
Affectionately known as "America's #1 Success Coach," Jack Canfield is the originator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and a leading authority in the areas of self-esteem, achievement motivation, and peak performance. [www.jackcanfield.com]

Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and Editor in Chief of the Huffington Post and the author of twelve books. [www.huffingtonpost.com]

Seth Godin is a prominent author, blogger and speaker. [www.squidoo.com/linchpin]

Krishna Kaur is the founder of YOGA for Youth, a program that takes yoga, meditation, and stimulating discussions on the philosophy of yoga to urban youth. [www.yogaforyouth.org]

Norman Lear has enjoyed a long career in television and film. He is also a political and social activist and philanthropist. [www.normanlear.com]

Leilani Münter is a professional race car driver and an environmental activist who uses her voice in the number one spectator sport in America as a catalyst for change. [www.leilanimunter.com]

By going undercover to meet slaves and slaveholders, Kevin Bales exposed modern slavery's penetration into the global economy. He co-founded Free the Slaves, which has helped to liberate thousands of slaves. [www.freetheslaves.net]

Sophie Chiche, lifebyme.com founder and curator, enjoys asking deep questions and living a life of meaning. Today she's launching Shape House, an urban sweat lodge, a place to melt away fears and fat. [www.shapehousela.com]

Entrepreneur and writer Mastin Kipp founded TheDailyLove.com, which merges pop culture with inspiration, and co-founded The Love Yourself Company, an apparel company that has started a global self-esteem movement. [www.TheDailyLove.com]

Liz Phair is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. [www.lizphair.com]

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is Chairman of The Elders, a group of world leaders who address some of the world's most pressing problems. He works energetically for human-rights and in his ministry. [www.tutu.org]

Zainab Salbi is the founder and CEO of Women for Women International, a group dedicated to helping women survivors of war rebuild their lives. [www.womenforwomen.org]

Despite his physical challenges, Sean Stephenson has taken a stand for a quality of life that has inspired millions of people around the world. He's a professional speaker, psychotherapist, and author. [www.timetostand.com]

Kia Miller teaches Yoga at Yoga Works in Los Angeles, leads teacher trainings, and runs retreats and workshops on meditation, chakras, pranayam, and mantras, and other practices. [www.kiamiller.com]

Simon Mainwaring is an ex-Nike/Wieden creative, former Worldwide Creative Director at Motorola/Ogilvy, branding/advertising writer, author/speaker/blogger, Australian, idea geek. [www.simonmainwaring.com]

Shannon Bindler is a style editor, life coach, and the co-founder of Get Up Girl, an empowerment company that inspires women to shine. [www.getupgirl.com]

Grammy-nominated art director/designer/photographer Mathieu Bitton has designed over 450 CDs and movie posters. He's a renowned collector of and authority on black films and their soundtracks. [www.candytangerine.com]

Opus Reps founder and agent-producer Jorge Perez travels the world producing photo shoots with great photographers and celebrities. He's also very involved with Meals on Wheels in Los Angeles. www.opusreps.com
deep

I slept well until I had children. I’ve tried many ways of dealing with being awake when I don’t want to be, from counting backward as I breathe deeply to taking prescription sleep medication. During wakeful times, my mind often spins anxiously forward to everything I need to do in the coming day and how tired I’ll feel if I can’t get back to sleep. For obvious reasons, that train of thought doesn’t soothe me back into a deep and restful sleep.
But occasionally I have a very different experience in the middle of the night. I get out of bed, go downstairs, wrap a blanket around myself, and sit on the living room couch. As I surrender to being awake, heavy eyelids and all, something shifts inside me. I find I’m no longer fighting myself or fighting the night. I relax and begin to notice how quiet it is. In that stillness, my body softens and I breathe more deeply. I feel as though I’m dropping down into myself, greeting an old, dear, trusted friend. Sometimes I think about my life, but more often I just feel grateful for having a life, for being alive. And sometimes I have an experience that’s not easy to describe. It feels as if I’m finding myself again, coming home to myself. I tap into a sense of fullness and wholeness that makes not getting enough sleep seem like a much smaller issue than it was an hour before. Whether or not I go back to sleep, I’m deeply renewed.
When I drop down into myself in those quiet hours of the night, it feels as though I’ve tapped into a deep river running strongly beneath the busyness of daily life. When I allow myself to fully experience that deep river within, I connect not only with myself and what matters most to me but also with a powerful stream of silence, mystery, clarity, aliveness – a universal source of deep nourishment that provides a healing balm when life on the surface is too much. That’s where meaning lies for me.
If I’m disconnected from myself and from that inner source, I can go through the motions of life, but there’s a sense of dryness and emptiness. When I tap down into the deep river realm and let those nourishing waters replenish me, I get more clear about how I do – and don’t –want to spend my time, and, in almost any activity I choose to do, including the ordinary everyday stuff, I experience more meaning and joy.
– Abby Seixas
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