Jack Canfield Jack Canfield author. speaker. motivator.

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 Arianna Huffington political powerhouse. media mogul. author.

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 Seth Godin author. speaker. linchpin.

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

 
Krishna Kaur Krishna Kaur yogi. philanthropist. dynamic teacher.

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 Norman Lear producer. philanthropist. tv legend.

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 Leilani Münter race car driver. activist. carbon free girl.

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]

 
Kevin Bales Kevin Bales Freedom Fighter. Philanthropist. Game Changer.

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 Sophie Chiche mom. big dreamer. lady in red.

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]

 
Mastin Kipp Mastin Kipp Writer. Entrepreneur. Daily Lover.

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Liz Phair Liz Phair singer. musician. crier.

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

 
Desmond Tutu Desmond Tutu archbishop. author. peaceful leader.

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Zainab Salbi Zainab Salbi author. ceo. humanitarian.

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]

 
Sean Stephenson Sean Stephenson speaker. psychotherapist. life embracer.

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 Kia Miller yogi. meditator. teacher.

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 Simon Mainwaring creator. writer. idea geek.

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Shannon Bindler Shannon Bindler Strategist. Writer. Life Coach.

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]

 
Mathieu Bitton Mathieu Bitton Designer. Art Director. Passionate Creator.

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]

 
Jorge Perez Jorge Perez Agent. Producer. Photography Enthusiast.

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

 

trust

Dean Ornish Dean Ornish doctor. bestselling author. integrative medicine pioneer.

Bestselling author Dean Ornish, MD, is the founder and president of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute, which performs scientific research investigating the effects of diet and lifestyle on health. [www.pmri.org]

Trust is the foundation for everything that matters. You can only be intimate to the degree that you can make yourself vulnerable to another person. You can only make yourself vulnerable to the degree that you feel safe. And you can only feel safe to the degree that you can trust.

With my true love, Anne, my wife and beloved partner, I’ve learned that being totally trusting and totally trustworthy is the most liberating way to live. In trust, all degrees of freedom are present and all possibilities exist. Our recurring mantra has been: Yet again like never before. We have experiences that are familiar because we’re having them with the same people, but they’re completely different because many degrees of freedom are possible when you have complete trust in another person. It all comes back to the sense of intimacy that complete trust makes possible.

Intimacy is healing. The root of the word healing is to make whole. We are clean mirrors for each other. We stay on track and get back on track quickly when we hold that mirror up to the other person in a clean and non-judgmental way, so they can see themselves again as a whole person. This process becomes part of our growth and creates even more trust. We reach a certain level of trust and intimacy, then we go to the next level, where the trust and intimacy are even greater, where the joy is even greater, and that makes us want to go to the next level. Because of that commitment, I am totally trusting and totally trustworthy. Because I am trustworthy, I love myself more. The more I love myself, the more love I have to give to Anne and to others, and the more I model and embody what I teach. It becomes self-reinforcing over time.

People think they have to choose between being vulnerable and weak and being strong and well-off, but walls that protect us also isolate us. It’s important to have defenses, but if they’re always up then those same defenses that are designed to protect us isolate us, and if they isolate us they actually make us more likely to get hurt and more likely to get sick and die prematurely. Ironically, then, the very thing we think protects us harms us.

Vulnerability emerging from strength and confidence allows us to choose to let people into our lives. To the degree that we do, life is so much more beautiful, joyful, meaningful, and fun.

– Dean Ornish

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