Zen Tools - How To Think Effectively

The Stronger Your Response To Events - The Better The Outcome

Introducing Zen Tools

Zen Tools is about seeing how your mind constructs experience - how thoughts, emotions, and assumptions arise and shape your responses.

Mindfulness is a core part of this process. It is one of the most effective ways to observe thoughts and emotions as they arise, without suppressing or indulging them.

But observation alone is not enough.

Zen Tools focuses on what comes next - developing the discernment to respond wisely, rather than automatically, and to translate awareness into real change in how you think, relate, and act.

Many of the things that happen in your life are random and beyond your control.

But, the one thing you can control is how you choose to respond to these events - and it is a choice.

The long term impact of your choices can have a major effect on your health, wealth and happiness.

All of this is especially relevant as at time of writing, the world is coming to terms with the economic and financial consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war, and right now the Israel-Hamas conflict, and very recently the overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria by rebel forces.

Everything I share on this site is all based on real-life practical experience from my own personal experience.

How To Think Effectively With Zen Tools

To really learn how to think effectively we have to learn and master the art of not thinking.

We live in a world of complexity. It is impossible to comprehend all the moving parts, and even if we could, we can't control them.

Living within a complex system means navigating a world where multiple interdependent factors interact in often unpredictable ways.

The most important factor to bear in mind is that as one of very many small moving parts within a complex system, how you are is as important as what you do.

Traditional thinking is not enough, dealing with complexity requires a more intuitive and collaborative approach.

A quiet mind is an insightful mind and a resourceful mind.

The most effective way of achieving this is with the zen practise of mindfulness.

The key word here is "practise". Zen is entirely practise based, there are no beliefs or dogmas.

Zen simply means: "direct experience in seeing things as they really are".

Your mind isn't going to stop thinking on demand.

The goal of mindfulness isn't to suppress thinking, but to surpass it and to experience that you are not your thoughts and to learn how to respond to your thoughts resourcefully.

Our brains process and organize information in a variety of ways.

We have a wide range of thinking processes that are built into our brains; we use them all the time and automatically.

But we don’t always use them efficiently.

We need to learn thinking skills.

Thinking critically, deliberately and systematically processing information enables you to make better decisions and generally understand things better.

Why Zen Tools?

I chose the word Zen deliberately - not to suggest calmness, minimalism, or a relaxed state of mind, but because of its original meaning: direct seeing.

Zen points to noticing what the mind is doing before stories, judgements, or self-improvement efforts take over.

It is about clarity rather than comfort.

Zen Tools applies this through what I call the Wise Advocate - your innate capacity to notice thoughts without being run by them, and to respond with discernment rather than reaction.

Zen Tools is not:

• A belief system or spirituality
• A mindfulness or meditation app
• A set of techniques for feeling better
• A promise of calm, positivity, or optimisation
• A lifestyle or identity to adopt

Zen Tools:

• Uses mindfulness as a tool for internal observation, not as an end in itself
• Helps you recognise thought and emotional patterns as they arise in real situations
• Develops the capacity to interpret those observations clearly and accurately
• Translates awareness into deliberate responses that change patterns over time
• Strengthens your Wise Advocate in everyday life - in relationships, work, pressure, and uncertaint

Personal Background To Zen Tools

My name is Stephen Warrilow and I'm based in Singapore and the UK.

Everything that you read from here onwards is based entirely on my own direct, lived experience of how to think effectively, how to stop thinking and how to cope with tough times. All of the resources that I suggest or recommend are things that I have done (or still do) and that work for me.

I am NOT a therapist, priest, Zen master, psychotherapist, mullah, rabbi, teacher or counselor and I am no way qualified to offer any form of professional support or guidance on how to change your life - I am just a simple businessman.

If you are undergoing any form of counseling, professional treatment or support (or if you feel you need to be) please stick with what your professional expert is telling you – or seek professional help (if you need to.)

Nothing I share with you will harm you, quite the contrary, but experience has shown that it is far more beneficial to follow one path or line of treatment and stick to it for the duration of the treatment – and as I have already told you, I am not a professional!

It’s probably best to think of the material on this site as one fellow traveler sharing with others.

Why Am I Doing This?

The internationally renowned priest, author and respected professor Henri Nouwen once said that:

"What is most personal is most universal... by giving words to these intimate experiences I can make my life available to others."

Without trying to sound too pious, precious or up my own backside about it, I feel that this is the energy behind where I’m now coming from now.

OK, more than enough said!