Book Review #1: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be: 25 Principles of Success by Jack Canfield

             Jack Canfield laid out in order what he felt were the 25 Principles of Success. Principles varied from 'Take 100% Responsibility for Yourself' and 'Surround Yourself with Successful People.' Although it felt that the book dragged at moments, it was filled with valuable information in a concise and coherent manner. The advice and principles were rich with real life examples and experiences of well-known people and Mr. Canfield himself. 

            A personal favorite segment of mine was the “Famous Failures” that Canfield incorporated.  Canfield included examples of famous people being rejected in their own lives, only to later reach success. Michael Jordan being cut from his high school basketball team and Oprah Winfrey being told that she wasn’t meant for television are just a few of the examples that remind you to never let rejection bring you down. His supportive anecdotes can bring out the confidence in the average reader and would convince them to attempt their dreams.

            If you haven’t read a self-help book as of yet, I would definitely recommend this one as a starter. It’s the perfect book that can get you to open up that business you’ve wanted to open, get back into the dating world, or even clean your room. I can guarantee that you will find at least 5 principles to implement into your life. 

 

Success sees No Excuses

“Just because you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, doesn’t mean you’ll die in a silver coffin.” – AK

            If you blame others and the state you were born in as your defeat in life, then you don’t deserve success at all.

            Let me explain myself.

            If you want more than what you already have in life, you should avoid feeling comfort until you get to where you want to be. When you are comfortable in the state you’re in, you let yourself accept who you are that moment and deny the fact that you genuinely want to improve in life. Blaming your background and the circumstances that you grew up gives you a sense of comfort. You give yourself an excuse for the way that you are, and success doesn’t see any excuse. You don’t have the motivation to make a name for yourself and become something more.

            Being lower and middle class has its advantages. Growing up middle class, it gave me motivation to do something amazing with my life and become a professional at something just so I can give my parents the life of upperclassmen. Living the lifestyle of someone who has already reached the pinnacle of success leads you with a lack of motivation and a lack of gratification because it was your parents/guardians’ success and never yours. Building something from the ground up has its own reward that a person who was handed everything cannot ever get. 

HOW HOSTESS CAN BE SAVED

Nobody, and I mean nobody wants to see Twinkies go. Although I don't eat Twinkies, just the thought that I could never have one even if I wanted to is not pleasing.

So I was thinking of ways that Hostess could be saved. I mean, its a legitimate company that has been along all throughout my childhood and before. I'm sure it can think of ways to keep on going. But I thought of some ideas of my own just in case they need some inspiration.



1) Get Entenmann's to bail them out. Entenmann's obviously is not as upset as the rest of us that Hostess will no longer be selling its goods. But what if Hostess decided to sell part of their Twinkies brand to Entenmann's? Or they could give Entemann's royalty for every box of Twinkies sold. A box of 10 Twinkies is sold for around $3.49 depending on your location so Hostess could give $1.50 royalty for every box of Twinkies sold to Entemmann's. Even though Hostess won't be making as much money as it used to it's still better than going out of business! With their bailout money they can start running again and can think of ways to make up their loss (Nutella filled cupcakes is just a starter idea) ;) 


2) This is a good time to collect donations. I mean have you seen Ebay and Amazon? People are paying thousands of dollars for a box of Twinkies! That's a lot for a yellow cake filled with white cream and a hundreds of calories. Maybe people will be willing to pay thousands to keep the company running. I know a company can't continue running off a couple thousands but lets just see how many are willing to donate.


3) Tell people they're running out of business and then make a bunch of Ebay and Amazon accounts where they make Twinkies and sell them there for thousands. And continue to sell Twinkies and all their other brand named products for as long as people continue to buy them. I don't know it sounded good in my head.


4) If all is lost then all the employees should become exotic dancers. I heard that's doing well these days.



