
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
identity

I delight in all the small things that come across my path. I stay open to what comes at me, to what I encounter.
Being disgruntled for waking up at four o’clock in the morning with things going on can either be seen as a terrible imposition or as something to delight in. “Oh, look at that! I got this idea at four in the morning!” I’m delighted by the way the universe responds to me even when I’m not consciously aware that I’m seeking a response.
We become invested in our own world and our own psychodramas, and that inward turning can spiral down. I try to just step back from it. Am I successful all the time? No. But the longer I hang around the better I get at it.
Something I try to do is eliminate any sense of personal guilt. Life comes along and puts a rock in my path. I didn’t do anything to cause it. That’s life. We tend to put ourselves at the center of whatever happens – they’re my problems or my good fortunes. But it really has nothing to do with me. The reality is that the more I open myself up to what the world gives me, the more likely I am to get the good and the bad. If I’m open to experience, experience is going to come.
In my arena, I talk about mystic identity, the identity that transcends the name you’re known by, your gender, and your age. We may see a wise soul in a young child or witness the elder who seems child-like again. It’s the core you that recognizes that there’s just a rock in your path or that you have some things that get you out of bed in the morning which possibly the rest of the world doesn’t understand.
Even if the universe deals me a full house, I know that I didn’t necessarily do anything to earn that. The sun came up and it warmed me. I didn’t bring it up. It went down at night and I went to sleep. It’s the same with negative things. I can recognize what just happened and accept that I’m not necessarily responsible for it. Then I can move past it.
– Bob Walter
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