Here I am, hours away from closing 2009 and I find myself, yet again asking, where did the year go? Life seems to be moving so fast. I don’t think that I am alone in feeling this way, especially when you’ve had a roller coaster type of a year. I am grateful to so many people, events and opportunities that crossed my path this year. There were also few things that I could have done without, as I am sure many out there would agree with me. Yes, they are meant to shape our future; Yes they are meant to help us affirm our intentions, test our passion…But …can we now just focus on manifesting the intentions!
It has been my yearly tradition to start the New Year in Sydney, Australia, spending it with my family including my nephew Anthony 11, and my niece Larissa, who is 10. They have been my inspiration for all the kids training programs and the upcoming books and gangofhope.com. They are the voices for the Jake and Natalie characters. Watching them grow has also given me a great deal of insight about the development of a child, their habits, character and personality. Through observing them I have come to closely see how much of a sponge they really are. They absorb everything that we adults say and do around them. In my next blog I will share with you my experiences with them on a recent shopping trip.. talk about developing habits and taste.. you know what I mean.
Now, getting back tot he start of the new decade, I am very excited as it holds much hope for my passionate dreams. The release of my new documentary, more videos for gang of hope, the launch of PDFS gang of hope for adults, and most importantly, working with women and kids through my workshops and community center. Exciting times indeed!
Happy New Year everyone, remember to release the Genie within, and allow her/him to guide you through your journey to success. Would love to hear some of year passionate dreams for 2010..
Barbara Holliday and Dave Reinitz donated the night of comedy and talent to the foundation. The host Joel Bryant was smooth and well prepared, kept the audience rolling in laughter. His act with his wife Devon, could have caused an uproar with Judy and Bill, but they played along and involved everyone in the act. Dave Reinitz, Michael Rayner and Diane Kawasaki followed one another, keeping us all in stitches. This was definitely a better way to raise funds…laugh all the way to the bank.
Last Saturday I attended the star studded red carpet event by BraveHeart Women, and what an amazing night it was. Marla Maples, Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith of Agape and his wife Rickie, Courtney Cox and many more..
I was so inspired by hearing women from all walks of life, passionately express in their own words how they deal with their everyday challenges and the ways they wish and do make a difference in someone else’s life. Hearing Delta Burke, one of the stars of “Designing Women” television show, painfully talk about her battle with depression and her weight while on the show. Maya Angelou share words of wisdom, the talented and energized Carol Channing with her husband, an Armenian at that.. Harry Kullijian express deep concerns about our education system, the lack of art programs and creativity. A topic near and dear to my heart, we instantly connected and vowed to make a difference.
Overall, connected with like-mined people is what encourages our dreams, giving it that fire to keep going. Each one us can make a difference, in someone’s life, in our own way…
Helen Keller once said, ”I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.”
What is the one thing that you can do??
Last night I reconnected back with my 2nd home town, Sydney, Australia via another fabulous event by Advance Australia. Honoring the legendary NFL’s Hall of Fame Ron Barassi . What a trooper he was, having just checked out of Cedar Sini Hospital with Phenomena. Games ON!
Also there was the Architect of the West Hollywood’s Ramada Plaza Hotel, Allan, Abe Land the Mayor of West Hollywood with a great sense of humor, Hon. Chris De Cure -The Consulate General of Australia, Mr. Gary Manuel-Development Manager of Vaustralia part of Virgin Airlines.
Continuing on the nostalgia journey, in the room adjoining the bar there was a gigantic painting of Australian talent/media personalities featuring people like, Paul Hogan, Johnny Farnham, Molly Meldrum, Don Lane, Kate Blanchet, Olivia Newtown John, Hugh Jack man and so many more..it was good playing “Who is that” oh yes..
See how many faces you recognize???
No Aussie event would be perfect, especially related to footies without having meat pies there..now, not being mostly vegetarian, I did manage to eat few of the little ones with couple of glasses of white wine , it triggered an avalanche of my school day memories through my mind.. those were the days..Westfield High School.
A couple months ago I blogged about getting to meet the inspiring author Don Miguel Ruiz. Now, just a short time later, I am happy to say that Don Miguel Ruiz has joined the gang! Dreams do come true.
We’ve been working closely together and are preparing to launch a national one dollar campaign to help Adopt-A-School in need. The one dollar campaign is so important especially now that there are continuous budget cuts for the education system. Each one dollar will move us towards providing schools with onsite and online training and will help to Jump-Start local students and teachers lifestyles and change the world. It’s all being launched very soon so be sure to check back and see when I’ll be appearing in your city!
Last night at a special event by Advance I heard CNN’s journalist Michael Ware talk about his incredible journey from Brisbane to Baghdad. He has lived the ‘War on Terror’ since 9/11, first in Afghanistan, then spending six years in Iraq as a front line journalist. Having a family myself in Baghdad, I was floored when I heard some of the horror stories and what is planned next for Iraq.
