CTP Books/AuthorsWeekApril2026A (S3EAprSpecial3) Spectrum Minds And Messy Focus

CTP Books/AuthorsWeekApril2026A, Monday) Spectrum Minds And Messy Focus (S3EAprSpecial3)
Exploring more of the fascinating intersection of Activism, Community Engagement, Faith / Religion, Human Nature, Politics, Social Issues, and beyond   
We talk about spectrum thinking across ADHD, OCD, and autism, then move into how romance fiction can show neurodiversity with honesty and heart. Maria Jane shares the story behind Perfect Office Pact, where good intentions collide with privacy, consent, and complicated love. 
• framing ADHD and OCD as spectrum-like experiences, including rumination and compulsive checking 
• why we use “spectrum” language to avoid stereotypes and increase empathy 
• how Maria Jane builds autistic representation into romance characters 
• why relationships take work, including communication and acceptance of quirks 
• the core conflict of Perfect Office Pact, including an HR privacy breach and crossed boundaries 
• Mira’s morally gray pact and the ethics of leverage at work 
• how the Perfect Romance series stays standalone while still interconnected 
• perfectionism, recovery, and learning to accept being imperfectly human 
SEND US FEEDBACK: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2210487/fan_mail/new 
https://tinyurl.com/SubscribeToCTP  
CTP Audios: https://tinyurl.com/CTPonBuzzsprout 
CTP Videos: https://tinyurl.com/JLDonBITCHUTE 
https://tinyurl.com/CTPgear  

