Category: Inpsiration

Food For Thought, Inpsiration

In Service For Selfishness

Sanjay Sabarwal

img_0236This week I had the opportunity to get closer to one of my 2017 goals; contribute 100 hours of community service or specifically “be in service.” At first, I pictured serving the homeless regularly, but then I also sat with the idea of being in service. I opened up to the possibility of saying yes to anything that would serve others. So yesterday, I spent a few hours at the Free Whittier Store cleaning out their storage room. I loves their idea that instead of just buying new things, they encouraged community members to come get something they might need for free from them.

I also got a chance to attend the Wednesday Awakin Meditation Circle where I sat in silence for an hour and then got to connect with other like-minded individuals to discuss our AH-HA moments which for me meant that I get to say yes more often to opportunities, and when I do other things open up for me.  My mom made me aware that our gurdwara feeds the homeless every Saturday in Santa Ana through the efforts of an organization United Sikhs, and it hit me that there is always a chance to be in service when you are selfish about your vision. I get it is not for everyone, and I hesitated to post because I am not looking for congratulations, but my hope is to get others to do the same. Have a Sunday planned, use a few hours of that in a way that will make you feel like you are on the top of the world. That’s exactly how I felt this week.

Food For Thought, Inpsiration, Journal

The week in Review

Sanjay Sabarwal

9626bcc2e5db425aaff8e01956e0ad02Yesterday, I shared with my accountability buddy how I did for the week for my goals and habits. Initially, I felt like a failure because I only got to 80% of the things and missed a few days for daily habits until it hit me that perfection was never the goal. The goal was to do something about the things that bother me. It is very easy to get caught up in failure and beat oneself up, but really the entire point was that I tried, not every day, but it was still 1000 times better than not doing anything at all.

It is not an easy transformation to make from being content to say there is nothing I can do about my goals, habits and results to still giving it a shot. Fear rules that state of mind, but a good fear where I become more comfortable being uncomfortable. It is easy to criticize and point out what I am not going and to see that in others, but much harder to put things into practice. Too often, I look at what I missed rather than what I accomplished. It is a habit I intent to change because while being critical is good, it does me no good to make into a self-worth issue. That said, I am extremely proud of my progress. Just for some perspective, here are my January goals which touch upon New Year resolutions, but are geared towards creating habits. What are yours?

1)Drink 64 oz to gallon of Water Daily

2)Meditate Daily

3)Write Morning Pages Daily

4)Write 300 words daily

5)Date Night Weekly

6)Connect with 2 people Weekly

7)Work on Improving Memory

8)Work on Improving Handwriting

9)Work out 5 days a week

10)             One Hike and/or physical outing

11)              Drink no more than 2 drinks on weekdays

12)             Try a new activity/place this month

13)             2 Legal Blog Posts

14)             Begin Learning on how to do a podcast

15)             Begin learning on how to get more readers for blog

16)             One Boys Night

17)             One Friends Night at least (ideal 2)

18)              Hug and Kiss Daily

19)             Take one Weekday off a month,

20)             Lose 5 pounds

Food For Thought, Inpsiration

First Monday of 2017 (and Resolutions)

Sanjay Sabarwal

imagesI sit in the morning quiet full of gratitude, the coffee still steaming, snow surrounding me while I enjoy the last few hours in Big Bear. Having spent 3 amazing days with family and friends, we got to know each other better and shared our thoughts about life and our future. There was laughter, crying, and a deep gratitude for what life has in store for us.

It is easy to wallow in grief, self-hatred and victim mentality, but the real challenge just like in the movie Rocky how often you rise back up. More often that not, the winner is one who stands one last time over their competitor. So I allow the view to remind me that there is life after death. There are others who need me, and that getting caught up in my thoughts and emotions instead of actions serves no one especially me.

So I breath in the new year, and breath out the what if’s. I live in 2017 as present, calm and loving as possible. Also scared. This is the year, I get so comfortable with fear that it becomes my new best friend. In that spirit, I commit to the following for 2017 (not including a private resolution I set up with my wife).

