
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
synergy

As women, we spend so much time agonizing over our bodies and thinking about them and worrying about them. How can we get our brains and our bodies to work together to become more efficient at finding solutions? That question led me on a journey of a life in synergy, not just between my mind and my body, but also between my mind and my thoughts, my mind and the world, and my mind and other people.
In our minds, we deal with a duality between the conscious mind and the subconscious brain. The conscious mind looks at things and makes a choice. The subconscious brain runs our lives when we get stuck in our patterns or in our beliefs about ourselves or other people or the world at large. We need to understand that duality so we can say, Wait, I just drove to the store and I didn’t even think about it. Something else took over. When we see that, we can say instead, I am in control, and I get to make a different choice.
I encourage women to look beyond being stuck in the emotion and the problem. The brain is capable of coming up with solutions that aren’t compromises. Sometimes people say, “It’s just your genetics” or “It’s just your situation in life,” but we have the most amazing super-computers in the world living in our heads right now. Our brains can create any changes in our bodies and our lives.
Each day, I choose a positive word or phrase. Using the power of that word or phrase, I create a mind and synergy program for the day. If I’m feeling crappy, my word of the day might be simplistic. For that day, the words I choose are: a life in synergy is a life of simplicity.
If there’s a day when I have a problem with my employees, that problem is the first thing that pops into my head when I wake up. We tend to live in fight-or-flight mode, but I can choose not to live in that survival-of-the-fittest mode. I want to live at a higher consciousness, where everyone can achieve. On that day, the words I choose are: change my mind.
When you change your life, people notice. Your joy creates in synergy with the rest of the world. It branches out to everyone around you and creates a universal sense of possibility. The only place you find that possibility is within.
– Helena Collins
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