After resting my tired body, off I went to the slopes again. Visibility was very poor, and it was snowing heavily. The day’s weather forecast was a mix of rain and sunshine with temperature of negative 10 degrees on top of the mountain. Not really the best time to snowboard.

In the back of my mind, I can see myself falling a hundred times  that I can feel the pain of it already. Why was I projecting negative energy when I know all the positive mantra tools? And so I tapped into the energy and hope I have left. Indeed, thoughts are powerful. My excitement rose up.

This is my second time going up on a chairlift, an aerial steel chair that lifts three to four persons from one terminal to another, up to a vertical rise of over 600 meters. My heavy snowboard dangles from my right foot which makes the ride quite uncomfortable. I was hoping that a snowboarder would join me on the way up, and to my surprise, there he was.

Oliver, a professional snowboarder from Berlin, Germany, has been practicing the sport for eight years. I’m surprised he didn’t mind joining me, after seeing my amateur moves earlier. Breaking the ice, I hit off the conversation by asking how he finds his stay and where he came from. Then I went straight to my favorite topic – snowboarding. Introducing myself as an author with a blog, I asked permission if I  can record our conversation and he willingly agreed. Carpe diem!

To avoid injuries while dismounting the chairlift, Oliver said one must always point the board on the direction of the hill or where the lift is going. The next step is to prepare your body to a standing position and put forward one leg, that which is not strapped to the snowboard, next to the bindings. Once you are about five inches to the ground, give yourself a little push off the chairlift and then slide forward. He said it is okay if I fall, just get up again.

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Have you felt how easier it is to give up on your dreams than try again? I guess the road to surrender is always wider, but the road to pursuing your passion is always steeper. Learn it from one of my mentors, Jack Canfield who along with his book partner Mark Victor Hansen received a hundred “Nos” before arriving at that one single “Yes!” to publish their book Chicken Soup for the Soul Series which became worldwide bestsellers.

He said, “One of the things that may get in the way of people being lifelong learners is that they’re not in touch with their passion. If you’re passionate about what it is you do, then you’re going to be looking for everything you can to get better at it.”

“Are you in touch with your passion?”, he asked in a previous seminar I attended. He said that if we are not, we can get wayward and unfocused in our pursuit of success. In his best-selling book The Success Principles, Mr. Canfield stressed on these two important self-resolutions: “Be Clear Why You are Here” and “Decide What You Want”.

The last few years since I’ve written the Tale of Juliet, I have been attending Mark Victor Hansen’s Mega Book Marketing event in the United States. This is where I met Jack. Since I’m a frequent attendees of their events in Norh America, Jack, in one of the events, recognized me and said, “Jhet, I love Manila (Philippines) and the warm and friendly people. I was just in the Philippines in 2006 and was toured around by this nice fellow Anthony Pangilinan.” He said he met then Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the presidential Malacanang Palace and spoke at the Philippine Senate.

What a coincidence that Anthony Pangilinan also became my friend, business associate, and mentor to me and my two daughters. I was also at the Palace, had a warm reception at the music room and was interviewed and featured on national TV. After that, I was a guest at the Senate flag raising ceremony not too long before Jack’s visit in the Philippines.

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