Disclaimer: These aren't well thought out legitimate plans. I'm obviously not a real financial consultant. I mean look at option 4, if that didn't give it away then...I don't know what to say. 

IGNORANCE IS NOT CLASSY: STOP THE HATE

           If you follow my Twitter then you probably saw this coming. Recently I’ve had several shocked, hurt, and upset tweets about what happened on August 5, 2012 in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. A shooter, Wade Michael Page, entered a Sikh place of holy worship (Gurdwara) and shot towards innocent people. Six innocent Sikhs were killed and three were critically injured. Now what bothers me the most is that these were the most unnecessary lives lost. There is nothing in this entire universe that could justify this event.

            The event caused a lot of media attention from channels such as CNN and FOX. It was also the statuses of many Facebook users and started Twitter trends such as the worldwide trend ‘Sikh Temple’ and others like #TempleShooting, #PrayForSikhs, and ‘Wisconsin’. But during this event Sikhs still maintained their loving traditions. They offered journalists free food and water as part of their langar tradition which I will explain later on in this post. But all of their hearts were broken during this tragic event.

The names of the people that are deceased because of this tragedy are:

— Seeta Singh, 41, male.

— Ranjit Singh, 49, male.

— Satwant Singh Kaleka, 62, male.

— Parkash Singh , 39, male.

— Parmjit Kaur, 41, female.

— Subegh Singh, 84, male.

       Sons of Paramjit Kaur were devastated when they found that their mother had been killed because of a domestic terrorist attack. One of the son’s stated, “All it takes is one ignorant person to take someone’s world away.” Even though Wade Michael Page in numbers killed six and injured three, he hurt millions of hearts worldwide. His name will never be said again without a tone of disgust in it.

Amardeep Mangat gets down to pray when he hears
that his father, Satwant Kaleka, was shot during the massacre. 

          

When the Colorado shooting happened, everyone got together
 for support, well  it's time to do that again 

  One reason this happened was because Sikhs have been mistaken for Muslims for years. We are our own religion, we have our own identity. There are 700,000 Sikhs in the United States and 25,000,000 Sikhs across the globe. Sikhism is the fifth largest religion in the entire world. Sikhs have turbans and long beards, but are one of the most peaceful groups of people on the planet. Sikhs do not believe in violence or hate, they believe in equality for all. We learn to defend ourselves through everything, and stand together as one. Our three golden rules are:

-        
        Nam Japo – Meditate in the name of god

-        Kirat Karo – Live an HONEST living. Whether you make one cent a day or one million a day. As long as you do it honestly you are worth everything.

-       Vand Chakko – Share your income to people in need. There is no point in earning money if you can’t help people who can’t help themselves.

     But despite Sikhism being its own religion, Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims will not stand behind each other when it comes to racial unjust. Ever since 9/11 Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims have been the target for racial discrimination. Let me just say one thing. Just because Osama Bin Laden called himself a Muslim does not mean he was a Muslim. Islam is a very peaceful religion and does not believe in terrorism just as Christianity does not. If one white Christian did a harmful thing would you start calling all white Christians terrorists?

            Let me also get this straight. White Americans are NOT the only victims to terrorism. People of all religions, colors, and races have been victims to terrorism. Go through the list of the people that passed away because of 9/11 and you’ll find that hundreds aren’t the names of white Americans. When 9/11 happened I was five years old. I’m a New Yorker so this event has always hit me hard. And it hit every Sikh, Hindu, and Muslim just as hard. Whoever calls what happened at Oak Creek, Wisconsin a hate crime needs to do a little more research. This was nonetheless Domestic Terrorism, which was how CNN labeled it to be. Just because a white person wasn’t the victim this time, doesn’t automatically make it a hate crime. Sikhs are Americans too. Many Sikhs were born here, and even if they weren’t it doesn’t make them any less American. Don’t forget your roots Americans, immigrants built this country.

