is that works there. And there you go eleven ways
to compliment someone without talking about their looks. On the
Outweigh podcast that I co host with Lisa Haym, we
love using the adjective radiant, so you could throw that
in there, or you're glowing. Whatever it is that works
(13:50):
for you, you figure it out and you start making
those your go too for compliments. I mean you can
still be sincere about it. I'm not saying sprinkle these
out to people when it doesn't apply, But if you
can find a way to complement someone in a genuine
way without making reference to their looks, then that is
what I am encouraging you to do. And also our
(14:11):
Outweigh podcasts, yes, it focuses on disordered eating and eating
disorders and body image. In fact, the tagline for Outweigh
we called it outweigh because a life without disordered eating
outweighs everything. And I truly believe that it does outweigh everything.
And maybe you've never struggled with the needing disorder or
body image issues, I still think you could benefit from
(14:34):
listening to Outweigh because I'm sure you have a friend
or a sibling, or a daughter or a mom or
somebody that maybe has. And if you listen to some
of the stories that we share and the experts that
we have on UM, you may be able to better
understand what someone in your life is going through and
that can be helpful or also it may reveal to
you some things that you're doing that actually are disordered.
(14:59):
I know that I earned so much from Lisa before
we even started taping out way because she has a
whole program called Fork the Noise. I started following her
on Instagram. I started implementing things that she was saying
and really taking in some of her posts and stuff
from her Fork the Noise course, and I was like,
oh wow, I had no idea this was even considered disordered,
and this was like shackles on me and I had
(15:20):
no freedom because I was so wrapped up in it.
But now that I'm on the other side, I see
how miserable I was. I thought I was happy, but no.
I mean, actually some days I knew I was miserable.
But all in all, there were some things. I'm not
even talking about the eating disorder part. I'm talking about
disordered ways that we can all have that are so
accepted by society that you don't even realize that they're disordered.
(15:40):
And when you really take a look at it, you
do realize, like, oh man, that is not bringing me
joy at all whatsoever. And that's what this podcast can do.
It can maybe help be a realization for you in
that sense, or it'll better equip you to help friends
or family members that might be struggling. So yeah, that's
outweigh A new episode is up every set or day,
(16:16):
all right, So for this last thing today, I am
going to share with you four things that I am
thankful for. I often have guests do it, but I'm
going to do it today mainly to encourage you to
sit down and think of four things that you're thankful
for today, but also just to give you a peek
into my life and what I'm thankful for at the moment.
And then if you want to share with me four
things you're thankful for, I would love to hear from
(16:37):
you four things with Amy Brown at gmail dot com
is our email account, and also you can hit me
up on Instagram at Radio Amy. It will be me
talking to you if we do start conversing. My Instagram
was hacked in case you missed Tuesday's episode or the
Bobby Bones show where we talked about it on someone
got my password, I guess, and got into my account
and was d m ng with listeners and got their
(16:59):
self phone numbers and then was texting with them. So
thankfully we got that sorted out. But if you have
been texting with me, uh this week, heads up, it's
not me, all right. The first thing that I am
thankful for today is a warm house, and I really
think of our homeless community whenever we have these cold
(17:20):
bursts pop up where it's snowing and freezing cold and
the roads are icing, we can't go anywhere. And while
we might be like, oh man, I can't drive, or frustrated,
like I'm into the grocery store since Thursday because I
left town before this snowstorm rolled in. My flight got
canceled from Missouri. I couldn't even get home. We had
to rent a car and drive back, and really bad weather.
And while those are things that I could get wrapped
(17:41):
up in and complain about, when I really think a
bigger picture, there's people that are suffering far more than that. Now,
I think it's okay to acknowledge things like that when
they happen to you, like oh man, because that is
a real bummer. But just for some perspective, I'm going
to read a post that Home Street Home put Up,
which is a homeless ministry that we work with here
(18:02):
in Nashville. Stephen the founder, who was actually homeless himself
for five years. He no longer is, but this is
his organization and he's come on the podcast a couple
of times, and here is the post that they put up.
It was titled The Beautiful Death. Most of us can
look out the window or bundle up good and go
outside and see an incredibly amazing natural portrait that lay
(18:24):
before us. The untouched beauty of a new fallen snow
that spreads across the landscape. The patch worked artistry that
turns trees into almost cathedral like structure as the heavy
laden branches bow toward the earth. Yes, to most of us,
it is beautiful. However, to the homeless it is known
as the beautiful Death. When snow and ice began to fall,
(18:45):
the homeless began their almost NonStop battle to protect their tents,
their belongings, and their lives. As it starts to collect
on the tents and the tarps, they must continually knock
it off to keep the weight from collapsing and destroying
their shelter, and they do so around the clock until
it stops falling. However, the threat is far from over.
Danger also lurks above as tree limbs begin to come waited,
(19:08):
break off and fall. The slightest wind could cause hundreds
of pounds of snow to come crashing down seriously injuring
or possibly killing someone or destroying all of their worldly possessions.