A Short Story: A Lasting Legacy? book Trailer

Transcript

ADHD And OCD As Spectrums

Maria Jane Joins And Autism Link

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hello, welcome to another episode of Institutionalist Podcast. I am your host, Joseph M. Leonard. That's L-E-N-A-R-D. It looks French. It's not it's wonderful down and oh. Thank you for tuning in. As Gram No used to say on his show, let's get on with the show! For those looking on the five behind the scenes video channels, sneak peek videos, you will see. Oh, first let me say, this is a cheat intro again, kind of like I do on Saturdays if I'm presenting a video exclusive from prior the same cheat. You'll see the same or here on the 40-ish audio only platforms, this same mini intro, but I am wearing the Book of Kennedy Project Carpe Diem's book shirt because welcome to books slash authors week, just one week for April of 2026. Prior I had Bookslash Authors Weeks this time to get caught up on some back interviews of authors. I'm doing a singular book slash books slash authors week for April 2026, Monday through Friday. Also, I want to say at the end of each episode, I will tack on one of my newer, more recent Suno created songs. If you remember, uh my dad, Ked Lunar Jr. in Polker Kings, tinyurl.com, the Poker Kings to see that tribute page, Sam. He had a record deal. I used to write and record music the old way. You know, get out a piece of sheet music and write out the actual song on the sheet music, the chords, the notes, the lyrics, the buttons all my equipment's been long sold off. But thanks to Suno AI music system, I'm back to writing lyrics and releasing music again. Thank you, Suno. So each day, Monday through Friday of Books slash Authors Week 2026 April, I will check on a Suno Aided Created new song from Joseph M. Leonard, J Leonard, Detroit on Suno. So thank you to them and ugly delay things. So without further ado, let's get to an author. Joining me today will be Maria Jane to talk about autism. Autism, there's a spectrum. So please check back on that episode in the back catalog. I will be talking to Maria Jane in April. I don't know exactly when the episode with Maria Jane will air, but there's a different kind of spectrum. I figured I should do an intro about first, and it's regarding ADHD and OCD. Those are both spectrums, and you might think that they are absolutely separate, but not always. Like myself, I deal with issues at times of lack of ability to focus on something ADHD and OCD brain type, where other times I can't stop focusing on something obsessed, obsessive, compulsive disorder, obsessed, and the brain won't shut off about something, will not and over time learn, and I I wrote songs about this, to let it go. Yeah, you know, think the Disney song, right? Let it go, let it go. You have to learn to try to let some things go. And there's the other OCD, more people are aware of and think and know of at least how we Mandel famously become a spokesperson for OCD, in so much of him being germophobic. And his OCD is in the form of like he can't just wash his hands once, he obsesses over it and washes them ten times. Which I lightly touch on in one of my songs. So I have a Suno playlist, ADHD slash O C D at Tinyur.com slash JLD on Suno, short for JLunner Detroit on Suno, S-U-N-O music system, tinyurl.com, JLD slash JLD on Suno. So I wanted to at least uh refer to the spectrum ADHD, OCD, and those who deal with a combo of the two and OCD as kind of in a way two different things. It can be obsessive compulsive like in one of the songs that I wrote about it addressing the issue. Did I check the door? Did I check it? Oh the way did I leave the stove on? Oh, check the stove ten times. That's an obsessive compulsive disorder, as well as also just in your own head, your brain never shut off. A different kind of OCD, just obsessively rethinking through things, but not you know worrying about something over and over. At any rate, okay, I don't want to drag this intro out. I just felt it important to do a setup to discuss its spectrum-like, like autism has a spectrum. There are different levels, different degrees of it. So I'm gonna leave it there. And next up will be the discussion with Mary Jane, again, which will be recorded in April. Not sure when it will air. And again, check back before or after listening to the episode with Maria Jane, April Langford, the show that dropped in March of 2026. Thank you all. Take care, God bless. Let's get to the next segment with Maria Jane. Joining me today, as promised, Maria Jane. And I say as promised because Maria doesn't know. I recorded a whole intro before she got here. So uh I went into ADHD just so she knows, and OCD, those are spectrum issues also, and often in relation and conjunction with other compounded problems, as is autism also is. And I spoke with April Ratchford on it officially dropped April Fool's Day. No, April Ratchford is a real name, and it was a real episode. It wasn't a joke. Talked about autism, but why I mentioned that and did uh an intro before Maria even got here is Maria is also Maria Jane, the book uh author name is also an autism awareness warrior. She approaches it and helps awareness by having autistic characters in her books. So that to me is connection and segue there. And I'm really glad Mickey, a mutual of a acquaintance of ours, was able to connect us. Welcome to the show, Maria Jane.

SPEAKER_07 9:51

Thank you, Joseph. I appreciate you having me.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Yeah, well, I'm I'm really glad you're here. Before we get into the books, and I I got a million questions running through my head. Not enough time to get to them all, but let's start with uh you where were you born and raised and significant places you might have been between and that sorts of thing.

SPEAKER_07 10:15

Right. I grew up in South Georgia, rural South Georgia, and I went to college in Atlanta and then moved to, I guess, sort of the Northeast, um, lived outside of Philly for nine years, and now I've lived almost 20 years here in the Denver area.

Why Write An Autistic Character

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Okay. Well, I like the Colorado Avalanche more than I do the Philadelphia Flyer. So despite all those years of me being in the Detroit area where in the you know the 90s and 2000s we had that wonderful fight rivalry going on where the goalies even part. I was a goalie growing up myself when I was involved in a fight. So I was like, yeah, it's about time the professional goalies got out and got in a fight, but you're not here to talk sports. Oh, what prompted you to want to have autistic characters in a book?

SPEAKER_07 11:17

Well, you know, I have several people in my life that are on the spectrum a little bit and wanted to explore more about how you have relationships with these people and how you can grow relationships with these people. And I was reading more about it. I was what I mean, they have the reality shows now are so good that you can just like experience the culture and experience the people. Um, and it just made sense for me to kind of incorporate a character. Um, just because I'd been doing so much research and so much reading and so much paying attention to this community that um I it made sense to make this character um have that challenge. If you call it a challenge, I don't, you know, sometimes I don't I don't like to call it challenges. Everybody has their own challenges, so it's just a different flavor.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

I am I'm glad you put it that way, right? Everyone has challenges of some sort. It's often, in some cases, depending where they are on the spectrum, a gift. So uh it is indeed all how you look at it and uh uh embrace the reality of it is what it is until there comes some miracle cure to help. All we can do is deal with symptoms, like with a lot of diseases, the best way we can. Yeah, and you had mentioned their shows. I don't have Netflix, but I'm aware there's that life on the spectrum show. Is that like on the spectrum? Love on the spectrum, okay.

