The Reality Check Podcast

What is the point of trying to advance ourselves when it is foreseeable that we will feel down regardless? In the episode I share my waking mental state, deconstructing the narratives that plague me. Links mentioned: At Least You Are Paid Well Wage Slave If this episode has resonated with you, I would love your support . Click here to find out more about my 1:1 coaching & counselling sessions.

My brain tends to dwell on failure and quickly disregard success. In this episode, I share my recent failure (and some successes) and discuss the reasons why it may be the case that we cannot easily move beyond our failings, despite them being insignificant and probably irrelevant to our current life. I also read It Is Never The Right Time So Stop Stalling & Do It Now , from How To Get Your Sh...

Am I starving or full? What am I actually craving to eat? When should I stop? And why does it feel like love and food are intertwined? Recovering from trauma is a long and complex. My current, and longest, battle is around re-establishing the mind-body connection. I want to be know what I am feeling and what those feelings actually mean. To do this I will be counting-calories. Not to lose weight,...

Who and what I am cannot be condensed into a label. What is a diagnosis other than a collection of symptoms? In this episode I talk about my experiences with mental illness and gender identity, and how the attempt to fit a label can have detrimental consequences. Trigger warning on this episode: gender, mental health, suicide. Links: Kinky Conversations Podcast How To Get Your Sh!t Together If thi...

How much of our decision making process is a function of the unconscious mind? How many of our choices are rationally justified after the fact? Join me for an investigation into the workings of the mind and consider if we are fated to do as we do. I also share Back To Scrolling from the book Bound to the Wings of a Butterfly If this episode has resonated with you, I would love your support . Click...

In this episode I share the introduction and conclusion to the book ‘ Bound to the Wings of a Butterfly ’. Bound to the Wings of a Butterfly is a collection of poetry, written as an act of writing therapy. It is about healing, recovery, and self-acceptance. About the journey of discovery that comes with true internal healing, and about transforming our lives, towards positivity, beauty, and love....

In this episode I discuss the impact of over-analysing emotions of others and how excessively reading into tone/facial expressions/word choice can lead to the exact opposite outcomes from what was intended. I also discuss my positive experiences with the initial stages of EMDR. Links mentioned: Do You Love Me, Or Just The Idea Of Me? - poem If this episode has resonated with you, I would love your...

Some of my responses to the current state of political turmoil engulfing the United States, as well as the potential flow on impacts for the rest of the world. If you are here for my personal opinion either way, you will be disappointed. I hope to highlight other angles of the issue as well as push for nuance, communication, detachment and rationality. I don’t have high hopes for a positive resolu...

Why does growth feel like escaping from quicksand? In this episode I discuss some of the new projects I am working on, and the impact of taking these steps is having on my mental state. Growth is both my goal and a necessity, but that just adds to the pressure. Thus the risk of failure is increased. Trigger warning on the introductory poem. Links mentioned: blessed with life's baggage Bound To The...

Embrace the present moment with this guided mindfulness meditation. Our goal isn’t to ‘empty our mind’ or ‘attain bliss’. Our goal isn’t to do anything, other than returning our focus back to the breath. With a focused mind we can then explore the wonder of the universe, both inner and outer. Links mentioned: Insight Timer Guided Meditation If this episode has resonated with you, I would love your...

A unique approach to coaching and how you can hire me. This is just a short message to inform you of the coaching options that I now have available should you want them! It would be a pay what you can/what you think it’s worth model. Hit me up on social @ zacpphillips or email: zac@zachary-phillips.com for more information and to get started. If this episode has resonated with you, I would love yo...

A follower asked me to share my experiences of suicide ideation. This podcast is my response, hopefully it helps them, and you to heal, grow, recover and connect. Mental illness is both invisible and insidious. Perhaps the reason we lose so so many to suicide and addiction; those suffering will do anything to end it, other than reach out that is. So please, check on your friends. Even the strong o...

