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Damian Browne

@auld_stock

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Exploring internally & externally
Coaching people to accomplish extraordinary feats of physical & mental strength @ironmindinstitute
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2022.

A breakthrough year in my 2nd career.

Thank you all for your incredible support this year. I am still working my way through all the comments left on my posts from the Atlantic. I often think while reading them, “won’t it be amazing for my kids to read these back someday.”

Looking forward, 2023 will look a bit different for me with no major expedition planned. This is far from a negative as the body & mind need time to rest, reenergise & reboot. In the last 4.5 years of my professional career, I’ve rowed the Atlantic Ocean twice, summited 5 of the 7 summits & had an attempt on Mount Everest foiled by Covid. A break from an arduous & time intensive preparation program is most welcome.

So for 2023 my significant energies will be focused into the business component of what I do, with the big challenge ahead being to write a book. This has been an meaningful aspiration of mine for many years, however it’s only now I’m in a place where I feel ready to tell my story.

Alongside this there’s many exciting projects happening in ‘23. January will see the relaunch of my Patreon platform, where I share everything I have learned on my journey to self realisation. We are also hosting the world premier of the show ‘112 Days’ in Galway on January 19th & 20th, plus speaking @pendulum.summit & corporate events in Canada, England and back in Ireland.

March will see the premiere of @wavesofchangefilm on RTE, the documentary of our NYC to Galway row, with the international release of a feature length doc in the summer.

In June & July, my adventure bug will get some appeasement as I lead two climbs up the beautiful Kilimanjaro,
in partnership with the good folk @earths_edge

Last but very dearly, not least, in early autumn, I’m super excited to finally launch @theironmindinstitute
This is a project very close to my heart, something I’ve been working on for a number of years & a project that I know will have a paradigm shifting impact on the lives of those who come in contact with it.

So here’s to a great year ahead. Wishing you & yours a Happy New Year & a healthy, happy & adventurous 2023.

With gratitude,

Damian

P.S: Hit that link in bio for more on all these. taken in North Atlantic Ocean by @auld_stock

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4 years ago

Day 113: The story of last night taken in Galway, Ireland by @auld_stock

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4 years ago

4 years ago today I crawled through the rockpools and seaweed of the Co. Galway shoreline near Furbo.

After 4 indescribably difficult months at sea, my expedition was finally over.

You probably imagine I was feeling a sense of relief, perhaps even accomplishment, but those emotions were far from my reality.

I felt nothing but failure.

The pain of this perspective, albeit short lived, brought me to thinking deeply about what was truly important about the challenge I had set myself.

Was it what I missed out on? - the big emotional finish in the place I had focused so much energy and effort trying to get to, Galway Dock.

Or was it what the experience had left in me?

My reflections had rich rewards, with a total shift in perspective of what success really is.

I had self imposed this immense challenge of attempting to row a small boat across the unforgiving North Atlantic from New York to Galway because genuine challenge presents you with opportunities to evolve as a human.

I had taken so many of those opportunities when nobody was looking.

You’re 65 days into an expedition you thought would take 55 and you still have over 1000 miles to go. The 3.30am alarm rings through the dark. My senses immediately pick up the wildness of the conditions outside. It’s never not a scary compilation to crawl out into that. Where I am right now, curled up in a semi dry sleeping bag is the cosiest I will be all day. It’s genuinely warm and dare I say - lovely. It’ll be 24 hours until I’m here again. Every excuse in the book appears in my mind to stay put. There’s nanoseconds where the internal resistance feels like it’s hijacked every cell in my body and resolve is futile.

Before I know it I’m pulling on yesterday’s wet undershorts, wet t-shirt, a wet mid layer, wet foulies and clipping in on deck for 2 hours of rowing before breakfast. In one hour the dawn will break on the horizon and all will be better.

Day after day, like a machine, I did this. Sitting here today typing this in my kitchen, it seems almost unbelievable to me now.

Continued in comments…. taken in Inis Oirr, Aran Islands by @auld_stock

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13 days ago

Recovery is part of the work.

Postponing the 1 million-euro lap wasn’t an easy call, but it was the right one. Right now, it’s about listening, resetting, and rebuilding properly.

I’ve been using my Samsung Galaxy eco-system along with the Samsung Health App to track where I’m at day to day, from sleep and recovery to energy levels and overall strain.

Some days it’s push. Some days it’s rest.

The Energy Score has been a game changer for knowing when to go again, and when to hold back, making sure I don’t rush the process.

This is the roadmap back, smarter, more measured, and fully tracked.

#ad #GalaxyWatchUltra taken in Ireland (country) by @auld_stock

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16 days ago

It shouldn’t feel like this. But it very easily can, and does.

Numb.

The result of the forces of 21st century life.

Chronically stressed, purposefully frictionless, dopaminergic overstimulation, socially little by little more disconnected from one another and underneath it all a meaningless pursuit of - earn, consume, entertain, sleep, repeat.

It’s important to hold awareness on this reality and build protective practices into your days.

The absence of aliveness is loud for me.

The dulling of sensibility. The diminishment of feeling. The atrophying of awareness - the environment of modern existence will erode your human capacities if you live without purpose, meaning or intention.