SPEAKER_07 13:08

Even more romance related.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

I knew it was something like that, so that is the one you were referring to.

SPEAKER_07 13:18

Yes, and there is a romance series, it's a fictional series, and I'm gonna not remember the title of it now, but uh about a high school boy who and it follows him through most of high school and how he deals with his day-to-day of being in a traditional high school, and how he um transfers to college and you know, and how he navigates all of those things. And um it I think it did a really good job of showing his challenges as well as his growth, and um, he was seeing a therapist and he had relationships, even though they looked different sort of than your normal relationships. Um, and the people around him, like I would embrace people around me, embraced him, right? And um were able to be in those spaces with him.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

I wrote down a note relationships work, all relationships are work, and that's why many relationships go to pot, is because people think they can just coast through them without putting any work, so all relationships of any kind with anybody else needs to be worked at, yes?

SPEAKER_07 14:38

Definitely, and everybody has their little quirks, so you know my house has to be really clean, so I'm some somewhere on that spectrum myself, probably.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

I'm on the OCD brain, just I I flip-flop ADHD O C D uh, sometimes having trouble concentrating on a particular issue, and other times I'm fully OCD brain where I just can't stop thinking, yeah, I can't sleep because the brain won't shut up. Shut off, I mean, yeah, or shut up or shut off, however you want to look at that. I'm not on the OCD kind of uh how we mendelish. Now you're kind of on that spectrum. You've got to have an absolutely clean house whereas he too is obsessed with the cleanliness, that sort of OCD.

SPEAKER_07 16:36

Yeah, and I and maybe you know, who knows? Nature nurture it all factors in there, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yeah, yes, it does. Yes, it does.

SPEAKER_07 16:46

My parents probably nurtured that in me. Oh, clean the house.

Relationship Work And Personal Quirks

SPEAKER_00 16:50

We love for you to clean the house. I used to be that way, and I joke all the time. I'm gonna lift up my green screen. For those of you on the behind the scenes channel, I'm not a hoarder, but I am a slob. Look at all that stuff on the ugly couch under the green screen there. I'm trying to hide. The house is a mess. I gave up on being a neat freak years ago. But also for behind the scenes, if you're looking, I'm holding up the release that I got from Mickey Mickelson. And your book is called Perfect Office. Yes? Yep, that's it. And what well, I'll go to the genesis of the book, but on here it says Declan Jordan crosses a line, a massive line, and he'll probably lose his job if Myra files a complaint. Well, the first thing that grabbed me was Declan, why that name?

SPEAKER_07 17:57

Yeah, so that was kind of interesting. I have my reader email list, and I decided to send out to my readers like what name should be for the major character, and they did the name.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

You crowdsourced it in a way.

SPEAKER_07 18:12

Yeah, I I crowdsourced the name.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

So well, that's a perfectly valid and good reason to do that. But I I'm I'm as an author myself, I am always curious. Usually there's a a point, a purpose, a reason of some sort behind every name. It's usually not, oh, give me the phone book, oh, page 11 randomly, oh, there it is. Abbott. Right? There's usually a reason. So indeed, what was the genesis or how where did the title come from? The perfect office pack.

