The Reality Check Podcast

Tendrils of the past manifest in the present and will continue to impact you into the future unless you take action.In this episode I discus the process of to identify and overcoming poverty mindset and other limiting beliefs.Sharing the story of moving out of home at 16, surviving of charity and government handouts, to thriving both personally and financially, whilst being able to ask for and offer products and services at rates that back then I could never have imagined possible.- Free Shadow Work Journal PDF- How To Get Your Sh!t Together- Coaching, Mentoring, & Intuitive Guidance- Immersion Intensive

Anger is a useful inner tool to keep us safe and living a life of purpose - only if it is embraced as an ally not a danger.Unfortunately, for some, our childhoods cause us to fear our own anger - rather than using to utilise it appropriately, we instead repress it and turn it inwards, with catastrophic consequences.In this episode I share how I have been afraid of my anger and how I am learning to reconnect and integrate it.- Free Shadow Work Journal PDF- Hunt Your Own Shadow - 12 Week Self-Paced Course- Curious about coaching? Book a session.

Are we doomed to repeat our past? To inflict upon our children what was inflicted upon us? If we are a product of our genetics intersecting with our environment, how can we break the cycle once and for all?In this episode I story of my past and why that has led me to give away all 17 of my books for free.Want all of my books for free? Just sign up to my email list!Curious about coaching? Book a session!

No talking. No writing. No touching. Just 10+ hours a day meditating for 10 days straight…In this episode I share my experiences on a 10 day silent retreat at Dhamma Aloka, under the instruction of S.N. Goenka where I learnt the technique of Vipassana meditation. Here I share the lessons learnt, the insights acquired, and give my analysis of the experience.Simply put, it was one of the most profound (and painful) experiences of my life.Want all of my books for free? Just sign up to my email list!

What do you do when you are genetically predisposed to have negative reactions to antidepressants, have lost your job, have had little success with talking therapies, and have not yet processed the trauma of the past?Answer: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)This episode is a collaboration with Dr Jenelle Tupek, director and founder of Balanced Membranes Heath Education, and the host of the Rewriting The Script podcast.Jenelle interviews me, discussing my experiences with how TMS saved my life and my mental health journey in general - we talk about the nature of mental health treatments and the different options available.Want all of my books for free? Just sign up to my email list!

What is scarier: sitting in silence or the fact that you are afraid to sit in silence?In this episode I discuss how technology has granted us the ability to endlessly occupy the space that was once filled with silence. The benefits of which are obvious: education, entertainment, content and connection - but at what cost? What do we lose by blocking off access to such a fundamental aspect of the human condition? What is the value of silence?Want to work with me? Check out my coaching, mentoring, and intuitive guidance sessions.Want all of my books for free? Just sign up to my email list!

It feels like every tradition has a prescription on how you should sit; where to hold your hands, what to do with your eyes, and how you should handle sleepiness and pain are all prescribed.For advanced practitioners, these suggestions should be heeded, but for beginners, they can be a hindrance - one that can be so off prescriptive and off putting that it may cause said beginner to stop practicing.Simply put, the perfect posture is the one that keeps you meditating.In this episode, I share with you a talk that I have released on Insight Timer - the #1 meditation app for sleep, anxiety, & stress.Connect:Web: zachary-phillips.comSocial: @zacpphillipsCurrent 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

Part product of the past, part vision for the future, part desire to live a meaningful life, part belief that I can make a difference …In this episode I break down the reasons why I feel compelled to share my soul online, discussing the journey I took to get here and where I am hoping to go.If you are wanting an in depth look at ‘my why’, this is for you.Links mentioned:Under The Influence, Reclaiming My ChildhoodHow To Get Your Sh!t TogetherPoetry, From A Dark Night Of The SoulConnect:Web: zachary-phillips.comSocial: @zacpphillipsCurrent 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

How much of our reality do we create? Not from a ‘woo woo’ sense, but as a function of the result of the interaction between our past and our particular genetic predispositions?If we have faced significant life challenges, and have a fearful disposition, there is a chance that we will view the world and our future pessimistically.Alternatively, if we have had success, and have a positive disposition, then more than likely we will approach the world with hope.In this Reality Check Podcast episode I begin with my poem ‘Reflections Of The Self’, using it as a starting point for discussion and contemplationConnect:Web: zachary-phillips.comSocial: @zacpphillipsCurrent 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

Buy more. Do more. Be more. Consume more. Watch more… This seems to be the mantra of modern society and it is kill us.We are losing our communities, forgetting our art, and wasting our lives, all in pursuit of an ever diminishing in value dollar and ever rising expectations to keep up with the proverbial Joneses.In this episode I read the poem ‘capitalistic desire’ from my book Wage Slave: The Unpaid Overtime Edition, and discuss the hypocrisy I feel as an artist living within a capitalistic society.

The difference between expectation and reality is often the source of significant discontent.Life trains us to search for ideals: the perfect partner, job, life, outcome. Unfortunately this almost never arises and even if it did, it would be fleeting.Thus there is a real potential for ongoing and almost contentious self inflicted suffering. Thankfully, happiness is closer than you think. By embracing mindfulness we can begin to see and address the impact of our expectations.In this episode, I share with you a talk that I have released on Insight Timer - the #1 meditation app for sleep, anxiety, & stress.Connect:Web: zachary-phillips.comSocial: @zacpphillipsCurrent 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

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. PapajiThis 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 CoachingWeb: zachary-phillips.comSocial: @zacpphillips

‘Stuck Inside My Mind’Freestyle improv 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 CoachingWeb: zachary-phillips.comSocial: @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 Course1 on 1 Coaching & MentoringCurrent 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 CoachingWeb: zachary-phillips.comSocial: @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 minutes3: 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 & CoachingWeb: zachary-phillips.comSocial: @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 & CoachingWeb: zachary-phillips.comSocial: @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 & CoachingWeb: zachary-phillips.comSocial: @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 labelsare an abstractionof formbaring one;consciousnessCurrent 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 & CoachingWeb: zachary-phillips.comSocial: @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.

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’