Ideas to change the world.
Actions to preserve the environment.
The name "Mind Petals" (with the tag line: Infinite Ideas to Bloom) comes to David Askaripour directly after watching the documentary an Inconvenient Truth while David ponders the ongoing elevation of global warming and the current state of the environment in April 2006. David wasn't sure exactly how the name came to him, but he attributes it to thinking about "growth and life" and how so many beautiful "petals" can spring from the earth and prosper into something amazing; not just plants, but ideas as well.
Interestingly, perhaps paradoxically, David introduces Mind Petals to the world by launching the website on June 4, 2006 as a forum / network for young entrepreneurs to share their business ideas, life experiences, and discussing the things they are doing on their journey to success -- creating a platform for young entrepreneurs to come together and voice themselves in ways never before done.
Within 12 months, Mind Petals becomes increasingly successful insofar as bringing together young entrepreneurs together from all over the country, some notable and many fresh entrepreneurs -- ranging from best selling authors, owners of multimillion dollar corporations, to web-hosting entrepreneurs and even some who made their own BBQ sauce. Mind Petals was on its way to become the largest and most influential young entrepreneur communities.
The year start off with a mention of Mind Petals in the new book “Campus CEO” written by The Apprentice 4 winner, Randal Pinkett. Leading to other book mentions, several published articles in the Wall Street Journal, and plenty of support from websites and blogs across the internet.
However, with all this success and momentum, David was not content and felt that he has strayed away from his roots of nature, his love for animals, and even his passion and determination to protect the environment.
In July 2007 David began steering Mind Petals in a new direction, focusing more on spirituality, conscious eating (veganism), and environmentalism. He saw himself going on a new journey as he began to practice daily meditation, yoga, and simply moving inwards (inside of himself) and in doing so, David's external actions began changing. Becoming more fervent and radical in his discussions, David began expressing a newfound desire to protect, sustain, and conserve the environment along with expressing views on how one can awake to their true powers and potential via traveling inwards on spiritual journeys and showing love to all.
In August 2007 Mindpetals.org is launched and becomes independent of Mindpetals.com (which will continue to publish environmental / spiritual based articles).
Mind Petals fully blossoming with its new environmental-based mission to save the world. In April 2008 the new tag line is released " Ideas to change the world. Actions to preserve the environment." As well as publishing a new plan of action called "G.I.A.S" which stands for "Green Inspirational Acts of Spirituality," encompassing all of which Mind Petals stands for.
In February 2008 David contacts friend and lawyer, Lema, to being filing Mind Petals Organization as a 501(c)3 non-proft organization as David begins to write the by-laws and new program ideas for the organization.
As of today, April 2008, Mind Petals is growing full-speed ahead in it's new direction. David, of course, is undergoing resistance to the new direction from friends, family, and peers and he finds it difficult to attract supporters, but he continues speaking / spreading the word / educating people at his friend cafe in the Lower East Side of Manhattan -- a cafe called Gramstand. As well as starting grassroots speaking on the streets with corresponding direct action.
David clearly understands and accepts that Mind Petals, more than anything, is a movement to inspire as many MINDS as possible by planting seeds of inspiration as well as taking action [PETALS] by living the change we want to see in the world -- every day, without compromise. As well as getting up and taking action for what we believe in, through protests, actions of non-violent civil disobedience, and voicing ourselves as far and loud as we can -- no matter how few the listeners are.
April 15, 2008: Mind Petals launches its "Plastic Bags Kill" program to reach out to the community, congressmen, representatives, and store owners to stop the usage of plastic bags -- one of the world's major pollutants and deadliest weapons against birds and marine animals. Over 100,000 tutles, seals, whales, et. al die per year from plastic bag consumption. Over 1,000,000 birds dying per year.