Perfect Office Pact Plot Hook

SPEAKER_07 18:59

Right. So Mira is the main character, and she's starting a new job at a real estate firm. Um, Declan is the owner of the firm, and he was also her professor when she was in real estate school. So she kind of assumes that he doesn't like her. Like she's very outspoken and she's quick to answer questions. And I guess we don't really see that part, but her impression is that he doesn't like her. Um, but he's hiring her anyway, right? So she still has to come to this job and deal with a potential boss who maybe doesn't like her very much. Um, and then the first day she gets, well, that's kind of a side thing, so I won't get into that. But yeah, we don't want to be too many spoilers, right? No, so very but Mira's in a relationship at the beginning of this with uh, and I don't even remember his name, but it's not important. Anyway, um so Mira is with her boyfriend, and she is walking with her boyfriend, and they have a breakup, and they have uh an argument or a breakup, and um she's upset, and so she walks away and she realizes that Declan, the boss, is sitting there watching this whole encounter and has seen what happened, right? And has heard a lot of maybe her personal information that she didn't really want to share. So if you fast forward a couple of weeks, it comes up that they are going to this training session and Declan's gonna go. Mira, as a new employee, is gonna go, and there are a couple of employees going, and she's anxious about this, you know. Anyway, but Declan decides that he's well, he overhears that Mira doesn't know her dad is, and he decides on his own to find her dad. Uh-oh. So he steals personal information from HR, right? He goes in the computer system, he finds the personal information, and he does this search because he's a computer guru, um, and he finds her dad, basically. And then when they get to California, he drops it on her. Hey, well, I really came to this meeting because this is where your dad is. And she is, well, number one, she's grateful that, okay, yes, this potentially is her dad, who she might not have had a chance to meet otherwise. But number two, this guy has stolen her information and major breach of you know, personal identity, personal line crossed. So she decides, well, I mean, yeah, he she could go to the board and have him fired.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Well, yeah, let's leave it dangling at that as the tease. I because again, I don't want to give too much of the book away. We want to tease people into wanting to, of course, buy and read the book. Um, right. So the obvious then question with the lead-in to this is where who is autistic and how does that play a role?

unknown 22:09

Right.

SPEAKER_07 22:09

So Declan is the autistic character. He um is very high-functioning, very smart person, but the personal interaction is a challenge for him. So he crossed this.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_07 22:24

That's perfect sense to me there now. Yes. Yeah, he crossed this line to help her because he felt something for her and he wanted to help her. Um, you know, however misguided the help may have been, but it was within his ability to help her, so he did. And but you know, there are a lot of lines that got crossed there.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Yeah, uh a lot of complex emotions there, as you said, the the well, yay, I kind of eventually wanted to know who my father was, but uh this was not the Way to either get that information or have it presented. So it gets rather complicated in there, I guess.

SPEAKER_07 24:03

Right. Yeah. And where the pact comes in is that she decides, okay, well, he crossed a line, I could tell, or I could take advantage of this. So Mira becomes a very morally gray character, too, right? Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:21

Ethically challenged in that sense, also, yes.

SPEAKER_07 24:26

So she decides that Declan needs to help her, like give her weekly sessions to help her learn real estate, the real estate business, and help her get ahead, um, in in return for not telling anyone what he did.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

A little harsh in the terminology, but blackmail extortion?

Declan’s Autism And Social Misreads

SPEAKER_07 24:49

Yeah, a little bit there. So I mean it's very new for me to write a character who does something like that. So I was surprised with the storyline.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

Well, it's not direct blackmail or extortion for a direct payment, but I mean money through increased access and increased knowledge and then ability to make more money on her own for herself, she wouldn't have otherwise gotten to without that. So it it it in and of itself is very complicated there too.

SPEAKER_07 25:27

Yeah, well, maybe she would have gotten there, but maybe not so fast, right?

The Pact And Gray Ethics

SPEAKER_00 25:31

Right, yeah, thank you. That's that's the better way to put it. She she tried to kind of cut some corners and speed the progress along. Yeah. Uh so this is not your first book though, right?