  1. Get my book ready and have it be accepted for publication.
  2. Run a marathon
  3. Volunteer at least 100 hours this year
  4. Do 5 Pull Ups
  5. Increase my legal revenue by a factor of 10
  6. Connect with loved ones regularly
  7. Visit 2 new countries this year
  8. Hike quarterly
  9. Improve my memory
  10. Learn conversational Spanish
  11. Improve handwriting
  12. Begin a Podcast
  13. Increase Blog subscribers
  14. Be the best self of myself in all aspects of my life
  15. The Secret resolution with my wife.

What are yours for 2017?

 

Food For Thought, Inpsiration

Designing 2017

Sanjay Sabarwal

fb60d4afcfd779fa65110c8d8b483733As the  year draws to a close, I feverishly use my mornings to design 2017. From scribbling in my Law of Attraction Planner, reading Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris, and visualizing my ideal life, I am intent on creating a life worth living. Recently, my leadership group answered the question what regret would we have if tomorrow was the last day on earth for you?  The word that came back to me was Incomplete. And it stung.

It hit me that there was no one responsible for that. It came down to me and my decisions. Blaming others or life events just meant me avoiding the life I’d envisioned. A recent Ted Talk about this really drove it home. If I wanted to live the life I wanted, I had put in the work. It was simple yet not easy. The warmth of the bed would always beckon, the excuses to skip the workout always on my mind, the urge to give in to anger, and frustration easier to take a pause, and ground myself into acceptance and being present.

I gotta tell you, it sucks being responsible, so much easier to blame others, events and things. Yet it always come down to me. That’s not to say life won;t happen to make things interesting, but if I have put in the work, I can ride that wave instead of getting sunk by it.

2017 won’t be just another year that happened to me. I will choose to make it different by design. If nothing else, I will get to learn what worked and what didn’t.

Food For Thought, Inpsiration

What Will Be My Legacy?

Sanjay Sabarwal

1417255825-1188b8d99692f8a1c13fa42de7f3f0f6The morning quiet is precious to me. It is the only time I am with my unfiltered words, thoughts, and emotions. The only time when the sound of my mind takes over the quiet of the house. Where I reflect, and prepare myself for a new a day, and decide what kind of person I wish to be. Each day I have a choice to be a better person. Each day a beginning of the person I can be. Each 24 hour period where I can leave behind my mistakes and start over on creating connection and legacy.

It is not a time for regret, but one of acceptance of the past. I do worry, and I do beat myself up, but not for long because self-pity serves no purpose. It is also a time for checking in with myself to ground myself, to know that there is so much I cannot control, and it is OK.   That first hour is most precious as I go into action and know that I am living my purpose, that I miss loved ones, and that in the end, all will be OK. To needlessly worry about things I cannot change is just a recipe for feeling bad and out of control.

So I sit back, enjoy the quiet, give my thanks to life, a quick I love you to Papa and that he is missed, and I begin my day towards my legacy. What that will be is solely up to me. I create that. Each day is a choice, and I must remember that. Because there will be many, many days where I will not shine, will not be the best version of me, but I just need the other days to outweigh those. And in the end, that’s all that matters.

Family, Inpsiration, Myself

Social Silence

Sanjay Sabarwal

untitled1Last few weeks, I am trying something that I have done in the past with great results, but then I go back to it. I deleted all social media apps from my fun, and the relief I felt is hard to describe.  The firehose of negativity suddenly dimmed in my social media life, and I cannot tell you how light and relieved I feel.  That’s not to say I am not going on Facebook, but since its now only desktop based, I check it in the mornings and then am done for the rest of the day. It feels like a controlled fire where it’s manageable, and I am less inclined to feel overwhelmed with the deluge of information and mindless scrolling.

The main benefit is to be stop being annoyed at those who post a lot. That negative conversation has gone from my head. I don’t know if this is avoidance or getting less attached to the phone which because now I only have Words with Friends, and can only look at it so often when there is not social media, no real distraction. The other benefit, less picking up of the phone during conversations with others,  let capturing of activities for others to see how much “fun” I am having. Less ignoring others to look at my phone.

The urge to look at the phone fades, and to interact with others increases. It is not a perfect solution, but it’s one that works for me. The lightness I feel daily is hard to explain except to say that I no longer feel I carry the burden to know everything about others or events. I get to focus on what matters to me for now.  And that’s enough.