The Zen Thinking Podcast

This week's episode is entirely spontaneous without any planned topics and without any featured readings. I didn't know where this "go-with-the-flow" talk would take me, but I ended up discussing the phrase, "All is well"—which is, in a nutshell, the absolute truth of reality. All is well. It is only the false "I" that believes otherwise. The imagined separate self, which the mind asserts into your life as the persistent I-thought, which attaches itself onto the world in a perceived position...

In this week’s episode, I discuss the importance of observing the activities of mind, as they happen, and not reacting to its illusory mental projections. The mind is never satisfied. It continually bounces back and forth between desire and fear, sadness and happiness, pleasure and pain, lack and abundance. However, this duality is imagined only, it isn’t real. You are not relative to the contents of thought, no matter how it might feel. You are pure consciousness—and so too are all your...

I’m back! I took an unexpected couple of months off from writing and podcasting, but here I Am… and hopefully the pointings I have to share are even more clear and precise than before. In this new podcast episode I point towards the knowing of your true emptiness—the Absolute Zero, from which all that seems to be, appears, and in which all that seems to be seen, heard, and felt, arises. Be the selfless witnessing of all experience. Let go. Let go. Let go. Return to Zero. Know yourself as an...

Join me in a meditation of Self, an inquiry into understanding the true nature of this knowing presence that you are and that I am. Self-Inquiry, otherwise known as atma-vichara in Sanskrit, is a tool used in Advaita Vedanta’s seminal practice of Jnana Yoga, which is the Yoga of Wisdom. This wisdom is not of the intellect however, it is the wisdom of knowing your Self as you truly are, and not how you think you are. Self-Inquiry is used to dispel the illusion of mind which is continually...

In this week's new episode I share some pointers to help awaken you to your true nature, which is a peaceful presence of pure consciousness, free from the mind's dream-like influence. Our continual stream of thoughts seem to rule our every waking moment, but, life doesn't have to be this way. We don't have to be so overwhelmed by the mind and its contents. We don't have to be troubled by the thoughts the ego projects, nor do we have to identify with any of the emotions that seem to flow...

This week's podcast is an exploration of Self. Join me in this quiet meditation—a contemplation of your aware presence—to reveal the changeless aspect of your being which has always been. In the silent stillness of non-reactivity, no longer deluded by the mind, your original Self will show itself, and your natural presence of peace will become apparent. Thanks for listening to the show, I hope you enjoy it. Brian ♥︎ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking...

This week's episode focusses on becoming aware of the subtle quality of "noticing" that enables every experience to appear. Underneath every sensation and perception rests your presence of awareness, which is the absolute reality upon which all things rely—both conceptual and material. Listening to podcasts, reading books, and attending teachings can point you towards your own Self, but its realization depends on a persistent practice of mindfulness, meditation, and self-inquiry. Thanks for...

Underneath every concept of yourself and the world, there exists a still and silent presence of Being which is ever-present. This is your true Self—a pure and unconditioned Presence. This aware presence that you are is the universal principle that gives every experience, every perception, and every sensation their appearance of reality. It is this principle alone that is a reality, while everything else is merely a brief appearance of mind within it. When we forget our true formlessness,...

This week's new episode discusses how happiness is synonymous with the end of desire. Surrender all desires to your awareness of them—including your desire for happiness itself. If there is any senses of personal lack or wanting, whatsoever, happiness will continue to be obscured by the ego's false projections. Inner peace can only be realized when you are absolutely content in the present moment, within yourself, as yourself, regardless of whatever appears to be happening around you. You...

This week's episode points towards the aware presence of your true Self. Ever since you were young you were taught that you were that face in the mirror—that "that" image is you! You've then lived your entire life in relation to what you think about that image, always comparing your apparent appearance to everyone else, what it has, and what it has not. But, this image in the mirror is not your direct experience of actually being yourself. Your actual experience is one of infinite presence,...

This week's podcast focusses on recognizing all of the things which condition you—in other words, whatever causes you to emotionally react. As you observe yourself and become aware of your reactions to people, places, or things, you begin to isolate the ego. You become aware of its false presence. As you transcend your habitual reactions to the mind and the world, you also begin to transcend the ego. In doing so, you move beyond being stuck in a conditioned and reactionary egoic state, to...

In this week's new episode I use the technique of Self-Inquiry to zero in on the stream of "I-thoughts" that seem to pervade every perception and experience. It is the I-thought that creates the imagined false self (the ego) and that is responsible for creating the illusion of all problems, unhappiness, dissatisfaction, and suffering in one's life. Through a practice of Self-Inquiry one's underlying true Self is revealed as the empty presence of awareness itself, thereby exposing the...

In this week’s new episode, I discuss being mindful of your knowing presence. After all, your sense of knowingness is your Self. Unfortunately, however, we are continually distracted from it by that which appears within it. As we navigate through our daily lives it’s easy to become lost within, and consumed by, the mind’s thoughts. It is the mind’s habitual nature to divide everything it experiences apart from the awareness which is perceiving, and it then brandishes these conceptual...

In this week's episode I discuss how the only thing that you suffer from is your own self-concept. It is what you believe "You" are (or aren't) that is the cause of all your problems, and it is whatever you believe "You" lack that creates all of your dissatisfaction and unhappiness. After all, if you didn't take anything personally, then how could you possibly suffer, and from what? You only suffer from the "you" that you believe you are and from whatever imagined problems you mistakenly...

This week's episode is a little different. It begins with a slow and meditative exploration into the nature of being. It's an inner-contemplation that examines the presence of awareness that you are, investigating the essence of consciousness itself. If you've ever considered the question, Who Am I?—this one's for you. Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy the episode. ★ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking ★ Much love, Brian Thompson...

This week's episode zeroes in on the true experience of what it means to be alive—that we are 'reality', experiencing itself. We are not separate from reality, reality IS what we are. In fact, reality appears within us, as us. But, the question remains... Who am I? You are the awareness in which all things appear. You are consciousness, being—not being this, and not being that—just, being. You are the awareness that is aware. You are Ultimate Reality. Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy...

Today's episode focuses on the importance of being aware of your assumptions. In most cases, our assumptions are subconscious. Since we are unconsciousness to them, they appear to be real and we overlook their unreality—rather than seeing them as the illusions of mind they truly are. Assumptions create a virtual reality, one that is defined by much needless emotional suffering. When you are able to recognize these false projections of mind however, you transcend the mind altogether and open...

In this week's episode I investigate the nature of experiencing, which shapes the very nature of our sense of being. I discuss how the conditioned mind interacts with the processing of perceptions—interpreting each sensation with its prior conditioning, concepts and beliefs, thereby distorting reality and creating an illusory world, one that exists only within mind. Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy the episode. ★ If you enjoy my work, become a patron: http://www.patreon.com/zenthinking...

In this week's episode I discuss the many different false projections of mind that distort our perception of reality, and what you can do to ignore them and become immune to them—transcending them entirely. We never really struggle with reality itself, we only seem to suffer from the concepts of mind which we presume to be true, which we apply onto the world around us, including our own sense of self. To see through these illusions and no longer believe in them, is to realize our true Self...

This week's episode is about understanding the nature of pain, no matter if its physical or emotional, and why we suffer from it. Pain happens. But suffering? That's a choice. To suffer means to self-identify with both the pain and its apparent causal factors. In doing so, you create a story for yourself, within mind, where you are the sufferer—where you are the victim that something has personally happened to. However, life doesn't have to be perceived in such a way. With a practice of...