SPEAKER_07 25:50

No. It's the fourth, yeah, it's the fourth book in the perfect romance series. So each book in the series highlights a different character. All the characters are related to each other. They all went to the University of Kentucky together. So each book is a standalone, and you can read it in and of itself, but you kind of are able to see the other characters as they progress throughout their lives too.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

I I love what you did there because I'm doing the same thing with my Life and Living series of books. They're semi-interrelated based on topic, but they're each their own standalone primary characters with some occasional throwback or crossover name drops. Uh, but if you only read one book, you don't miss out. Uh, so it sounds like the same thing here. Any one book can be read, they don't necessarily have to be in order if you want to read the whole series. Right.

SPEAKER_07 26:49

I think eventually it might matter because some people might be be together when you didn't realize they were together or not together, but uh probably very small details. You would still want to know how it happened, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:06

Well uh yeah, uh again, necessarily order-wise. You could think of it as a if you go back to book two after reading book four, then you think of book two as kind of a flashback. Yeah. So it wouldn't really completely disrupt like some books, some series are very much chronologically uh anchored. And if you don't read them in order uh or you miss a book, you miss a whole lot. And it sounds like like I did, and you tried to minimize that as best possible.

SPEAKER_07 27:56

Definitely, yeah. And each but it's very the reason for like including diverse characters. I mean, Mira Hispanic character, Declan is an autistic character, other characters in the other book are Asian American and black characters. So I really wanted to give that whole flavor in the series of multicultural relationships and multicultural experiences and learning more about um just acceptance of diversity.

Series Structure And Diverse Cast

SPEAKER_00 28:28

Yeah, just now uh the what again ADHD O C D now my brain's off it to you know remember the song It takes every kind of people. I forget who sings that, but yeah, no, diversity and inclusion is not a is is indeed a good thing, if meant in the national US e Purbus Unum sense from many one, as opposed to kind of unfortunately woke, which is more about identity politics and dividing the cultures rather than really blinging them together and diversity about uh paying homage to other cultures, not appropriating other cultures. Do you cover any of that at all because of the different varying types of characters?

SPEAKER_07 29:31

Really? No, it doesn't get political at all. I mean, these characters were drawn together in college and they were in the same sorority, um, and that was their bond initially, and then they've just grown and now they're out of college, they're all like seeking their their careers and they're happily ever after. So that kind of what has joined them in the beginning, and then we just kind of see them diverge out or yeah, um, yeah, from that.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

Well, yeah, though the way I see it is you're uh indeed in the epurbus unum kind of camp with this, indeed. They came together with like uh through the same college, somewhat like-minded, regardless of skin tone or origin, and understand that other people are still bleed red inside, yes, and it's unfortunately exterior forces that keep wanting to divide us all all the time.

SPEAKER_07 30:39

Yeah, we definitely all most people have had the experience of falling in love and getting broken up with, or all of those human things.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

Right, right, yeah. That's pretty pretty much the same human nature, human condition that I go into in my life and living series, also. Right, we all deal with those things, and if we could focus on things that indeed we share and bring us together, the world in general would be better without having to talk about it. I would think potentially people would see that as an unspoken underlying thing, maybe.

SPEAKER_07 31:25

Right. I mean, I just wanted to bring a lot of different characters to the stage. I mean, because that's what reflects what we see every day, right?

SPEAKER_00 31:35

So yeah. Oh I yeah, my I I gotta confess, I'm just today's one of those I'm just so tired kind of days. So my you know what I mean? We all have themselves like days upon days leading up to this. Oh yeah, a million questions, and now that I'm talking to you though, ah, they've all left my brain. Uh are you currently working on a net when when did uh perfect office pack release?

SPEAKER_07 32:16

That released last no, 2020 must have been 2024, maybe or 2025. No, it's 2025. It was February 2025, so a little bit over a year ago, right? Okay, so my brain is not working, but yeah, so yeah. The next book comes out in so I'm having re-releases of the first two books in April and May. So that's perfect and perfect always, and then the fifth book, Perfect Secrets, comes out in June.

