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Gurdarshan Gary Mangat Up And Comming Mma Fighter


yubacitysingh
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Im proud to call him a friend and I hope the sikh community around the world helps support him in becoming a world champion

I had the privilidge of meeting him and he is one of the very few sikhs out their left that still have the sikh lion mindset

something i read on his facebook and i believe needs to be shared with everyone

WEST COAST SIKH YOUTH CAMP OPENING WEEK LIFE REFLECTION MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH

by Gurdarshan Gary Mangat on Saturday, August 29, 2009 at 5:46pm

( pardon the grammer mistakes , the speech was a spoken speech not a written one, so grammer was not a priority.

if u would like to be tagged , just send me a quick msg)

I’m sitting at fight training with blood rolling down my chest and lips, soaked in sweat from endless hours of training. I grab my laptop and remember I must write something for camp. Now I sit here wondering what to say. I am surrounded by warriors of MMA from all over the world such as Brazil.They are the best of the best and yet I still can’t think of anything to write. Looking around this $2 million private pro facility for only invited fighters who have chosen a life of one on one wars with other warriors from all over the world.How did I get here? Why am I here fighting now? What am I here to represent? Wasn’t I sitting at BCIT studying accounting a few years ago, eating whatever I wanted, gaining weight and just letting days pass by? Why do these coaches here believe in me so much, don’t they remember I had never fought until just 1 year ago? What made me do this? I wipe the blood and it stings and I know I must be here to repeat this all the next day, and the day after.My training partners and myself are al sitting around with icepacks on ourselves after a grueling sparring session where nobody held back. Injuries occur day in and day out,yet this I accepted with my mind when I decided to do this. This is my life now, but how did it come to this?

Then it all hit me, the reason I am here chasing a dream that many wouldn’t dare is because of camp. The mental strength I have is because of what I was shown at camp , the sangat I met , the gurbanis I read and the one song that inspired me to be the best , which was “Battle of Chamkaur” mixed with the atmosphere that I was surrounded by for only 7 days changed my life forever.

When I first entered the gates of this camp, I was unsure of what to expect. I was hoping for a fun filled week of activities, making new friends and just giving it a chance. Kind of pessimistic a bit to be giving up the last week of summer for this. What I got out of camp is unexplainable in words but I will try to give you an idea of what it has done for me.

Camp changed me completely as a person, as if I came into camp as a broken down Camry, and left the next week upgraded into a Lamborghini that world would turn heads when it drove by. It didn’t change me physically anyway besides the fact I gained a few pounds from the great food we were served , but what it did to me mentally and spiritually is something that makes me want to cancel everything every year so I can keep coming back to recharge myself spiritually for the coming year. Injuries such as concussions and other injuries that come with this job couldn’t stop me from coming back here.

I walked into camp as a boy who just wanted to follow behind someone that was sure of them. Didn’t want to take risks, just play it safe and get through life. Not much spirituality even though I would say I believed in god. Thinking that all good things were owed to me and that lived by the phrase “Life’s not fair” or that “Life Sucks” which has somewhat become the trademark phrase of our generation. I am not trying to be negative just saying what it is that’s relevant in the real world. I spent most of my life not even realizing this is how I was going about my days because it became so standard. These thoughts would run through my head day in and day out not realizing how I was killing any chance of doing some out of the box. Something that may leave a mark on history, something positive for my peers to look up to and know that mindset is the key to our future.

I can honestly say that, by the end of the week, I had realized the mean of becoming a man. The meaning of maturity, and how each individual has the power to change their surrounding around them for the better. Started living by the phrase “Don’t be a product of the environment , let the environment be a product of you” and such quotes from not just singhs but influential people we watch on TV all the time were making sense such as notorious B.I.G who said “in order to change the world , we must first change ourselves”. One mind can inspire hundreds or thousands of others to change the world for better. Even after realizing all of this, I had no idea what was to come next, just how powerful my mind could become with my faith in god, and the backing of a positive sangat who believed in me. Had no idea how one year would almost erase whatever I had done in the last seventeen years. But like the final answer in Slumdog Millionaire, it made sense that what I had experienced up until that point was written for me to experience. Realized all this at camp as a got to know myself as the true person I am , not the confused images we see ourselves as at times. Spent my days as the last kid picked for the basketball team, fat kid in the pool who couldn’t first swim but stuck with it to break records. The bullied kid who was too scared to state his own opinion so he wouldn’t be seen different and made fun of. All of this was me….before I came here. Up until this point, I blamed the world, we all do at times. But we fail to think we are in control of our own world, our mind is the world and the world becomes what our mind believes. This I discovered as I spent my time with my sangat, my brothers from England who felt like my soul mates from the minute I sat around their energy. Could feel the strength of a powerful mind, mind that no weapon could breakdown and no human could get to. Being around my brothers from England could be the defining moment in my life I can honestly say.It is also where I was given my fight name ,”Saint Lion”. There is nothing that can really change my mind on that statement. I trusted their words so much because you can feel the honesty and love in them. You know that they aren’t just trying to inspire you in the right path but they also wake up every morning and follow their words.

