What Do You See?

At 13,000 feet, the air gets a little thin and the wind seems much stronger, especially when you're hiking a ridge line with skis on your shoulder. That's where I found myself yesterday during an outing to produce video for the on-line version of "The Encyclopedia of Skiing." High atop the East Wall of Arapahoe Basin, we picked our way over rocks and snow to the entrance of a slash of snow on the side of a wonderful mountain.

The mouth was about 10 feet across, and the couloir varied in width up to about 25 feet, and narrowed in the choke. It was also peppered with rocks, and was about 45 degrees steep -- although standing at the top and looking down, it seemed much steeper. It was at this point that the power of visualization became crystal clear to me, again.

Those of you who have read the skiing book (http://stephenhultquist.com/skiing.html) will remember my experience at the top of Liberty at Big Sky. When I peeked over the edge of the couloir yesterday, those feelings started pushing at the back of my brain. In my imagination, I started to see myself scraping a rock near the top, losing a ski, and cartwheeling into the rock wall. At that point, I had a couple of choices to make, including whether or not I was going to ski it and how I was going to approach it.

Can you imagine what I did?

First, I looked away, to the south east, and drank in the wild freedom of my beloved mountains. I took a few deep breaths. Then I took control of my run away imagination.

I saw myself slipping in to the soft snow at the tip, avoiding the first few rocks, and making my first half-dozen turns past the first camera. Then, I saw myself pick my way through the rocks to the apron of snow, and make a few lazy turns down to the main camera.

A few minutes later, I dropped in. I skied it like I had seen it in my head. In fact, I enjoyed it, and the sense of accomplishment at the bottom was awesome!

There are things in your life that are like that. Occasions that bring back bad memories or that somehow spook you. It could be in your business, in your relationships, in your health and fitness, or any other area where you aren't breaking through to what you really want to be doing.

Think about how you handle it. Then, think about what I did on the mountain yesterday.

While I had used visualization in specific situations over the years, I have been practicing it in more ways for the past couple of years as I've learned more about eliminating resistance in my life. One of the ways has been with the zero resistance living course (http://stephenhultquist/zrl.html). By practicing my visualization, getting better at it, and then targeting what I most care about, I've been able to literally change my life.

I need to be reminded, though. I still get coaching and help. But, I'm pretty happy with where I am and where I'm going.

What about you?

Let's go!

Stephen Hultquist

P.S. I am going to do a special teleseminar for those who order Time Shaving this month. Check it out: http://stephenhultquist.com/shaving-book.html.