            But to get back to my inspiration to write this blog post, Sikhs. Sikh Temples (Gurdwaras) always have their doors open during service hours. They encourage people of all faith and color to come and find peace within themselves and with God. After the prayer there’s something called langar, where everyone comes and shares a meal together. This meal is of no cost to anybody and is offered to everyone. A Gurdwara is more than a place of worship; it is a community and a family that always has its arms open for new comers. If any of you ever have the chance, I would really encourage you to visit the Golden Temple located in Amritsar, India. It is one of the most peaceful places in the world.

            The sad thing about Sikh history is that Sikhs are always targets for hate crimes. Ever since 9/11 Sikhs have been misunderstood for terrorists, which is something they are not. Long hair and beards is a Sikh’s identity and his or her commitment to God. It in no way has anything to do with terrorism. Sikhs have been the targets of hundreds of hate crimes all across America, for no reason at all. Just a few examples of hate crimes towards Sikhs are (via Huffingtonpost*):

Sept. 15, 2001 -- Mesa, Ariz.: Four days after the infamous attacks of 9/11, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a 49-year-old Sikh, is shot and killed outside the gas station he owned by Frank Silva Roque. When police approached to arrest him, Roque says, “I'm a patriot and an American. I'm American. I'm a damn American.”

Nov. 18, 2001 -- Palermo, N.Y.: Three teens burn down Gobind Sadan, a gurdwara (Sikh temple) in New York, because they thought it was named for Osama bin Laden.

Dec. 12, 2001 -- Los Angeles, Calif.: Surinder Singh Sidhi, a liquor store owner in Los Angeles who took to wearing an American flag turban after 9/11 out of fear of being attacked, is beaten in his store by two men who accuse of him of being Osama bin Laden. [More from Real Sikhism.]

May 20, 2003 -- Phoenix, Ariz.: Fifty-two-year-old Sikh immigrant and truck driver Avtar Singh is shot in his 18-wheeler while waiting for his son to pick him up. As he is being shot, he hears someone say: “Go back to where you belong.” [More from Real Sikhism.]

Aug. 5, 2003 -- Queens, N.Y.:Members of a Sikh family are beaten outside of their home by drunk individuals yelling, "Go back to your country, Bin Laden."

March 13, 2004 -- Fresno, Calif.: Gurdwara Sahib, a local Sikh temple, is vandalized with graffiti messages: “Rags Go Home” and “It’s Not Your Country.

Jan. 30, 2009 -- Queens, N.Y.: Three men attack Jasmir Singh outside of a grocery store. Racial slurs are heard. A broken glass bottle is used. Singh loses vision in his left eye.

March 6, 2011 -- Elk Grove, Calif.: Two elderly Sikh men in traditional garb, out for a daily afternoon walk, are shot and killed. The perpetrator is not found.

           
            Hate crimes aren’t always this big though. Sikhs have gone through several thousand hate crimes that can’t be reported such as getting the finger, being told to ‘go back to your country,’ and being called a terrorist.

            Recently there was also a blaze in a mosque in Missouri that had encountered several attacks before as well. A few years ago an ignorant citizen had burned down the sign of a mosque. The community of the mosque decided to keep it together though and rebuild it. On July 4, 2012 another or the same ignorant citizen of Missouri lit the mosque on fire. Although the mosque contained 16 surveillance cameras, and a clear view of the suspect was taken, police still haven’t convicted the felon. But on August 6, 2012, less than 24 hours since the Wisconsin shooting, someone started a blaze inside the mosque completely burning it to the ground leaving the community heartbroken.

            But now enough is enough, it’s time to make change. People do not understand the scary situation they are in. A few weeks ago there was a shooting in a movie theater, then there was a shooting in a Gurdwara and now a mosque was burned to the ground. What can happen tomorrow? The amount of ignorance and hatred in this country has gotten out of control. I think it’s time for people to further educate themselves and understand their surroundings before they take any serious or even simple actions toward someone. It’s time to stand together as one family otherwise we will as a country and as humanity fall apart.