SPEAKER_00 32:47

Okay, yeah, that was the obvious next question I was leading to. Is there a next book? And we indeed we've already covered that. So it's all set and ready to go, or you're working on it now.

SPEAKER_07 33:01

No, it's all set, it's on pre-order on Kindle. Um, this one's set in the Denver area, so that was kind of fun for me to write of where I live now, and um with two new characters who you will learn their story as well.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

That's good. I uh you get to live other places through other people and books that way. I I really like that. So, where do the other ones? What settings do the other ones take place?

Next Releases And Setting Choices

SPEAKER_07 33:34

So the first book is kind of a weird book. It's called Perfect, and it is an alternative ending, kind of choose your own ending romance. Ah so it follows, yeah, the main character, Chloe, through five different parts of her life, and she makes different decisions, and depending on those decisions, she moves to Paris and she moves to New York City and she meets different people. So a different person is her happily ever after person, depending on where she is and what choices she makes, right? And I kind of wanted to highlight that you know, depending on your decisions, your which path your life takes, that there can be a multitude of people that might be potentially there for you to find and fall in love with, right? Like just because your life may take a turn that you didn't expect doesn't mean that you know all is lost.

Choose Your Own Ending Romance

SPEAKER_00 34:34

Amen. That's good. And and I like the title title because in a way I hope you meant it ironically, because there's no such thing as perfect, and that's part of the point here, right? You there's not that one perfect person, there are many potential mates or or partners, and uh some people forever live their lives in a small pond and never exceed that pond. That doesn't mean they won't find someone, and others are world-renowned travelers, and they may have a hard time finding someone in a way because they're almost meeting too many people, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_07 35:20

Right, and the idea that maybe the person you fall for or your partner that seems like the perfect fit is perfect for you, not you know, they're so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:33

And it all always and we all I started recording music again. I'm using the Suno music system. I just wrote a uh song the other day called Complex Beings about this, and uh another called Hectic Living. Uh things are so fast-paced we need to slow down. You know, it's like you remember Mac Davis's all he had the song stop and smell the low roses, right? You gotta stop and smell the roses along the way, or you'll miss a lot. Uh even different parts of our lives, we go through seasons of change at times. May not be the same person we were in high school, in college, and after college. Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 36:32

So that book is the perfect book or perfect the book. It's sort of highlighting that, right? You you're a different person. That's what I'm getting, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 36:43

So different things are important as you grow and mature and get older. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

Yeah. Okay. So I it just wasn't some weird thought. I did pick up properly on that, yes. Yes, you did.

SPEAKER_07 36:57

You you hit the nail on the head. Okay. Right. And then the second book, Perfect Always, is Chloe's story. So in the beginning, I thought I might write like a full-length novel based on each one of those parts from the first book. And then I thought, well, I think people really need the real story, right? Um, so perfect always is Chloe's story of who she decides, you know, who is her happily ever after person. And then from there, as close to perfect is Bree is the main character. And then, of course, Perfect After Mess Pact is Mira, and then coming up, um, perfect secrets is Danny and Tanner are the main characters.

SPEAKER_00 37:44

I really love the title as close to perfect, because again, there's no such thing as perfect, especially on this fallen world. Uh, no, the only perfect person I've ever think is perfect was when Jesus Christ walked the planet. The rest of us are flawed and frail, imperfect, and trying to do the best we can. And that title really suggests that to me.

Perfectionism And Recovery Lessons

SPEAKER_07 38:20

Right. And it's a little, I mean, my history is I was well, I have told you what a neat freak I am. So you know that about me. And um, growing up as a young adult, I developed anorexia, but a lot of it was around those needing to be perfect in every way and needing to control things, right? And through recovery, I was able to let go of a lot of those. Okay, you don't have to be the straight A student, you don't have to look perfect all the time. Um, it is those imperfections and those challenges which binds us all together. And that was like my major learning from that experience. So I think this series is a little bit about that too. Like all of our imperfections kind of make us all make us all perfect, although not you see what I'm not perfect, but yes, I I'm perfectly human.

