
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
divine gift

What’s most meaningful to me is the divine perfection of the universe. The more I discover about my divinely given gifts and the more I share them, the deeper and more profound my connections with my family and those I hold most dear become.
Because I’m in close relationships and accountable for running a global business, there are times when I take a stand for what I call the integrity of the conversation. That means having and allowing a deep compassion for the nature of our thoughts. It means not holding a personal position or opinion as the truth or the right way. It means participating and engaging within the unfolding of our gifts.
If I lose sight of that integrity, the number one thing that brings me back is breathing consciously. As a fallback, if I find myself getting agitated or upset or angry, I also ask myself some questions: What am I being right about? What am I making the other person wrong for? Is being right and diminishing them by making them wrong worth my relationship? Is it worth the sacrifice of the love or potential love between us? Something else I do is reflect on what a brilliant person, Reverend Rick Mars, said: “If it’s not coming from love or I’m not moving towards love, then I don’t do it.”
It’s said in the movie Discover the Gift that if you want to have an extraordinary life and amazing relationships, give energy to the things you love and take energy away from the things you don’t. I used to thrive on the energy of anger and upset, which fueled my days. I’ve gone through a process of shifting my life so that now my primary source of fuel is loving everything – all of it.
At this point, there’s no lack of love in my life. I’m surrounded by extraordinary women and men. Specifically in the realm of the feminine, I’m surrounded by extraordinary women who believe in me, honor me, love me, and – sometimes literally – hold me up. I gratefully bow at their feet.
The mission for me now personally is creating a powerful, loving, passionate, divinely-sourced relationship with a partner. I know there’s someone who’s a match for me, someone I’ll support to be who she wants to be and who’ll support me to be who I want to be. Someone who wants to start a family together and create extraordinary beingness. I believe we’ll both know it when we see it.
– Demian Lichtenstein
Comments