The Reality Check Podcast

What greater gift can you give someone than the gift of presence? When you are fully present, mindful, and in the moment, you are able to give all those around you access to the best version of you, and thus the moment they are in with you. In this episode, I share with you a guided meditation that I have released on Insight Timer. It is based on the intersection between the following two quotes: ‘See how you are literally free of the future, for the simple reason that it hasn’t and will never arise. There can be no other moment. Feel how that is so. How it is impossible to get ourselves into some other moment, for there is no other moment, and no other reality but, than what is presently here, this instant...’ - John Astin ‘If there is peace in your mind you will find peace with everybody. If your mind is agitated, you will find agitation everywhere. So first find peace within and you will see this inner peace reflected everywhere else. You are this peace.’ – From H. W. L. Poonja a.k.a. Papaji This track was inspired by my course on Insight Timer, ‘Daily Contemplations For Living An Examined Life’ Current offerings: - Hunt Your Own Shadow: free 12 week email course - Insight Timer: guided audio courses & free meditations - Skillshare: video courses on personal development - How To Get Your Sh!t Together: the last self-help book you will ever read - Bound To The Wings of a Butterfly: best selling poetry collection - How To Write Evocative Poetry: a guidebook for unlocking creativity - 1 on 1 Coaching & Mentoring: Video Calls & Voice/Text Coaching Web: zachary-phillips.com Social: @zacpphillips

‘Stuck Inside My Mind’ Freestyle improve poetry. Watch the video on Instagram, and read the full poem here. Current offerings: - Hunt Your Own Shadow: free 12 week email course - Insight Timer: guided audio courses & free meditations - Skillshare: video courses on personal development - How To Get Your Sh!t Together: the last self-help book you will ever read - Bound To The Wings of a Butterfly: best selling poetry collection - How To Write Evocative Poetry: a guidebook for unlocking creativity - 1 on 1 Coaching & Mentoring: Video Calls & Voice/Text Coaching Web: zachary-phillips.com Social: @zacpphillips

The more you know about yourself the better choices you will make and thus the better life you will lead. In this episode I share some recent instances of deep personal insight where I discover things about myself that are both good, bad, and ugly. I share the importance of such discoveries as well as the ways in which I (and you can) foster further insights into your own nature. Resources mentioned: Discover Your Divine Purpose - Insight Timer Course 1 on 1 Coaching & Mentoring Current offerings: - Hunt Your Own Shadow: free 12 week email course - Insight Timer: guided audio courses & free meditations - Skillshare: video courses on personal development - How To Get Your Sh!t Together: the last self-help book you will ever read - Bound To The Wings of a Butterfly: best selling poetry collection - How To Write Evocative Poetry: a guidebook for unlocking creativity - 1 on 1 Coaching & Mentoring: Video Calls & Voice/Text Coaching Web: zachary-phillips.com Social: @zacpphillips

Yesterday, a friend asked me how to meditate, that talk inspired this episode. Here is my guidance for absolute beginners: 1: sit comfortably (no pain or sleepiness) 2: set a timer for 5 minutes 3: pick a meditation object (breath, vision, sound) 4: when you notice a wandering kind, bring it back to focus. A successful session is one that you complete, ideally every day! For further instruction on how to meditate, check out my book ‘Mindfulness, A Guidebook To The Present Moment’. Current offerings: - Hunt Your Own Shadow: free 12 week email course - Insight Timer: guided audio courses & free meditations - Skillshare: video courses on personal development - How To Get Your Sh!t Together: the last self-help book you will ever read - Bound To The Wings of a Butterfly: best selling poetry collection - How To Write Evocative Poetry: a guidebook for unlocking creativity - Work With Me: 1 on 1 Mentoring & Coaching Web: zachary-phillips.com Social: @zacpphillips

When you dedicate yourself to one thing, the lessons learnt begin to help you with everything. In this episode I discuss the quote by Miyamoto Musashi 'If you know the way broadly you will see it in all things' - applying the lessons I have learnt in martial arts, poetry, meditation, chess and life to one another, discussing the intersection between them all, as well as some of the implications and takeaways of 'knowing the way'. I also discuss how there is a silver lining to be found in setback, injury, and illness - if we know how to look for it. Current offerings: - Hunt Your Own Shadow: free 12 week email course - Insight Timer: guided audio courses & free meditations - Skillshare: video courses on personal development - How To Get Your Sh!t Together: the last self-help book you will ever read - Bound To The Wings of a Butterfly: best selling poetry collection - How To Write Evocative Poetry: a guidebook for unlocking creativity - Work With Me: 1 on 1 Mentoring & Coaching Web: zachary-phillips.com Social: @zacpphillips

