This week Master Zi and Radheya invite actor and comedian Donald Lacy to the podcast.  Master Zi and Donald Lacy go way back and in this episode they reflect on how their friendship has impacted each other over the years.  While grief and loss is a part of life, Master Zi and Lacy share what they learned from losing people they loved to soon.  Forgiveness is not for the other person, it is for yourself.  It takes time to rebuild after we go through heavy loss in our lives.  You can watch the full episode of The Redemption Project featuring Lacy forgive the boy that shot his daughter online.

This week Master Zi and Radheya discuss how institutions create rules for us to follow, but those who enforce the rules find ways to avoid them.  So how do we get sucked in to these policies? Sometimes, we feel we are being scammed by our leaders.  Are we the suckers? We ask all these questions and Master Zi shares his experience working with people with different temperaments to understand why this happens.

This week Master Zi and Radheya are considering checking out of the 24-hour news stream and checking in to life.  We discuss why the news is no longer beneficial, and why too much information is leading us down a path of poor health.  The time we dedicate to keeping up with the latest politics, trends, and events is taking over the time we are present for our life.  What if we could take a pause on watching that half hour show, and instead do a work out?  When is enough...enough? We explore how the mainstream manipulates our perspectives and not necessarily for the best.

This week Master Zi and Radheya look into why having opinions can become limiting.  They cover big current event topics and explore the polarization that is happening on a global scale.  As a humanity, we are becoming less invested with connection especially as AI is becoming more and more prevalent in our day-to-day lives.  Have you ever had a conversation with someone that turned into a falling out because they simply did not agree with your opinion? Well, that’s what we explore today and how to navigate this concerning trend.

When we’re walking around the state of anxiety, we are not present.  This is the topic this week as we explore what it means to truly be alive and living.  Anxiety takes us out of the present.  One of Radheya’s favorite quote of Zi’s is ”if you’re not present, then you’re not living.”  Living in a 24/7 society with phones has drastically changed changed our human experience.  While we must face fates and stressful circumstances, to be in this state chronically leads to disease.  This week the guys explore ways to overcome this way of being and restore our vibrant life.

This week Master Zi has a fun and enlightening conversation with Chiara.  It’s a boomer vs. gen Z discussion on current events and trends that are impacting all generations.  In this discussion we explore each generations view on the socioeconomic landscape.  With Zi’s generation phasing out and Chiara’s generation coming into their own, we see that there are differences but ultimately, we have the same desires and feelings as the other generations.

When logic and rational thought has left the table, how can you move forward without going crazy? This week Master Zi and Radheya discuss strategies to avoid being caught in someone else’s storm.  Most of us can recall a time when we extended ourselves or offered some advice only to be blamed by the person we initially tried to help.  What does staying in your lane mean? Zi mentions this as way to navigate the daily stresses of dealing with people who are not rational or logical.  In Buddhism, Buddha describes why being the light tower and example is the best way to teach and help people.  Becoming the beacon of inspiration allows us to pursue our dharma without interfering with other people’s journey.

This week’s episode is inspired by an article written by Grazie Sophia Christie detailing her experience dating an older man and why other women should follow suit.  Master Zi and Radheya discuss their views on modern dating and relationships and why it’s becoming increasingly hard to have a sustainable partnership.  We really take a look at how gender roles have shifted, and how it’s impacted both women and men.  Feminism has brought women many opportunities, but especially in urban areas, we’ve seen a lot of women age out of having kids because they’ve been focused on their careers.  Men don’t necessarily have a biological clock ticking, and often mature much later than women.  It’s somewhat of a cosmic joke. This week we really explore how this impacts our overall health and wellness in relationships.

This week Master Zi and Radheya explore the myriad ways technology impacts our overall health and wellness.  Ideally, we use these devices, and they don’t use us. However, with rising rates of dementia and other health disorders like tech neck, we can’t help but ask ourselves why is this happening.  Master Zi explains how technology and neuroscience work together and why it’s important to know when and how to use these devices.

This week Master Zi and Radheya cover the Ozempic trend and how it really impacts your health.  Every generation has a version of Ozempic, and Master Zi discusses why supplements and medications dedicated to weight-loss are more harmful than helpful.  They discuss why society tends to just want a magic pill instead of building a sustainable, healthy lifestyle that would support their overall health.

