Those who are tasked with nourishing another, be it from parent to child, or boss to subordinate, must always remember the fundamental needs of human nourishment. Mental manipulation occurs when a parent or caretaker exclaims "I pay for the roof over your head and the food you eat, and thus you must respect me!" This is a common root of suffering in a family dynamic where the often missing ingredient - love - is mistaken with the provision of resources and objects. Objects can never fill the void of love.

This episode covers cause and effect and its influence on our minds. Each action is a cause whose effects play out in complex ways - both immediately and in the future. We say things like "I'm like this because of my parents" or "I do this because of an experience I had one time." Essentially these statements admit our personal investigation for the causes of our character - the effect being our present character. Effects mix to produce exponentially many outcomes and characters. Given that, we must focus on keeping our actions peaceful lest we wish to disturb our own and the minds of others.

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We begin in the "Diary" episodes to cover selected entries from Anthony's personal journal which he began about 8 years prior to this recording. The purpose is to investigate behavioral evolution over time, and more importantly to dissect the pain that fuels it. In this episode we hear about the initial efforts at deliberately designing a character beyond the negative tendencies implicitly absorbed during a family's lifetime. It closes with a story where, at Christmas time, Anthony struggled to perform the simple task of purchasing chocolates at a Lindt store - out of fear and mental incapability.

We explore Anthony and Cynthia’s friendship which began in High School at Vincent Massey Collegiate. Problems we faced then, how poorly they were handled, and how clueless we were to the delicacy needed in those times. A small journey is taken to our present day situation. We touch on Patanjali’s internal and external cleanliness from his classic text Yoga Sutras in comparison to Warren Zevon’s classic song Sentimental Hygiene. It’s a warm listen; enjoy.

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Cynthia's Instagram

“Stay hungry,” they say—but hunger is a cycle; an insatiable loop. You feed it, only for it to return. In the corporate world, this hunger is rebranded as virtue—more gain, more status, more recognition. But like physical hunger, it is ceaseless. When you see life as an endless chase, you become unending dissatisfaction. Listen in for a reflection on this paradoxical aphorism, as we take a deeper look through the lens of Zhuangzi and Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.

Gifts of Time is the podcast that brings us to a place of understanding. We will process our lives together, look at ourselves, and reduce the level of fear in the world. We go beyond knowledge of success in hierarchies. How can we bring more joy into this world? That is our purpose.