And this is not a rare occurrence. It happens quite often.
We have seen several tints damaged or completely destroyed with
only two inches falling snow. And this is in addition
(19:30):
to the possibility of hypothermia, frost, by, etcetera. Yes, it
is beautiful for most, but please remember, for some it
can be a beautiful death. How can you help pray
and if possible, donate Every dollar counts help us keep
the death out of the beautiful. And I just thought
that that was a great reminder and maybe something you
had not really even thought of. Home Street Home's website
(19:53):
in case you feel compelled to donate, which you don't
have to at all, but again, every dollar helps. Even
if just every single person to listen to my podcast
donated one dollar, that would be amazing. Home Street Home
TN dot org is their website. You can even choose
to how your donation is going to be used. But
I just love Stephen and all that they're doing. Or
(20:15):
find a way to support the homeless in your community
that happens to be right here in Nashville. But maybe
there's something in your town that you can help with.
The second thing I am thankful for today is healthy kids.
And you know, I don't want to be want wat
wall here and Debbie Downer with my gratitude, but I
really am. We have had several callers on the Bobby
Bones Show that have had kids that either had cancer
(20:36):
or liver disease. And then I even know someone personally
right here in town that is dealing with a child
that has a braid tumor, and I just feel super
thankful that both of my kids are really healthy, and
my heart goes out to any parents right now that
are dealing with that. I mean, shoot, we work so
closely with St. Jude and visit there, and that, gosh,
(20:57):
that gives you perspective to be thankful for healthy kids
because when you walk in there, I mean you just
see all of these kids, and of course they're doing
great work at St. Jude, and the kids are happy
and they seem like they're in the best moods ever,
which is like, oh man, I can't believe I was
in a bad mood about something silly or stupid. But
it's just a reality check that there's a lot of
(21:19):
kids out there that aren't so healthy at the moment,
and a lot of parents that are having to deal
with that. So I am thankful for my healthy kids. Secondly,
my sister, I'm just super thankful that she can be
a rock and like pick up where I can't. Like
we've been dealing with some stuff with our dad and
I almost had like a little meltdown the other day
(21:41):
because there was just a lot happening and I couldn't
believe it. It all just was like happening at once,
and she was there, like she heard it in my voice,
and I just said out loud to her, I am
really struggling right now and I don't think I can
take this on. And she's far away, she's in Colorado,
so she she's not able to do a lot, but
(22:01):
she did what she could to help out. And I'm
just thankful that I have a caregiver partner because I
know there's a lot of caregivers out there that don't
have a sibling to help out, or a friend or
another family member that can help them like they are
the primary and that can be really hard. And then lastly,
I'm thankful for Instagram and Twitter. Lighten it up here
(22:22):
with this, but you know, I do think that breaks
from social media are good, and social media definitely has
its downsides, but like on Twitter, that's where I met Mary,
and think of all the cool things that have come
from that, and only do I have an awesome friendship,
but also Pimp and Joy Merch was born from our relationship,
and so was Spua and all the four Things items
(22:42):
and all the good that we get to do for
Haiti and other organizations. So definitely thankful for Twitter and that.
And I had kind of stopped going over to Twitter
for some reason, but now I'm going back more and
more and it's a great place to get news. So
I'm trying to up my Twitter game again, not necessarily
staying as much over there, but I am frequenting the
(23:03):
app a lot more. And then Instagram has introduced me
to so many cool people. In fact, that's how I
met my co host for Outweigh, Lisa, literally started following
her on Instagram and then invited her to be on
the Four Things podcast as an expert. So, you know,
cool relationships can come from Instagram. And then if you're
on Facebook. I don't ever go over there, but in
case you ever do, I know the b team for
(23:24):
the Bobby Bones Show has a really awesome, positive, uplifting
Facebook page, so you can go and check that out.
So there you go. Those are the four things I
think before a warmhouse, healthy kids, my sister, and Instagram
and Twitter. Quick reminder before we wrap the four Things,
Gratitude challenge will be coming up in March, so you've
got I don't know, like ten more days or eleven
(23:45):
more days until March, depending on when you're listening to this.
I guess only twenty eight days or is their twenty
nine days of February this month. I don't even know
if it's sleepier, but regardless, it's fast approaching, so zero pressure.
If you don't want our four Things journal to do it,
you do not have to get one. But if you
happen to be putting it off just because you're a
procrastinator and you're like me, and you're like, oh, I'll
get around to ordering it, this is just your friendly
(24:06):
reminder to order the journal, just go ahead and do
it today. So you got it out of the way,
and you can find a link to that at Radio
amy dot com. All right, I hope you'll have a
great rest of your day and I'll talk to you
next Tuesday for the fifth thing. Bye.
4 Things with Amy Brown News
Host
Amy Brown
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.