It was all fine that my mind was positive and the peers around me were positive also, but now the real test came .We headed back into the real world and this is where all of us would go our separate ways. Back to our same friends, same environment, same situations. Would we go back to our negative ways or would the lessons we learned change our way of thinking? Would I be using guru ji in many of my day to day situations make people look at me weird? Is it ok for me chasing a dream out of the box without other people who would put me down affect me? These were the tests I knew I’d be facing.

When I got back to the real world, my mind was in full spiritual and mental strength. It wouldn’t stop imagining ideas that at the time to even myself seemed impossible. Tried telling my friends about what I had experienced and they just laughed. Nobody was understanding me and I felt pretty alone. All the campers and brothers had all gone back to their regular lives and there was nobody to turn to at that moment. Was I lying to myself that I had become stronger as an individual?

The test came a couple weeks after me thinking about that question. Was sitting with friends watching the UFC fights and I wasn’t just watching the fights for entertainment. I was looking for signs and keys to the reason they are fighting in front of the world. Because they are superhuman, because they were raised from birth to be fighters? Both of these answers were no. So I raised the question of why can’t I do it, and my friends laughed at me and told me to shut up and just watch the fights. You must remember up until this point , I had never been in street fight , I was a shy kid , compared to all my friends I was the smallest , I was the least “hardcore” one of them , so for me to even think of this it made no sense. But that is all I needed to wake my mind , when someone told me I couldn’t do something before I’d be convinced at times I couldn’t , but this was not going to be one of those times. Sat their imagining myself in that octagon , millions of fans cheering , making my sangat proud , and the world realizing “impossible is nothing” , that this invidual didn’t throw his first punch till the age of 21 , no fighting background , no combat background . These thoughts I became obsessed with and I knew nobody would be convinced on me doing this. Only individual that would be convinced would be god. The next morning I went to the temple , sat there for an hour and prayed that he send me on a journey that the world will see from beginning to end , whether it end at the top or not , may someone be inspired from this , may some underdog make it to the top . Asked not to be protected from pain, but let me enjoy it, let me run at it than run from it. Stare at it from across the cage or ring and let my mind take care of me. At the time this was all talk to me, now it was time to act on it. My mind was set, but I still had no idea of the power it had and how things were going to change. Everyday my dreams become more vivid of battles in the ring , and my mind would come up with quotes every morning to get me through my days , such simple reminders as “Just be you , because life’s too short to be anyone else” , “It’s not about who you fight , but what you are fighting for”, one of my favorites I have come up with is this reminder and I truly believe this “God is not a genie , but a provider , he won’t grant you wishes , but will give you the resources to attain by yourself, what you make of it , is your own choosing, example: Parents can buy school supplies but can’t buy you a report card with straight A’s , that you must attain yourself.”.

I have trained my mind to go into fights to die now. I know that sounds weird and out there, but can ask my family. Every time I have a fight, I make sure I take care of everything before I leave to fight, because in this brutal sport anything can happen. And I have accepted that. Taken lessons from my faith such as no attachment and that is what I believe has also gotten me to where I am now at the speed I got here. Taking this journey with honest intentions, modest approach, no ego, and 'dream at night chase in the day' philosophy. I lay in my room staring at my vision board which has pictures of championship belts , the arenas I want to fight in , mindset I must be in every minute of the day to get there and octagon I wish to do battle in. Must sacrifice certain things I used to enjoy on regular basis, time with friends. I have simplified my life, I don’t need a fancy car, don’t need expensive dinners etc. All I need is a bed to sleep in, roof over my head, my training equipment and clothes and just some general everyday things. I write my own quotes every morning and post them on my room walls around my vision board and use a scenic cloudy sky to post all of it on because at the end of the day sky is the limit.

My life before was that socializing was number one. Be out there, have lots of friends, get through life, have fun.

My life now has turned into countless hours of training, being surrounded by men that are your family but the love they show you is by hurting you to make you stronger for your own battles. My mind is constantly thinking of ways to get my mind and body stronger, how to become stronger, what to eat etc. All I dream of is being a champion. I have no attachment to anybody right now I can honestly say finally in my life; I am just someone following in what god has written for me to follow. This is all that I discovered at this camp. The camp itself is just 8 cabins and a hall mixed in with 1 minute showers but its individuals such as yourself that will make camp what it is and what it won’t be . It’s in your hands, it’s your week, it’s your own self discoveries, and it’s your life.

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