            Even though Sikhs are so mistreated they still go around spreading love and peace. For a group of people that does NOTHING but spread peace, the Wisconsin shooting was the worst injustice they could have ever got. Even through all they’ve been through the Sikhs believe in “Chardi Kala” which is a Sikh belief that means always staying happy and remaining positive and giving love; even through unfair bias, racial unjust, hate crimes, and being terrorized. Also remember that no matter what, you cannot tear Sikh pride down, and you will in no way change their faith.

            Another one of my concerns is gun control. Wade Michael Page was discharged from the army for violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice for being drunk on the job, and one time being absent when he was not allowed to be. But he still LEGALLY was able to receive his gun and pistol. James E. Holmes who killed 14 and injured 50 in Aurora, Colorado was pronounced mentally ill, yet he was still able to get his gun legally. Yes mental health is a huge issue and is the main reason these massacres happened, but the easy access people have to weapons is unacceptable.

            I want to send my condolences to Oak Creek and everyone who is physically and mentally getting over this tragic and horrific event. My heart and prayers are with you.

            I want to thank CNN for taking so much time to finally give Sikhs a chance to explain who they are to the public and what they stand for. What saddens me though is that it took a massacre for the media to finally take time to explain what Sikhism is, and how we stand for peace and equality for all. The amount of media that became involved was amazing but it’s not enough. We need to keep spreading awareness of tolerance and peace. We need to stay United as one. One of my favorite quotes is “United We Stand, Divided We Fall.” It is now up to us as humanity to stick up for each other, not bring each other down.

Vigil in Chicago for the Wisconsin Sikh Temple Shooting

Vigil in Wisconsin for the Wisconsin Sikh Temple Shooting

            
















I also want to give a huge thank you and god bless to Brian Murphy. Brian Murphy in my eyes is a hero. He took nine bullets from the shooter and still had the courage to shoo away other officers when they came near him, and signaled them to go save the people in the Gurdwara rather than him. He is someone who I look up to and I pray that I one day have the amount of courage that he showed that day.

Sikhs don’t believe in justice for just Sikhs, Sikhs believe in justice for all.

DONATE AID TO THE VICTIMS AT:

Indiegogo.com/Milwaukee-Sikh

WeAreSikhs.org

* http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/history-of-hate-crimes-against-sikhs-since-911_n_1751841.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

Leave me comments and let me know what you thought. Do you agree? Disagree? All respectful comments are welcomed :) xox

Twitter- Wakeupitsavi

WANT TO SEE INSIDE A GURDWARA?

Red Mango - Why Its My Favorite Place For Frozen Yogurt

    On July 28, 2012 I had the privilege to meet one of the most prestigious CEOs in the food and restaurant business, Dan Kim. Dan Kim is the founder, CEO, and president of the frozen yogurt chain Red Mango. Red Mango is located all across the country and has even recently hit India. The reason why I love red mango is because its frozen yogurt is low in calories and leaves you with a light and refreshing taste.Whenever my friends and I hang out, the first place I tell them to take me is Red Mango, where we spend hours sharing laughs and indulging on delicious yogurt. When I heard about Dan Kim’s appearance at Hicksville’s Red Mango opening, I begged my sister to take me. I realized only I would be business nerdy enough to visit CEOs but it was so worth it! Not only was Dan Kim so down to earth and humble to all the customers, but he was even nice enough to hand out gift cards. He took pictures with anyone who asked and even signed an autograph for me.

    Not only was Dan Kim nice during the grand opening, but he always takes time out of his day to appreciate his supporters. He gives them as much importance as he can by retweeting and following his fans on twitter, and liking their posts on Facebook. Dan Kim has definitely made my list of favorite businessmen! I wish him and red mango the best of luck for the future!