Two weeks ago I began transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to treat my depression, anxiety and PTSD. 10 sessions in and I am starting to see significant progress. In this episode I share my experiences of the process and my hopes for the future. Current offerings: - Hunt Your Own Shadow: free 12 week email course - Insight Timer: guided audio courses & free meditations - Skillshare: video courses on personal development - How To Get Your Sh!t Together: the last self-help book you will ever read - Bound To The Wings of a Butterfly: best selling poetry collection - How To Write Evocative Poetry: a guidebook for unlocking creativity - Work With Me: 1 on 1 Mentoring & Coaching Web: zachary-phillips.com Social: @zacpphillips

The moment we label something, it is limited. The label isn’t the truth, it is a representation of, it’s a finger pointing to the moon, it is a suggestion of possibility that always falls short of reality. In this episode I share the following poem and muse about its implications, leaving you with the spiritual practice of looking beyond the label, to see what it is pointing to, pulling it all the way back to the core, to consciousness. all labels are an abstraction of form baring one; consciousness Current offerings: - Hunt Your Own Shadow: free 12 week email course - Insight Timer: guided audio courses & free meditations - Skillshare: video courses on personal development - How To Get Your Sh!t Together: the last self-help book you will ever read - Bound To The Wings of a Butterfly: best selling poetry collection - How To Write Evocative Poetry: a guidebook for unlocking creativity - Work With Me: 1 on 1 Mentoring & Coaching Web: zachary-phillips.com Social: @zacpphillips

In this session I share the audio from my presentation in the Breaking Boxes ‘Power Of Connection Summit’, where I joined seven other presenters over two days to talk on all things connection. My talk was titled ‘Connection From Within The Darkness’ - I talk about the disconnect we often feel to ourselves and the world following trauma and how we can being healing from it. This session begins with a brief introduction of myself and my work, followed by a long form guided meditation/introspection, were we look inwards and begin to heal, reconnect and integrate with parts of ourselves that may have been impacted by trauma. Warning: this session may be challenging to some listeners, so please sure your supports and self-care is in place prior to listening. You can check out Breaking Boxes here. ‘Hunt Your Own Shadow’ is my free 12 week email course that will help you to identify and release the limiting beliefs that no longer serve you. It features 12 exclusive guided audio tracts, introspective contemplations, expansion challenges, and email coaching - you can read more about the course and sign up here.

Identify and release the limiting beliefs that no longer serve you with this free 12 week email course. Featuring exclusive guided audio tracks, introspective contemplations, expansion challenges, and email coaching - this course will act as a guide, offering insights, prompts and suggestions that will help you to identify and release the limiting beliefs that no longer serve you. To sign up, just put your email here and I will send you an introduction email and week one’s content. You can also read more about the course here. I look forward to seeing you in the course!

Life will shoot us with the first arrow - these are real injuries, setbacks, losses and pain. But the greater cause of our suffering comes form ‘the second arrow’ - the fear, anxieties, ruminations, and other internal mechanisations that we dwell upon. In this episode I discuss the concept of the second arrow, as well as how we can use it to eliminate significant amounts of excess (and useless) suffering. Check out my Insight Timer Profile & the book ‘Reflections of the Self’

In this episode I share a guided meditation that I shared on the Insight Timer app. What if you were to give thanks in advance for the wonderful things that were going to happen? - And what if you used that question to reframe your gratitude practice into the future? In this session we contemplate this concept and suggest how it could be adapted to reduce anxiety and increase positivity and presence, both now and into the future. Work with me: 1 on 1 coaching and mentoring.

In this session I share a guided meditation that I shared on the Insight Timer app. This track is an invitation to explore the beauty of the present moment. To stop the rush and to settle into the now. It begins with a discussion of the benefits of finding opportunities to meditate through out the day and then goes into a mindful story. Join me on a journey towards the peace of the present moment and embrace the beauty that is all around us. Follow me on Insight Timer Work with me: 1 on 1 coaching and mentoring

This is the story of a dark night of the soul, of traversing the depths of despair, and of rebirth. It is the story of transformation from a shadow version of myself into my embodied fullness. It is the story of reintegration with my body after years of trauma, and of letting go of old wounds and identities that no longer serve me. It is a story of reframing my inner world, from victim hood into strength. It is a story of how I am now hunting my own shadow. Work with me: 1 on 1 coaching and mentoring Who I worked with: Miroslav Petrovic, Victoria Redbard

