“And I remember having no food, no preparation, just a pair of bloody runners and some board shorts on. Just no idea what I was doing. And it was in the middle of the night it rained and I thought about turning back a thousand times and it was just like this - I talk about it in my book, the conflicting voices in your head.

So that one voice that's derogatory and brings you down and it's self-deprecating and it's belittling. And we have all got that voice that holds us back from doing those things. I remember that night I talk about it in the book that this other voice started to shine through that just said, “Benji, you gotta go, you gotta keep moving forward. You gotta just get there. Don't, don't worry. You've got, you've got some water. You're, you're not, you're not alone.”

Even though I was alone in the, in the darkness. And it just like this conflicting two little voices in my head just firing away. And I got there. I got into camp after midnight or something and got to the southernmost point at Daybreak in the morning and hiked all the way back.

And that was sort of the start of this crazy adventure that took me across Australia.”

Episode #144 of The Hope Initiative with Benji Brundin.

A new kind of episode, dropping Tuesdays.

Strangers in the Streets.

This week: Damian.

Location: Edinburgh Gardens, Fitzroy North, Victoria.

In 4.5 years, 145 podcast episodes totalling over 180 hours, it's time to raise the bar.

Let's get creating.

“I got to 25 and I was like, shit, if I don't do this now, I'm never gonna do it… Why not do it now? You got nothing holding you back. There's no hand break, so just go send it. See what you can come up with. At the end of the day, if I come home after a year of traveling and all I've got is a bunch of good stories, that's better than not having them. You get out of life what you put in and I want to get as much out of it as I can.”

Episode #142 of The Hope Initiative with Grant Filsell.

“I have a journal where I just like write anything and everything that's on my mind and I find that it's a really good mindfulness hack, mindfulness practice to do, it really helps.

It's really good for your mental health. And you don't worry about punctuation or anything, or if it makes sense, you just write. You just write. And it also really helps when it comes to art as well, or like writing a story or something, 'cause it's just brainstorming and you just write anything that you're thinking of.”

Episode #141 of The Hope Initiative with Amelia MacDonald.

“There’s endless books on happiness and being happy. And I just believe on a very simple, practical level, happiness is fleeting. If you think about it, if I've got an ice cream cone, I just got handed an ice cream cone at the ice cream shop, and I've got it and I'm happy and I'm enjoying it, great, I'm happy. I've got an ice cream cone. And if it falls and hits the ground, I'm not happy anymore. I'm actually pretty upset, or I'm sad. You see this, you know the classic theme of a kid drops the ice cream cone and starts crying. In one moment you're happy, and the next moment you're not. So are we really pursuing happiness? No, because happiness is fleeting. What I really believe deeper, what we really want, at least what I really want, is I wanna pursue harmony. I wanna pursue this state of life where the various aspects of my life fit together. Harmony's root meaning is “Fit”. So when different pieces of the puzzle fit together, they're in harmony with one another.

Episode #140 of The Hope Initiative with Charbel Simon.

“I remember I walked into that jiujitsu place, and the guy was some Brazilian guy. With his accent, he was like, ‘Come tomorrow, I'll look after you’. I was like, fuck, I can't let this guy down now. So I went the next day and then that whole month I went, I was working out or doing jujitsu every day of the week. And that month just changed my life completely.

I came back; license, job, found a partner (who's not around anymore, we've spoken about this before), but like everything was just going for me. And I realised like, life is amazing when I get outta my own way. And I needed that month, I needed that. It took me three years to be like, all right, fuck. I'm sick of it now. Let's get to work. Let's figure it out. And then that month just opened me up and here I am.”

Episode #139 of The Hope Initiative with George Vergakis.

“It's hard to say where that voice came from that night on the beach that was telling me it was the right thing to do. I sat out there until 4:00am. I had a thousand reasons to stay in training, but I don't know, I knew I had to do the right thing. I knew what the right thing was. That's what I went with. I just trusted it and I promised myself I would never, never hold it against Luke. I would never resent him in any way for that decision. That was, you know, that was my decision and I owned that. I mean, looking back now, that was in January of 2009. And looking back now, best decision I ever made.”

Episode #138 of The Hope Initiative with Jared Raney.

“So from that moment, I really developed a sense of believing and trusting in my knowing, which is really the only compass I've got to work from. It's not out there, it's inside. One time I was working on this artwork, and I had my beautiful classical music on and a glass of wine, and I was right into the zone and my dad spoke to me. So again, not words, just a felt experience, but the thought and the knowing that he was saying this and he was going, “that's your joy.” And I had a cry. So tapping into my knowing, and the more I pay attention to it, going into the park, I just stand there and a tree will pop out at me, literally pop, and I go, “wow,” didn't notice you before. I have a bit of a conversation with it and go over to it and just be there.”

Episode #137 of The Hope Initiative with Rosemary Stanway.

“I feel like I've changed some of those defaults, and so now it strikes me more when I have an upset moment. I'm like, oh man, what's going on? Why am I frustrated by this? Whereas it used to be the other way. It was like, okay, now how do I find gratitude at this moment? How do I be joyful? How do I be present? I had to kind of force it, but I feel like now that's the default. That just is, and now the rule versus the exception right now, those are, that's the rule and the exception is like, man, why am I grumpy right now? Why am I being mean with the kids? What's going on? Do I just need to take a minute? Do I need to? Those are the more infrequent moments now.”

Episode #136 of The Hope Initiative with Alex Barrera.