He talked about:
It was obvious to see how his up-front and personal experiences in these troubled regions have immensely carved him up to be one of the best journalists out there. It was refreshing to see him laugh, (see photo).
*Being kidnapped by Al Qaeda and surviving
*Dodging death every day
*Living in Baghdad near-continuously since before the American invasion
Being an author, I have had the pleasure of meeting many inspiring authors such as Patricia Montandon, Deepak Chopra, Mark Victor Hansen, Jack Canfield and so on. 7 years ago, after my book was first published, I came across a little book by Don Miguel Ruiz, titled “The Four Agreements.” Immediately, I knew that I needed to personally connect with Miguel Ruiz to further explore my philosophy about life. I located his phone numbers and attempted calling him several times, but never had the courage to leave a message. Today, 7 years later, on my birthday, I met with him, we hugged as if we have known one another a lifetime. perhaps we have. Listening to this master speak washed away all doubts about my own beliefs about life, kids, love and the future of mankind. His casual manner of speaking and simple methods of translating what is important in life resonated within my soul and I know that we have much work to do. For now I would like to induldge my spirit with the teachings of today, and more on this later.
America is blessed with an abundance of talent, resources, and social standing yet our education system always seems behind other industrial nations. Why is that? We are constantly telling one another to focus on the future; that our future is strong, that it will be better. How can it be better when our children, who are tomorrow’s adults, our future, are dropping out of school at a rate of 1 every 26 seconds?
Why is it that we increase funding for the military, jails, drug and alcohol treatments; all the while we continue to cut the education budget? Kids who are losing interest in school are the ones ending up drinking, abusing others and ending up in jail . We, as a country have the highest inmate population in the world. Why is that we are o.k with spending millions upon millions of dollars on treatments, we could very easily save ourselves few millions of dollars by focusing on preventive measures through education at an early age. Recent statistics showed that we spend on an average between $7,000-13,500 per student in the public education system, while we spend $35,000 per inmate in the jail. What’s wrong with this picture?
Being an advocate for children’s education, my investigative questioning about this deeply rooted problem soon turned into filming a documentary. I was a little hesitant at first, but I wanted to know where was the problem and how we can fix it …and fix we can, the question is…do we want to? I began shooting this documentary a couple of years ago and it is nearing completion. Click on the picture and watch the clip. Let me know your thoughts.
After attending the Dropout Prevention Summit at The Tiger Woods Learning Center back in February, I couldn’t resist going back and having the Vice President & Executive Director, Dr. Katherine E. Bihr, ED.D. join our gang. We just concluded the filming, we actually did the original filming last month, but for some reason the tape was bad, so we had to re-do it again. Kathy spoke about her difficulties as a kid in school because she was shy. She explained how she would make excuses to avoid going to school and how she overcame all those obstacles, learned to be comfortable in her own skin and take risks. Kathy shared some insight on ways to be successful and she came to be the Vice President of The Tiger Woods Learning Center. She also talks about the importance of exploring different methods of education. Kathy’s intriguing video will be uploaded soon. Be sure to look out for it.
Have a safe Memorial Day weekend and remember the men and women in uniforms who sacrifice their life everyday.
”When I look at a child's face, I see HOPE! Hope for tomorrow, hope for society and hope for mankind. Today we can do something towards making a better tomorrow!- Silva Mirzoian
About Silva - Successful Real estate broker/developer turned producer of Multi-Media Jump Start Your Life programs, Author of "Jump-Start Your Life" - 7 steps to waking up from "The Sleep-Walking Mode.", Producer of gangofhope.com and Founder of Passions & dreams Funding, Inc. - a non profit 501 (c)3 public foundation dedicated to influencing positive change in the lives of women and children at risk through education and safe housing.
Recently she launched her "Power of Femininity Forum" bringing together, inspired, passionate and powerful women, all focused on making a difference in society! “
Now, getting back tot he start of the new decade, I am very excited as it holds much hope for my passionate dreams. The release of my new documentary, more videos for gang of hope, the launch of PDFS gang of hope for adults, and most importantly, working with women and kids through my workshops and community center. Exciting times indeed!
Dr. Katherine E. Bihr, ED.D. join our gang. We just concluded the filming, we actually did the original filming last month, but for some reason the tape was bad, so we had to re-do it again. Kathy spoke about her difficulties as a kid in school because she was shy. She explained how she would make excuses to avoid going to school and how she overcame all those obstacles, learned to be comfortable in her own skin and take risks. Kathy shared some insight on ways to be successful and she came to be the Vice President of The Tiger Woods Learning Center. She also talks about the importance of exploring different methods of education. Kathy’s intriguing video will be uploaded soon. Be sure to look out for it. 