What started out as a lone trip up to Nakiska for skiing took an interesting turn mid day.  You see – I met this skier – let’s call her Jo.  I have never met someone as passionate for the sport.  Although now well into middle age, she’s discovered skiing by moving through what she thought was a hurdle of not knowing anybody with whom to ski.  She started talking to people around the sport and agreed to head up with an acquaintance.  One new friend led to another and soon she found herself in the company of advanced skiers looking to take her to the double diamonds.

On this day, she was determined to practice some drills solo with the purpose of keeping up with her new ski network.  I was delighted to have her shimmy up by my side at the lift station for the ride to the top of Nakiska Gold at which time I exclaimed “it’s a hard life”.  With her giggle, I became suspect that we may just share some adventure tales, and perhaps the late sun softened snow together.

Jo works two jobs but still projects around 80 ski days this season.  We pondered the fate of those facing the drudgery of work or the boredom of channel surfing when we were breathing the fresh mountain air and peeling off a sporty fifteen run day.  Her willingness to learn select advanced level tips was practiced in tandem as we carved symmetrically together down the slope.  She glowed at my suggestion that she was on the precipice of expert form at which time we targeted weight transfer and angle of attack.  Having apparently corroborated her friend’s notion that the deliverance of more mindful aggression would translate into spontaneous turning opportunities on the steeper pitch, her excitement for possibility shone bright.

After last run, Jo and I headed in for some left over lunch and après ski beverages.  We were literally the last guests to leave the lodge on this memorable day.

In the instance of one early afternoon lift ride to the top of Nakiska Mountain Resort in early January 2015, my easy going quest for some solo outdoor exercise turned into an exhilarating ski experience in which the finesse of the sport was revisited and my passion for winter fun was rekindled in good time for a promising upcoming season.

I always check a bag and my carry-on bag is so small that it goes under the seat in front of me.  Just couldn’t imagine getting involved in a squabble over overhead bin space while boarding a plane.  My jacket will fall nicely over someone else’s checked bag in the bin.  My travel habits won’t change over twenty-five smackers.  Do I begrudge the airline a profit?  Well, No. I actually like them having a sufficient budget for airplane repairs when needed. .   I recall seeing an episode of “Mayday” whereby a plane went down because the airline was too cash strapped to conduct repairs without cutting corners.    That money comes from money charged to passengers because that’s where their revenue is derived.  It comes from the service they provide you, the passenger.  In capitalist North America, we have the opportunity to vote with our feet.  Don’t fly.  Find a new airline.  Boycott for a period.  Voice  your displeasure in a manner which detrimentally affects their bookings.  Take a bus.  Hitchhike.  Beg for a ride on kijiji.  You get the picture.  Your world won’t crumble over $25.  In fact, reallocate the wasted funds from the duty free shop and you’re back on par. Enjoy the excitement at the carousel upon arrival.  Maybe find a new love by feigning the retrieval of some lovely ladies luggage as it drops from the chute.

If not careful in this information age, one can become overexposed to the phenomenon of what I like to call “inspiration deadening” and consequently one must continually strengthen one’s immunization from  negativity in order to keep the success path flowing.  The mind requires exercise in order for it to filter out meaningless chatter from useful data.  Unfortunately, most people’s filtering mechanism is weak and subject to anything and everything it encounters.  Instead of whizzing through uninterruptedly, extraneous information gets absorbed, digested and interpreted in a context where it doesn’t belong.  An excessive manifestation of such mind activity contributes to paranoia like behavior.

Dr. Robert Cialdini is his book “Influence” makes reference to the power of a collective pattern of behaviors when ascribing a typical response anticipated from a new cast of characters.  Without citing the numerous examples highlighted by Cialdini, people are unfortunately drawn into behaviors principally because of other’s responses first without exercising their own cognition in interpreting events.  Advertisers love you!  A purchasing decision is apparently directly correlated with star power given the endorsement money paid to celebrities and athletes. You love companies because you follow the stars.  You are influenced highly according to Dr. Cialdini.

The bigger question then goes begging, if you are so significantly influenced, what does this say about your own personal power when it comes to exercising intuition about your strengths unbeknownst to the influencers?

At any instant in time someone is writing something negative on the internet and you are either purposefully ignorant of its message, open to suggestion but off line, reading and filtering, or reading and absorbing.  You’ve perhaps already experienced family forces from an alien domain.

Your potential is huge but it can be eroded through suggestion from people who have no business entering the passageway to your glorious self revelation.  You are developing your own personal protocol for immunization from negativity.

Was strolling through the Eau Claire market in here in Calgary yesterday afternoon and there he was sitting by himself on a bench in the middle of the Eau Claire market.  I couldn’t believe it.  Walked about 10 feet past and thought, that couldn’t really be Joe Clark – a Prime Minister with one of the shorter tenures to power in our country’s history.  Turned back and introduced myself and thanked him for his public service.  I sat briefly and he turned the conversation directly to me asking about what I do and where I’m from.  Upon mentioning that I was born in Red Lake, I thought of the few folks who know where this is, he just may given his travels throughout his political career.   He had indeed but before we could follow up, Maureen was waving him on as she exited a shop.