
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
gardening

As a kid and then as a grown-up, I’ve seen that what the world absolutely needs is harmony. Harmony can be two people working together. Two good friends. Two lovers. There are all kinds of harmony. There’s a whole range of cooperation that’s all part of the same idea of harmony.
As a biologist, I think harmony is really necessary. My focus is the study of life. One of the most important understandings about life is that every organism on the planet is in connection with every other organism on the planet. Whether it’s something we love that’s really pretty, or a parasite that’s ugly – everything has a role in the harmony.
When we’re out of harmony, it’s like the music has turned into noise. If I’m on edge and things aren’t working, there’s usually something I’m holding back that’s caused me to lose that harmony. I come back to myself then. I ask myself, “What’s important to me?” and I redirect myself in that direction.
When people show us their gardens, we see the beautiful array of wonderful organisms that work together and create something visually spectacular. A Native American mission statement was to maintain the garden, the biological world. We humans are supposed to be working in harmony to keep the garden maintained and balanced. But somewhere along the line we lost our connection with the garden. We came to consider ourselves separate from the garden.
When we look at the beliefs of indigenous people all over the world, we see that they knew they were part of the garden. Their lives were about keeping harmony and balance, about loving where they live. They knew that they and where they lived were one and the same.
Now we’re sitting on the edge of our own extinction. We’re out of harmony. But we’re not here as separate things. We’re part of the garden. We’re here as gardeners, to take care of the garden and help bring it back into harmony.
At first, biology was the study of life out there. But with more awareness and more science we recognize that the garden is not just out there, the garden is inside us. If we all understood this, the whole planet could turn around almost overnight.
– Bruce Lipton


Explore More Meaning
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loss educator. transition encourager. hope infuser.
Carole Brody Fleet is a popular motivational speaker, helping people touched by the pain and challenge of loss, regardless of age. She's been a regular guest on local, regional, national, and international media programs. [www.widowswearstilettos.com]
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