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.com
Social: @zacpphillips

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

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