Lessons On Fear After 3,000 BASE Jumps (Brett Kistler, Art Of Accomplishment)

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Brett Kistler is an entrepreneur, facilitator, coach, and co-host of the Art of Accomplishment podcast. He spent 15 years traveling the world as a full-time extreme sports athlete, performing at the highest levels of wing-suiting and base-jumping.

His journey from chasing extreme experiences to exploring his consciousness offers profound insights into our relationship with fear, presence, and human connection.

I was eager to explore this conversation with Brett because his path illustrates how our greatest challenges - even life-threatening ones - can become doorways to transformation when approached with awareness and courage.

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This episode is great for:

• Anyone working to transform their relationship with fear

• Leaders building high-stakes teams or communities

• People exploring meditation and presence practices

• Anyone struggling with competition vs. connection

• Those grieving losses or fearing intimacy

Ideas that really stuck out to me:

1. Fear Points to What We Love: Rather than seeing fear as something to overcome, we can view it as a breadcrumb leading to what we deeply care about. Every fear contains within it a hidden love waiting to be discovered.

2. Context Creates Permission: We often need specific contexts that make it "okay" to feel our fears. Base jumping allowed Brett to feel fears he couldn't access in daily life. The key is eventually learning to welcome those feelings in any context.

3. Patterns Reveal Themselves Under Pressure: High-stakes situations like standing at a jump point reveal how we habitually manage fear - through anger, dissociation, or other coping mechanisms. Recognizing these patterns is the first step to transforming them.

4. Shadows Can Be Disguised In Community: Even in communities centered around deep experiences, the ego can hijack the situation and prevent us from seeing clearly. Often this comes back to wanting to be accepted within a tribe. Growth calls us to acknowledge these shadows rather than bypassing.

5. The Heart Must Breathe: Like breathing, the heart naturally opens and closes. Fighting this rhythm creates tension. The goal isn't to force constant openness but to expand our capacity to move through the full range.

Brett's insights about fear pointing to love deeply resonated with my experience. So often, what we think we need to "conquer" is actually trying to show us something important about ourselves.

His journey from chasing extreme experiences to finding presence in ordinary moments also mirrors what many of us discover - that the extraordinary is available everywhere once we learn to welcome what already is.

I hope you enjoy this conversation!

- Scott

If you like reading or listening to this podcast, leave us a review or share it so more people can discover it🙏

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Recommended Resources:

• About Brett Kistler

• Welcome Fear Retreats

• Art of Accomplishment Podcast

• Brett on Twitter

Episode Transcript

• Brett Kistler Full Transcript

Show notes:

• 00:00 - The Journey of Self-Discovery

• 05:08 - Conquering Fear Through Adventure

• 10:09 - The Evolution of Fear: From Conquest to Acceptance

• 20:00 - The Role of Community in Extreme Sports

• 30:06 - Reflections on Loss and the Meaning of Risk

• 37:43 - Exploring the Nature of Fear

• 41:23 - Confronting Fears in Extreme Situations

• 46:02 - Awareness and Acceptance of Fear

• 49:13 - The Interplay of Fear and Love

• 53:15 - Navigating Competitiveness and Connection

• 01:07:37 - Embracing the Full Spectrum of Experience