
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
truth

The most meaningful element of my experience is the pursuit of truth. It infiltrates every aspect of my life.
For a long time, I had no interest in spirituality. Then I married a woman who was on a spiritual path. She worried that my lack of interest in personal development or spirituality would drive us apart, so eventually she said to me, “Either you get a spiritual path, or you get a divorce lawyer.” That made me angry, because it threatened the illusion I‘d built my life on. Reluctantly, I went to a bookstore and started skimming titles, looking for something on the topic that might interest me. I did find a few titles, and I started reading. That process started me down a path of personal and spiritual development.
One of the books I read, Diamond Heart – Book One, by A.H. Almaas, included a chapter on truth that flipped my life upside down. Almaas wrote about truth in a way I hadn’t thought of or considered and I realized that all the things I wanted – money, great relationships, and everything else – I wanted because I had an idea about them and about what they meant to me. That made me wake up to the realization that I didn’t understand myself.
So I started asking myself questions about my own truth. My answers fundamentally changed the way I live my life and how I engage with the world and with myself. I started asking myself questions like Why am I thinking the things I think? Why do I feel the things I feel? What’s going on inside me? And when I wanted something, I started asking What’s the real reason I want this? What do I want this money or this relationship for? What do I think I’m going to get out of it? Through that process I became much more aware of myself and my own truth.
I came to realize that there are experiences that come to me from the outer world that are required for my own development and growth – and I can’t grow without those experiences. So I moved further into a place of asking myself What am I trying to teach myself in this moment? What am I trying to learn?
As I’ve continued along the path of asking about and learning what’s true for me, my path is revealed and I move into deeper, more universal Truths. I’ve realized that the truth I seek personally is perhaps not separate from the bigger Truths. In the same way our own bodies are made up of different pieces yet are still whole, perhaps I am the arm or the leg of a Self that’s bigger than me.
What is real? What is true? Am I perhaps a vehicle by which a larger energy or entity is pursuing the Truth?
I keep asking the questions. I’m grateful to show up and see what happens.
– Chris Cade


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infant vocalist. continuous learner. light shiner.
Chandrika Tandon is a Grammy-nominated singer & composer who has received praise from NY Times for her "limpid, serene voice.” Her new album “Soul March” reinterprets “Raghupathi Raghava Raja Ram,” a song sung by Gandhi and his followers during the 1930 Salt March.
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narrative multitasker. life saver. creative activist.
James Lecesne has been telling stories for over 25 years, though acting, writing, and teaching. He's one of the creators of The Trevor Project, an organization focused on suicide prevention among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. [www.thetrevorproject.org]
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