The Concept Of Time, Different Cultures On Time, Circular Time vs Linear Time, Time And Freedom, Self Help Podcast

⏳ Is time universal — or do we just think it is?

In this reflective episode of the Self Help Show, Gina-Margaret Tiger unpacks how different cultures, religions, and personal values perceive and structure time. From circular time in Eastern traditions to African Time and the hustle of modern work weeks — we explore what time really means, and how financial freedom might be the only path to owning it.

🧠 What You’ll Learn:

00:00 – Introduction: Why This Podcast Is Structured in Chapters

00:50 – The Concept of Time Across Cultures

01:30 – Linear vs Circular Time Explained

02:40 – Cultural Differences: Germany vs Africa vs Japan vs Italy

03:40 – Why Some Cultures Obsess Over Punctuality

04:30 – Rituals, Seasons, and Sacred Time in Culture

05:05 – Life Milestones: Birth, Graduation, Marriage, Death

06:00 – Are We Truly Free If We Don’t Control Our Own Time?

07:30 – The Dream: 3-Day Work Weeks and Passive Income

08:10 – Financial Freedom and Time Ownership

08:45 – Are We Truly Living or Just Existing?

💡 Episode Highlights:

• Time is not just hours — it’s cultural, emotional, and spiritual

• Circular time brings peace; linear time creates pressure

• Financial freedom = time freedom = real freedom

• Most people are not free because their time is controlled by survival

📓 Journal Prompt:

What would your days look like if you truly had full ownership of your time?

🌱 Affirmation:

“My time is sacred. I release the pressure of other people’s timelines and live in alignment with my own rhythm.”

🔔 Reminder:

It’s not just about managing time. It’s about reclaiming it.

concept of time, time in different cultures, circular time vs linear time, cultural differences in time, African time, time freedom, financial freedom and time, self help podcast

📩 Loved This Episode?

✅ Follow the Self Help Show

✅ Share this with someone racing against time

✅ Rate the show ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — your reviews help free someone else's time

🎧 Self Help Show — where we slow down, wake up, and remember time is yours to reclaim.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello, welcome to a thousand voices podcast.

(00:04):
This is your host Gina and this show is about all the self self help self love self care.
And this podcast is built in chapters.
So we are on chapter seven, I'm talking about all things time.
If you go back to the beginning, you actually find that I've spoken about so many things.

(00:27):
So it's more of like a book, you know, with chapters.
It's not like a linear type of podcast.
It's more of like a progress.
I guess.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know if that's the right word, but yeah, it's, it's, it's evergreen.
Like it's a thousand voices.

(00:48):
So today's topic is the concept of time in different cultures.
Yep.
Concept of time.
What do I mean?
So do you know that different cultures perceive time in different ways?
In some time is linear, isn't like a straight line or like a stream.

(01:11):
Then in others, it's secular.
And I think this is the Chinese people.
I think, yeah, I don't know.
I will tell you more about the cultures that practice the circular time.
But what I know is the difference between the cultural constructs and interpretation
in time is very different and they all have unique ways, you know, that influence how

(01:35):
individuals experience and value time.
So the Western culture often views time as a line.
It's a straight line, past, present, future.
And indigenous and Eastern cultures perceive time as a cycle, so you have seasons, you

(01:55):
have life, you have death.
Right.
And what that means is they, they look at the moon, for example, like the phases of
the moon.
So it's like when the moon is half, when the moon is full or something like that.

(02:19):
That's what they look at.
Right.
So that's the one aspect of time, like on like cultural variations of time perception.
Okay.
Then you have the ones that are obsessed with time.
You have to be punctual, like for example, in Japan or Germany.

(02:39):
If you're late, you're in trouble.
You have to stick to schedules.
And then in other places, like for example, in Africa, you have to, you know, take the
relaxed approach.
I mean, if I say I'm coming at two, I'm coming at two, two or five.
Well, I personally am always very punctual.

(03:04):
First tongue tie of the chapter.
So I'm always very punctual because I respect time and I also respect other people's times.
But then you have people like my friend.
I don't want to mention your name because I don't want people to know that you do this.
If she says we are meeting at three, just know we are meeting at six.

(03:27):
I don't know why she does this, but yeah, that's the African time for you.
Then another thing is some cultures, they focus on the present moment and their relationships
are strict when it comes to like adherence to time.
Like they emphasize in enjoying the now, like the present moment.

(03:53):
Then you have religion and spiritual influences where time influences traditions, perception.
It influences concepts of eternity.
And yeah, for example, like other religions believe in different timelines.

(04:20):
And then we have scientists talking about the Big Bang.
And then you have like historical events that happened at specific times.
And it's just like different for everyone.
Then you also have your festivals and your cultural rituals and having stuff different,

(04:43):
like having stuff done at different times, marking the passage of time as a community,
as their heritage.
So that's that.
And then you also have your life stages or events or transitions, for example, birth,

(05:05):
graduation, marriage, death.
Those are also just unique ways showing the reflection on time and the significance of
time.
So as I was saying, like different cultures perceive time differently.
Some see it as a sign of respect and some see it as a more relaxed.

(05:28):
Like I think it's in Italy where there's a time where everybody stops working and they're
just taking a break and they just value that, which I think is something that is so beautiful.
I wish that was done everywhere.
Then you have places where it's just like nonstop.

(05:52):
You know, there isn't like a specific respect for time, especially to like personal and
social things.
It's mostly just the weekend, which I think is not fair.
I feel like if I even have been thinking that maybe in a better world, we would have a three

(06:14):
working week, three day working week, and then we have four days of rest.
If you say I'm dreaming, thank you.
I'll keep on dreaming, but like that's like what I would love to experience.
That will be my own culture that I will create because like Monday to Friday is pretty intense.

(06:41):
And especially for entrepreneurs like myself, you don't even have a Monday to Friday.
You have a Sunday to Sunday.
But I think if you can create that time for yourself where you decide to say I'm only
working four days a week, or I'm only working three days a week, and you can still generate
income, you have passive streams of income that will take off your bills, your lifestyle,

(07:05):
your family, then you don't need to work like a lot more.
You know, you can retire early.
So that's kind of what I am really, really interested in.
I think it would be so interesting to kind of live a life that because at the end of

(07:28):
the day, if you look at it, yeah, let me get a little personal.
We are just here and the only accurate thing that we can measure about our existence is
time.
Have you ever thought about it?
Because when you're born, you're born with like X amount of time and then you just have

(07:48):
to spend it.
And how you decide to spend it is not necessarily entirely up to you because like, for example,
your parents will tell you what to do.
You have to do this, you have to do that.
And then you get into school and then after school, you have to live a certain life.
You have to do this, you have to do that.
So are we truly really free if you're not free to use your time the way you want to?

(08:17):
Because it's literally the only resource that you are given.
Are you truly free if you cannot do what you want whenever you want?
Are you truly free?
If you can't decide to just drop everything and then just decide to not do anything, are

(08:42):
you truly free?
And this is where deep down everything I stand for, I've always been fighting for financial
freedom because I feel like with financial freedom, then you can do whatever you want
whenever you want because I feel like most people are driven by just wanting the basics

(09:05):
of things in life, a roof over your head, food on the table, clothes to wear, you know,
taking care of the bills and everything.
I just feel like that's like the chain that bounds most people to not really experience
the true freedom of their time, which is quite sad because there's only a few selects that

(09:31):
have the freedom of their time or they have the freedom to do whatever they want whenever
they want.
And I say either way, are we all truly living?
Are we really truly living or I don't know.
Anyway, next topic I'm talking about age.

(09:54):
See you then.