Understanding your personal resets is hugely important here. What is it that feeds you with aliveness?
Make a list of experiences, put it in a note on your phone; revert to it when needed. Sometimes we forget.

The reset will act as the bridge to embedding rituals, practices and disciplines into your life that reconnect you with your innate capacities.
Despite the amusement park vision we have been sold,
these things are what bring aliveness.

I try to promote this way of living and have recently started attempting to facilitate it. Every month I present a monthly challenge that endeavours to act as that reset/bridge for people.

Last month the group fasted for 12, 24, 36 and 48 hour periods, this month (October) we are hitting the hills and mountains of Ireland, the UK and beyond, through themed climbs of ‘explore’, ‘connect’, ‘alone’ and ‘the big one’ in the final week.

Every month’s challenge has “virtues expressed” attached and this month’s virtues expressed are - curiosity, connection (with community and nature), self reliance and ambition with an underlying theme of courage.

Why?

Because the virtue is the reward.

If you’d like to join us (the group is free and open to all) hit the link in my bio or story.

Strength, courage and integrity,

Damian by @auld_stock

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17 days ago

Anybody else do this practice? taken in Galway, Ireland by @auld_stock

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19 days ago

At 17 years old I was - lazy, overweight and unfit.

More importantly, I was sick & tired.

Sick & tired of living with the pain of wasting my potential.

So I challenged myself to get fit.

The problem was, I knew nothing about getting fit, therefore I defaulted to the only piece of information I had around people getting fit - They ran.

However I was too embarrassed to be seen trying so under the cloak of darkness I’d walk up to my local rugby club, Galwegians RFC and run laps around the main pitch.

On night one I lasted only 2.5 laps. However over 30 straight nights of running laps around that pitch I changed the course of my life.

Little did I know that those laps would literally be the first steps in a journey that would see me embrace challenge and pursue a “crucible” life - where challenge is a constant component of everyday existence.

Since that wet April night in 1997 and it’s 2.5 laps, challenge has been ever present. Big and small. Known and unknown. I am always searching out ways to challenge myself - physically, mentally, emotionally & spiritually.

When something marks you is such a profoundly positive way you want to share it. Promote it. Advocate for it.

I’d like to think I was doing that but then I had this moment recently where I realised I’d wasted years not doing something - when a friend suggested that I start an online community for people who love to challenge themselves.

The penny dropped.

24 hours later I had added all of our @ironmindinstitute program alumni to a WhatsApp group and started sending invites out to others I knew who would be interested. 4 months later there’s close to 500 members in the community, the challenges are touching people and squeezing out sides of themselves they didn’t know existed.

The part I’m most excited about is - it’s free and open to anyone who wants to join and challenge themselves in a group of likeminded souls.

If you’d like to get involved there’s a link in my bio to join.

Keep striving for more from yourself,

Damian

P.S: For anyone currently involved in the community who wants to share their experience of it in the comments, please do! by @auld_stock

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21 days ago

A dream of a summer in the West. taken in Tarrea Pier by @auld_stock

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a month ago

I did a 100 hour fast recently.

There are plenty of perceived benefits associated with prolonged fasting -

Improved insulin sensitivity, increased fat utilisation, cellular repair, reduced inflammation, improved cardiovascular markers and possible longevity benefits.

I did it for none of these.

Maybe they happened, maybe they didn’t. I was only interested in the psychology and virtue challenge.

To see what comes up after 50 hours when the hunger gnaws. To observe the untruths of the stories I tell myself about eating/food. To practice responding like a master.

I needed to do something. Life at the time had no structure. No discipline. Physical training was non-existent with injury and an emotional emptiness to train. My family and I were also living out of suitcases and AirB&Bs as we searched for a house after moving home to Ireland. Fasting was my obvious choice. It is so accessible. You don’t need any special equipment, just a will to commit.

Each month I present a new challenge to my online community. Sometimes the challenges are physical, sometimes they are mental, sometimes they are emotional, sometimes they are all those and more.

For September I’m running a fasting challenge.

In week 1 we fast for 12 hours, week 2 = 24 hours, week 3 = 36 hours and week 4 = 48 hours.

If you would like to partake you’d be most welcome. The community is open and free to anyone to join. Hit the link in bio to join up and get involved.

Strength, courage and integrity,

Damian taken in Mount Everest by @auld_stock

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2 months ago

I like to do something uncomfortable to start my day. by @auld_stock

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2 months ago

A note to patience.

Nearly 4 years ago Cushlamachree landed on the rocks in Na Forbacha after crossing the Atlantic. For the next 3 years she sat, sad and broken, at the side my parents house.

Nearly 6 years ago I lost my beloved Elmo after a prolonged battle with illness. He was the golden retriever that thought me to love.

Coincidentally last week, only two days apart, Cushla arrived back in Ireland after 8 months of repairs and we welcomed the fluff ball little Ernie into our home after a couple of years of exploring the idea of getting another dog.

It was a good week. taken in Galway, Ireland by @auld_stock

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2 months ago

The next chapter of Browne family life has begun.

With love and excitement for the adventures ahead we welcomed little Ernie to our clan this week. taken in Galway, Ireland by @auld_stock

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2 months ago