Will mindfulness meditation lead to enlightenment? In this talk I respond to an email from follower on Insight Timer who has found some contradictory advice relating to their meditation practice and the goal of enlightenment. I go deep on the different interpretations of awakening presented by different practices/instructors, and offer some guidance for everyone moving forward. Work with me: 1 on 1 coaching and mentoring

Every Christmas season I talk on this topic, because every Christmas season I am reminded of just how overwhelming, panic inducing and confusing it all can be. Thankfully I am learning from the past and have realised the need for intervention, prevention, and pre-emptive attention to self-care and preparation to stay sane over the next few months. So with that said I want to share with you the following podcast and blog post. If you, or someone you know is neurodivergent, you will get a lot from this one. Read the blog: https://www.zachary-phillips.com/podcast/asd-overwhelm Links mentioned: I teach on Insight Timer, Skillshare, and Udemy. I also offer 1 on 1 coaching and mentoring.

Last night I woke enraged. At the world. At my family. At my job. At myself. I was lying in bed in a state of utter tension; with a headache, racing heart, and complete emotional overwhelm. Then, a moment of detachment. A breath. A reminder of my mindfulness practice and the realisation of two fundamental truths of my current predicament. 1: All of my pain was coming from inside of me. In that moment there was no external forces that was ‘causing’ my pain. 2: I know from experience that thoughts come and go, and that mindful observation facilitates this process. Holding those two truths in mind, I decided to mindfully observe my mind and almost immediately the thought dissipated… How to practice mindfulness resources: Blog Post Mindfulness: A Guidebook To The Present Moment - Book Audio Courses & Guided meditations: Insight Timer Video courses: Skillshare and Udemy. I also offer 1 on 1 coaching and mentoring where I can guide you though the process.

Perhaps like me, you are struggling with a collection of symptoms and functionality issues. Some days are amazing, but other days you just fall apart. The people around you have suggested that perhaps you may have ADHD or ASD or some other kind of neurodivergence, but you are unsure if you should seek a diagnosis. The stigma, shame, and self blame block you form acting, yet you know that if you do nothing, nothing will change. So the question is, should you seek a formal diagnosis for your mental health condition? On the one hand it may provide validation, clarity, and community; giving you deeper insights into yourself and a guide out of suffering towards functionality, but on the other, it may be limiting and become a self fulfilling prophesy, causing you to be labelled by yourself or society at large. In this episode of the Reality Check Podcast, I share my thoughts and experiences of diagnosis. Growing Into Autism - Sandra Thom-Jones Insight Timer - Meditation App ~ Zachary Phillips is a poet, author, podcaster and coach. You can find him on social everywhere @zacpphillips, and at zachary-phillips.com

Dissociation is a feeling of unreality; a fog over consciousness that makes everything, even the self, feel ethereal. A barrier to connection that blocks most everything, leaving your goals, dreams and hopes to merely bleed through the window of mind offering little more than an opaque view of life. Until of course, that window cracks, letting in the cold winds of anxiety, depression and the harshness of a reality that was all but ignored. In this episode I share my current mental state, as well as the poem ‘For As Long As I Have Eyes’ from the book A Requiem For What Could Have Been: Poetry For The Broken ~ Zachary Phillips is a poet, author, podcaster and coach. You can find him on social everywhere @zacpphillips, and at zachary-phillips.com

Today I share the audio from my live talk on the Insight Timer app, titled "Stop Quitting On Yourself", inspired by my 10 day course - “Discover Your Divine Purpose” This session will begin with a guided meditation that will prime you to be ready to sit in contemplation a question designed to evoke transformation. We will then sit in silent contemplation together for 1 minute. The session will end with a shared discussion of the question and our discoveries. ~ Zachary Phillips is a poet, author, podcaster and coach. You can find him on social everywhere @zacpphillips, and at zachary-phillips.com

It is impossible to judge people objectively - your basis for forming an opinion is a function of the unique circumstances of your life (location, time, genetics, environment etc), thus your conclusions are dependent on factors external to you. No one is privy to your inner world and you are not privy to theirs. How then can we ever know what they should or shouldn’t do? In this talk I break down the pitfalls of judging others and discuss the implications for a life well lived. ~ Zachary Phillips is a poet, author, podcaster and coach. You can find him on social everywhere @zacpphillips, and at zachary-phillips.com