How can you pin down a feeling of unreality? When even the act of focusing causes you to drift? In this episode I attempt to explain the reality of dissociation from within the condition. Obviously this is somewhat of a paradox, but through poetry and introspection I hope to explain the state of my mind. Links mentioned: Memories Compress i drift Bound To The Wings Of A Butterfly If this episode h...

COVID fever dreams are wild! In this episode I discuss how stories impact our ability to connect with our lives in a meaningful way, as well as the impact of dissociative identity disorders have on connection to the self and society at large. Links mentioned: Bound To The Wings Of A Butterfly My TicTok If this episode has resonated with you, I would love your support . Click here to find out more...

Yes, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock. Yes, it was shocking. But perhaps there are far more shocking and consequential acts of violence occurring as we speak? Here is my take on the event, as well as a meta discussion of our collective response to it, and the implications of that response. As I say in the episode, if I am wrong, please enlighten me! Resources mentioned: Bound To The Wings Of A Butter...

Big news, I’m now earning enough from my online work to pay the rent. That’s right, my poems are paying the bills baby! Breaking this milestone came as somewhat of a surprise. Given that I have multiple sources of income, it took until tax time for me to do the math, and realise that I had, after five years, in-fact ‘made it’. True, I’m not living off my work, I’m not uber wealthy or well known, b...

One of the benefits of this podcast is that I can talk freely, using this medium as a form of therapy. If you are interested in listening to me break down my woes and come to some semblance of sanity, perhaps take a listen. But be warned, I am offloading my issues here, not providing solutions. Resources mentioned: Skillshare Insight Timer If this episode has resonated with you, I would love your...

Escape from the stress of the world with this amazing guided meditation. Using a combination of mindfulness, breath work, body scanning, and visualisations, this session will serve as a mini day spa for the mind. Use it whenever you are feeling overwhelmed, or in need of a recharge. Enjoy. Check out my other guided meditations, talks and 10 day courses on Insight Timer If this episode has resonate...

What worries me more than the details of the latest controversy is the cycle of controversies that we are continually exposed to. Wait a week and that issue will be replaced by another one - just as ‘offensive’, just as ‘important’, just as ‘impactful’. I don’t buy it. This episode explores some of the recent issues from a meta-perspective, focusing on the value of detachment and introspection to...

Writing therapy saved me this Christmas. My therapist recommended that I take note of all of the things causing mental duress. Doing so was revolutionary. Most of the anxiety and rumination simply disappeared and I was left with a list of stimulus overloads that I could now see clearly and thus manage. In this episode I reflect on the Christmas season, discuss the process of writing therapy, as we...

It’s that time of year again, when festive joy is replaced by obligation and overwhelm. In this episode, I share how December is something for me (and many of you) to endure. Survival is put at a premium and strategies to maintain some semblance of normality are introduced. I also have a meta discussion as to the point of this podcast, coming to the conclusion that I use it as another form of writ...

Is something missing from your life? Some undefined hole that simply can’t be filled? Perhaps it a bug of our society. A structural fault caused by the interplay between goals, technology, geography, values and opulence. If left unchallenged, these influences can produce a feeling of a lacking something of meaning, connection, identity and purpose. This podcast begins with a reading of a poem ‘ Wh...

I operate under the paradox of striving for stability whilst balancing the chaos that comes my way. Recent global events have collided with a collection of challenging personal tragedies that has left me feeling rocked. This podcast begins with a reading of a poem ‘ I Took It For Granted ’. From there I discuss how I am responding to these events in a way that both ensures my mental stability, as...

For the last 75 days I exercised 90 minutes or more and cut all sugar, fast food and alcohol. The results were not impressive. It’s all to easy to fall into the trap of mass marketed diets. ‘Do this and you will look like me.’ They don’t work - at least not as quickly or exclusively as advertised. In this episode I breakdown my journey through 75 HARD. I share my results and discuss how, whilst ‘g...

What happens when a society has no memory? When every issue feels just as important to every other issue? When we are so over saturated with conflict and controversy that we lose the ability to discern real problems from surface level irritations? In this episode of The Reality Check Podcast I break down how technology, the news cycle, and social media is warping the social fabric of our society a...