Also Mr. Kim can you hire me as your dancing red mango cup mascot? I think it has become my life goal to have a job as enthusiastic and fun as that! =)

Is There Such Thing as a True Friend?

  Someone who was going through a rough time with friendships and who thought I had my stuff together once asked me if there is such thing as a true friend. I honestly didn’t have a proper answer to that because no matter how much faith you have in humanity, in the end nobody’s perfect. After some thought I tried to come up with how I felt you should deal with people. I told her; always forget anyone that doesn’t treat you the way you should be treated. And by not treating you the way you should be treated I don’t mean forgot to text you or call you because those are little things you have to learn to look over. Fighting over stuff like that isn’t worth it because your friends will drop like flies if you do. I’m talking legit backstabbing which I’ve been through many times mostly in school which is why I tried to not get involved with peoples stuff too much. But that’s when you really have to step back and see how much you’re worth it and start to either confront people or distance yourself from them if you feel like they aren’t the kind of people that won’t change even with confronting. But in general don’t be too close to people that you feel don’t seem right. I talk to many people all around but the amount of friends that I can trust with my life can be counted on one hand. It’s really important to not burn too many bridges though, just distance. I’m not saying be fake but there’s nothing wrong with talking and laughing with someone but not telling them every detail of your life. A lot of people may think they know me but they really don’t AT ALL and that’s the way I like it because not too many people have information that can one day come back to haunt me. So the key facts in this paragraph are distance yourself from people who don’t treat you right without burning too many bridges. Always have fun with the people that are around you and ignore the haters. If someone really hates then it’s always good to confront with a stern face and dead eyes. Learn how to laugh everything else off and have a great time. You’re not the only one with this problem I feel the same way you do too. Surround yourself with love and support and show love and support. Respect everyone always. When someone disrespects you, show them even more respect. Because he or she is the person that needs to learn what respect is the most. Always stay classy.

Remember that Not Everything Can Be Explained

            This is the first time I’ve ever wished for a fight, because in that case I would’ve had an explanation. I’ve lost friends before, close ones and a few that were acquaintances. But this wasn’t any ordinary loss of a friend. This was the most avoidable one, because there was no reason behind it.

            There wasn’t a day when we didn’t speak to each other since the day we met. I had a good morning text every day, occasionally with the word beautiful at the end of it. Even though I was sort of used to seeing his name on my phone, the butterflies never ceased to jump around inside me. There were many disappointments, failures, and mistakes inflicted with his name, but it didn’t take more than one positive feature that made him worthy to be my best friend. I never gave up on him because even though there were reasons too, he never gave me a reason big enough. The potential of what he could accomplish was enormous and I was determined to get him to fully reach it even if it meant to bring mine down for a bit. He appreciated it, I know he did. It’s just sad that he gave up on me.

            I wish I could explain what happened, but honestly I don’t even know. The time we spent seeing each other’s face whether it was in person or through a tiny camera in my computer could never be returned. The stories and laughs we shared could never be untold. The moments we sat and felt each other’s pain could never be unfelt. But there could be a time when there wouldn't be any more moments lived together, stories told, laughs shared, and feelings felt. The phone calls stopped, the texts stopped, the video chats stopped, the friendship ended. As fast and unexpectedly it takes for a bomb to explode. It was as if he randomly dumped me on a stranded island with no form of transportation or communication towards him. Of course I still could get in contact with him if I wanted to, but it made no sense for me to make all the effort. The responses just stopped and I asked for an explanation once. One simple question that would give me inner peace even if it wasn’t something I wanted to hear, just because I would know why. But I didn’t get a response to that either. That was the last thing I ever said to him.

            I don’t know what his intentions were with everything. They could’ve been great as if he felt he was pulling me down and he wanted to stop before I gave up any serious opportunities, and giving an explanation would just lead to me defending him. They could’ve been as simple and awful as him getting bored and thinking that I didn’t deserve an explanation. But no matter how much I wonder, I will be as clueless as I started off as.