SPEAKER_00 39:19

There you go. Yeah, very, very human. Again, none of us are perfect. We all human. As we said earlier, we all have our quirks and whatnot. That is what makes us all individuals and somewhat unique and why Martin Luther King Jr. content of character. You can't lump people together based on a group identity or or shouldn't. But those quirks and those imperfections, uh, and recognizing everybody has one, whether some might be better at hiding it than others, right? Or something like that. But we all have them, and that can be a bonding thing. Definitely, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 40:09

And I and trying to live that perfect life like just isolated me from people. So it definitely was the opposite of what I wanted.

SPEAKER_00 40:20

And also, I I'm worried people hear as close to perfect well and their might mind might go immediately while you're settling. Well, we we make compromises and settle, and I I don't really want to say it that way, I don't think, but it it's not settling, it's recognizing and understanding everything in life are trade-offs and compromises. And the only way you're gonna meet a perfect person for you is to clone yourself to be the right, to actually be you and marry yourself. Yeah, right? Again, all relationships are work. No two people are ever gonna agree 100% of the time. Definitely.

SPEAKER_07 41:17

And hopefully, if you're cloning and marrying yourself, you're accepting and loving yourself too. I mean, that's like a huge check right there, right?

SPEAKER_00 41:26

Like that's a whole other problem, too. Yeah, generally, there are things we don't like. I'm so glad you said that, right? Because generally we all have things we don't like about ourselves, too. And I've got several episodes that I talk about the need to go to the bathroom mirror, look yourself in the face, and be honest with yourself. A lot of people can't self-reflect, and they lie to everyone, including themselves. And we need to be honest in ourselves first before we can really truly be honest with someone else, see us?

SPEAKER_07 42:08

Yes, definitely. I mean, yeah, you you sometimes keep on blinders about things you don't want to face, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

Um, well, yeah, I've kind of been all over the map with you today.

SPEAKER_07 42:24

That's okay. I feel like we're circling all the fun topics that are definitely related to the series.

SPEAKER_00 42:31

Yeah, yeah, in a way, yeah. Your series and my series, the Life and Living series, kind of mirror each other in a way in this human condition talk. And I rail about it all the time. People that want to live in a bubble and delusion, devoid of countless, forever of humanity's understanding of human nature. Our technological progress may have changed, but we as a species really haven't much.

Self Honesty And Human Nature

SPEAKER_07 43:12

No, it was just interesting. I was seeing that there's like proof that we had dogs before we ever needed dogs as pets, before there was even like hunting and you know, and things that we would use dogs for. So that was I was like, oh, we just always wanted that companionship, right?

SPEAKER_00 43:32

Yeah, oh, absolutely. I mean, going back to Egypt, obviously, there's always been the connection with cats back in the Egyptian days. But yeah, that's a human companion issue there, a desire to have a relationship, uh even with another being, another species, a dog, a cat, a bunny, a ferret, or whatever.

SPEAKER_07 44:02

Yeah, so I I guess we don't change that much over time.

SPEAKER_00 44:07

No, no, in turn, we like to think we do, but unfortunately we don't, other than again, we all have seasons too, so we may change a little from who we once were to who we are now. We we learn, we hopefully get wiser and grow a bit, yes.

SPEAKER_07 44:29

Yes, I've learned that if I if I listen to a book while I'm cleaning, I can stay focused on the task in front of me instead of being like squirrel. Oh, I'm cleaning this. Now I'm gonna clean this, I'm gonna come back. So I learned that.

