Levison Wood is a best-selling author and photographer who has worked and travelled in over a hundred countries and has written seven best-selling books. He has produced six critically acclaimed documentaries which have aired around the world. A former paratrooper and Army officer, in this episode Levison and Peter will discuss what he’s doing during this pandemic, his travels, his inspiration behind his career, and what projects he’s been working on.

Levison explores the importance of resilience in all its forms and explains how his perspective keeps him grounded, how his charity work began during his explorations and gives a sneak peek and summaries of the latest books he’s been working on. Finally, there will be several in depth discussions about some of the craziest explorations he’s been on, and some curious quotes that still hold merit in today’s pandemic-stricken era.

Listen in to discover all this fascinating explorer has to offer and get inspiration to push yourself to doing more within a mindset of ‘grateful perspective’.

“Yes there’s a conflict that’s affecting however many thousand people, but actually, most people are just trying to get on with their lives.”

Top Takeaways:

• While travel is ceased, Levison has published a new book called Encounters: A Photographic Journey where he went through 50,000 photos to choose 150 to put in a coffee table book. He describes it has an image journey of the last ten years of his life. His book is currently available for pre-order and discusses human communities around the world.
• Levison always wanted to see the world after growing up in a small village, and his natural curiosity drove him to want to see the world. He wanted to turn all his passions and interests into a way of life, so he could travel, document, and be creative. He soon found importance and power in his images and discovered he could make a difference with his work that lead to his charity work. For the past decade, he’s worked hard to team with charity organizations to benefit others.
• When choosing his adventures, he makes his decision as part of a personal connection. This could mean watching something on the news that strikes a chord with him, having a previous encounter with someone from that city, or a former visit that makes him curious to see how things have changed.
• His explorations are not ‘made for TV’. One of his biggest challenges is finding ways to go to places that others might consider too dangerous and he often does not have all or any of the permissions required to explore these areas. These are journeys to places that are forgotten about or unheard of.
• Levison gives some examples of personal resilience in an extreme way and how to relate it to others in a practical, everyday sense. Showing how we can survive through different types of situations, balancing risk and developing fortitude.
• To keep him grounded on his travels, Levison explains how he keeps a grateful outlook on his perspective. This allows him to be thankful for where he’s at in life and remembering that he is blessed for the life he gets to live when others are suffering.

Key Moments:

• [0:36] Levison talks about how he’s doing during the pandemic and his new pandemic puppy.
• [2:46] Levison describes his latest projects and book that he’s been working to keep work going.
• [4:22] His inspiration behind becoming an explorer and how his curiosity drove him.
• [7:54] He explains how he chooses his adventures.
• [9:39] Levison gives details about how he gets permission to go to different places that could be dangerous in some cases.
• [11:26] He talks about some of the craziest moments