The Duality of Despair and Hope with Shaun Tomson

In today's episode of the "Helping Families Be Happy" podcast, host Christopher Robbins, co-founder of Familius publishing, husband, father of nine, author, fisherman, backpacker, and aspirational musician based in the Central Valley of California, talks to Shaun Tomson. Shaun is a former world surfing champion and has been described as one of the greatest and most influential surfers of all time. He is an inductee in the US Jewish and South African sports halls of fame. Today they are going to talk about despair and hope from his most recent book - The Surfer and the Sage: A Guide to Survive and Ride Life's Waves.

 

Episode Highlights

• 02.20: The book is a way to help people to move from a place of darkness to light to move from despair to hope to move to be anxious to calm, says Shaun.
• 03.07: Shaun's father, was an Olympic hopeful from South Africa in the 1948 Olympics and he had a tragic accident while surfing off the coast. Shaun shares his father's story and how that changed the course of his life and helped him understand the duality of despair and hope. 
• 05.04: Shaun's earliest memory of his dad was taking him to swim and surf. He had taught him how to surf and swim about 100 yards away from where he had this terrible attack that destroyed his swimming career.
• 06.46: Shaun shares how his father loved to help young athletes. He took joy in helping people.
• 10.40: There are a number of ways you can get through grief, darkness, and despair, says Shaun. 
• 10.50: Connecting with nature, reconnecting with your faith and helping others are some of the ways to recover from grief or loss.
• 13.20: A little gesture of kindness, you never know how it can be given at the right moment for someone that really, really, really needs it, says Shaun. 
• 16.50: Christopher shares how we can get through trouble. He says it is when we forget ourselves and we go, and we are in the service of other people.

3 Key Points

1. Shaun shares how his father positively impacted so many lives, hundreds and hundreds of lives on the beach in South Africa, helping young people realize their dreams. 
2. Shaun narrates how he won the biggest swimming contest in the world.
3. Christopher and Shaun discuss how helping people can actually help you in return.

Tweetable Quotes

• "I think my dad was this wonderful example to me as a young boy of just being optimistic and hopeful and not dwelling on the negative." – Shaun
• "My dad never dwelled on the shark attack. He wasn't a depressed guy. He was always upbeat. He was always optimistic." – Shaun
• "We create hope by also creating working to create hope and other people." - Christopher

 

Resources Mentioned

• Helping Families be Happy Podcast Apple
• Familius Instagram Twitter Facebook
• Shaun Tomson LinkedIn 
• Podcast Editing