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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

goddesss

Harold Linde producer. creator. storyteller.

Film producer Harold Linde creates stories for our culture about living in harmony with the planet. [www.freetheslaves.net]

I like my word. It has three double consonants in it. I invented it myself.

The inspiration comes from the more masculine “Godspeed” – may God prosper (you); a salutation of success – another word I like.

As an adult, I often find myself drawn to wise women – those connected to their intuition and the sublime vastness that lies beyond it. Maybe this is because I don’t remember having much of that as a child.

When I look around the world today as an adult I see so many of our decisions guided by a misaligned masculine drive to control and consume.

We need more feminine wisdom in our lives. I know I do.

My word also reminds me of a bygone era when men like Sir Richard Francis Burton sought out the source of the Nile by going into the parts of their maps that had been left blank.

I guess I was born with an explorer’s disposition. Three days after graduating from college I was on a plane to Hong Kong. A camp of Vietnamese “boat people” needed teachers. Some inner guidance system had led me there.

Then I was off to Burma, then Rwanda, to Cambodia, and eventually Minnesota. Not just to see new places, but to do something while there. I changed bandages. Taught human rights. Trained environmental activists. Stood up against ravenous corporations.

I volunteered with the Peace Corps. I worked for the UN. I guess Kirk, Luke, and the Doctor (Who) never seemed like fiction to me. Their stories of epic adventures required my own heroic efforts.

So I charged, forward.

After two decades, my questing started to turn inward. Tools of internal exploring – like shamanism and spiritual psychology – became my compass. I delved into the real heart of darkness: my own. The descent was long and excruciating. Fortunately, there was eventually light behind the despair.

These days, I start each day by calling that light in. As I cultivate the divine, that part of myself I’m told resides inside each of us, I notice my own native land looking more and more foreign. Vast parking lots surrounding high-volume super-stores. Fast food drive-thrus. Range Rovers.

Where am I?

Meanwhile, the inner route I’m following keeps getting less and less defined. I have no idea where I’m going. But that somehow seems the point.

So Goddesspeed to everyone embarked on this journey with me.

Goddesspeed to us all.

– Harold Linde

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Your Turn

Bring to mind a woman you respect.
What qualities does this woman bring forward?
How can you connect more to those qualities within yourself?

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