Tiny Transformations
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.
Episodes
Thanks for your patience! Here is the conclusion to season 2 on stress busting.
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.
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 Instag...
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 jour...
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 ...
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.
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 NY...
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 rat...
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 ...
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 ti...
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 ...
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 (inc...
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 (incom...
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...
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://creativecommo...
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.
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@gmai...
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 su...
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