
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
goddesss

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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