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What do skydiving championships, apartheid-era South Africa, film sets, a near-fatal parachute accident, and quantum consciousness have in common? They're all chapters in the extraordinary life of today's guest.
Sally Hed Dahlquist sits down with Gregory David, a 73 year-old South African-born filmmaker, skydiver, adventurer, and deep thinker who has rebuilt his life more times than most people dare to dream. From jumping out of planes clinging to cameras, to walking away from spinal surgery against doctor's orders and recovering anyway Gregory has lived by one rule: don't let anyone else decide what's possible for you.
Now a US citizen living in Minnesota, Greg brings a rare combination of lived history, hard-won wisdom, and philosophical depth to this conversation.
In this conversation, Gregory shares what has shaped him:
- A childhood in apartheid South Africa that taught him to question authority early
- A skydiving career that took him to world championships and nearly killed him
- A film career that spanned continents, eras, and technologies
- The courage to leave everything behind and start over in America with $6,000 and a family
- A philosophy of resilience, neutrality, and inner change that he's still working on every day
Listener Takeaways
- Resilience isn't a personality trait you're born with, it's a philosophy you build through experience and self-awareness.
- Refusing to accept someone else's verdict on what your body, your career, or your life can do is sometimes the bravest thing you can do.
- Between stimulus and reaction lies opportunity. Don't give that up.
- You can only change the world by changing yourself. That's harder than it sounds... and more powerful than it seems.
Mentioned in This Episode
- The Wild Geese (1978) with Gregory's aerial footage
- Harrington rod spinal surgery, and why Gregory declined it
- Apartheid South Africa
- Random-access editing and the laser disc editing era
- Walt Disney's film school (CalArts) in Los Angeles
- Transcendental meditation
- The concept of timeline jumping and non-linear time
Support the Mission
Unstoppable: Stories That Move is a podcast with a purpose to raise $1 million for medical research to help fund cures for cancer and other diseases. With NIH budgets being cut, your support matters more than ever.
Donate today at unstoppablestoriesthatmove.com or mail a check to: PO Box 12, Afton, MN 55001, USA