Focus Tricks And A Surprise Dog

SPEAKER_00 44:44

I'm so glad you said that. The movie of squirrel. And speaking of dogs, for those not looking on behind the scenes video, there's Maria's dog. What who is this? This is Woody. He is Woody.

SPEAKER_01 45:00

Hi, Woody!

Where To Find The Books

SPEAKER_00 45:04

What a good baby. Say, yeah, I just want to be my mama right now. Okay, so starting to wrap things up, then uh again, we could go for hours. There's a bazillion more questions and topics we could discuss. There, unfortunately, all things must come to an end, as they say. And your dog really wants attention. So we'll let you get to the dog. Uh, let you get to Woody. What is your website?

SPEAKER_07 45:40

Uh, TrishaCopeland.com or Maria Jane Romance.com.

SPEAKER_00 45:46

All right, we'll go with Maria, Maria Jane.

SPEAKER_07 46:21

They're not erotic books, but they have adult scenes in them. So you don't want one person jumping from a white fantasy into something that might not be appropriate for them. So I changed the name to keep it a little bit separate, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:35

All right. Okay, well, thank you, Maria Jane, and give Woody a big hug for us. He's gonna demand it, I think. Yeah, yeah, Maria. What a good baby. Thank you. Take care, God bless Maria. Thank you, you too. Bye.

SPEAKER_05 47:04

Why? Thoughts keep spinning like a glitch in the mix. Down sheep, but the running track laps. Every number just snaps right back We cut nails short, so I don't fix it.

SPEAKER_04 47:30

Check the door twice, then I check it again. Tiny awards in a tire Oh death, I doubt Where's the O switch stuff in the loop of dead? Take three words like a bully till the words all dead. I just walk quiet. Where's the old switch threads up right on red? Dead till it go on a quintessor I just walk on quiet end Life's all down, but the mind's on blast.

SPEAKER_03 48:11

With play remake every moment that's past If I breathe in four, then I breathe out A. Maybe I can now calculate. Wash my hands till the doubt runs trying still hear what if I'm in under that skylight.

SPEAKER_04 48:26

I know that's grip, but I hear you're seeing every single time.

SPEAKER_06 50:11

She's white, why I can't hit the off switch. Thoughts keep spinning like a glitch in the mix. Count sheep, but they're running track laps. Peace of mind, I seem to forever lack.

SPEAKER_01 50:39

And the shadow by the door. Did I lock it? Did I check it? Did I check it once more? Every thought like a bright red warning, every sigh like a stuck alarm. Breath is crawling on my chestline. Hands curl into my arms. Still the night, still the numbers fitting in my head. Let the list I'm holding for right off the edge of the bed. Still the night the looping marginal line. I don't need to get it perfect. Just a pillow for my mind. Tap the light switch with my knuckle. Whisper last time, then I'm done. Heart says run it back eleven. Brain says twelve, or you're the one. Every word is like a siren. Every memory double checked. But this blanket is a shoreline. I can step back from the wreck. Still the night, still the numbers fit in my head. Let the list I'm holding for right off the edge of the bed. Still the night, let the looping march on line. That only to get it perfect. Just a pillow for my mind. Old gray hoodie on the chair. Single sock, some tangled hair. Two three oh two three. Nothing bad is hiding here with me. Just a human a holiday. Just a body getting tired of the fight. Still the night, still the numbers spinning in my head. Let the list I'm holding for right off the edge of the bed. Still the night at the looping march unwind. I don't need to get it perfect. Just a pillow for my mind. One last check of the window, one last glance at the door. Then I lay that tiny soldier gently sleeping on the floor. Still the night stay a while. Guard the corners of this room. Till my mind turns down its volume. And my dreams make a little more.

SPEAKER_00 54:17

Thank you for having tuned into another Christitutionalist podcast show. I really appreciate that you stop by. Again, please like, share, subscribe. We need you to help spread the constitutionalist movement. Thank you again. Take care. God bless. Love you all.