This week Master Zi and Radheya tackle topics like the debacle in Gaza, the government banning Tik Tok, and mental health trends in the U.S. They look at these current events by first examining how they came to be in the first place, and they wonder how we can turn a blind eye to things that are so obvious.  Zi shares his insight and knowledge of neurology and discusses the different types of cognitive dissonance that can be expressed in times of crisis.

This week Master Zi and Radheya continue their conversation around propaganda only this time they include ways to navigate it.  Maintaining your individualism and learning to stay centered amidst the chaos is challenging.  The media uses these tools in order to control the narratives to fit their agendas and maintain status quo.  Well, the best thing is to step away from the constant news stream and connect with like minded people, but we still have to find a way to work with the ones who are invested in this framework.  This episode we talk about ways to work together with people who have dissenting views without having to isolate from each other.

We are back! The guys are fired up in this episode as we tackle the topic of propaganda and how it shapes our culture, beliefs, and ways of thinking.  Ultimately, it is up to us to break out of the matrix of the constant news cycle and government narratives that keep us from staying open to other sources of information and storytelling.  Master Zi and Radheya discuss how politicians use these strategies all of the time in order to serve their own best interests. The silver lining that Master Zi offers is that younger generations are waking up and realizing this and they are using social media to share information faster than we’ve seen before.  That’s why it is still important to do our due diligence by finding our own sources and preferably multiple ones from different avenues in order to begin to understand the underlying truths.  Whether we’re aware of this or not, our overall health and wellness is connected to our thinking and beliefs so keeping an open mind is the first step on our journey to better health and well being.

This week Master Zi and Vindesh discuss the effects of stagnation and it’s impact on our overall health and wellness.  Much like when we are congested, there’s no flow and movement which can create disease.  This isn’t just about our physical health, but our emotional and mental health as well.  When we are in the right relationships, we can freely express our emotions, but if we’re not, that tension builds up over time causing a lot of hardships that affects all areas of life.  We look at ways to navigate this and why it’s so important to have the difficult conversations.

This week we’re back with Master Zi and Vindesh’s discussion on the role of compassion and it’s impact on the human condition.  Vindesh discusses the responses he received on his social media post when he asked, ”what’s the biggest threat we are facing?” Someone responded saying poor politics and leaders are the biggest threat, but who put them there? We look at why it’s so important to deprogram ourselves. Master Zi shares his insight on why it’s important to mitigate stress and slow down in order to preserve overall health.

This week Master Zi and Vindesh continue their conversation about the global mental health crisis.  There is a lot of unrest around the world, and there is not a lot of middle ground in the narratives that dominate the news cycle.  So where do we go from here? Master Zi shares his insight on how these events affect our overall health and wellness.  On the individual level, we can do a lot to mitigate our own suffering, and thus be able to help or guide our loved ones through the current murky, societal landscape.

This week Master Zi and Vindesh explore free expression and it’s impact on society.  While we have freedom of speech in this country, there still seems to be backlash against those who disagree with the dominant narrative.  Master Zi reiterates the opt out philosophy and why withdrawing to pursue your own path is the one of the best ways forward. In order to have free will, we must be able to break through the patterns and ideologies that we learned from birth. They discuss the risks and rewards of going down your own path.

We’re back after taking a little break and this week it’s all about sustainability.  It’s a big buzzword in every industry and we’re seeing a rise in sustainable movements for the environment, but we explore what sustainable looks like in all areas of life.  Master Zi discusses the myths behind the electric car movement and why it’s important to reflect on the reasons you choose to buy or opt in to the marketing of ”sustainable” goods.  There’s always another side to the story, and we discuss how the current societal landscape is shifting technologically, but the principles behind it are not all that they may seem.

This week we’re back with Master Zi and Vindesh to discuss why change is difficult.  Suffering and pain are teachers and guides, according to Buddhism.  We can learn from pain or discomfort, but we must explore our attachments to what it is that makes us unwell.  This week we talk about why making small changes leads to bigger changes.

This week Master Zi and Vindesh discuss decision fatigue and how it impacts our ability to make daily choices.  We started this episode talking about mass hysteria, and then we had to look into why this is happening on a large scale.  The 24-7 new stream, social media, and politics are never ending, so it is up to us to turn it off and rest.  At some point, we need to withdraw and let the mind recover and meditation is one of the best ways to combat reasoning fatigue.  The guys talk about the recent Hurriquake in California, J.K. Rowling’s cancelation, and clowns.  I still don’t know how we get to clowns, but we did!