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

grateful

Jack Bower wanderer. goofball. inflexible yogi.

Jack Bower is a nurse, salesman, veteran, father, yogi, and searcher. If he finds what he's looking for, he'll let you know. [www.facebook.com/jack.e.bower]

I’ve always felt like I was here to do something special; not necessarily extraordinary, but special. I served in the army as a nurse, worked for years in emergency rooms, and flew on medical evacuation choppers as a flight nurse for awhile. All that did for me was allow me to see humans at our worst – rarely at our best. When all the BS falls to the floor, that’s when true character steps forward. How many people do you know have a great true character? I saw fewer people than I’d hoped to see.

In 1995, I was working as a nurse in Arkansas where there was a school shooting that claimed the lives of students and teachers. In the hours following the shooting, I got the blood of several kids on my gown and I combed a young girl’s brains out of her hair so her parents could see the child they’d sent to school that morning. My heart hardened that day. I’ll never forget that girl’s face. It’s etched in my mind. She appears to me at the strangest times and she makes me think about my own daughter.

After the shooting, I became bitter. I didn’t attend an organized religious event for a solid decade. I thought that girl was haunting me somehow and I resented having gone through that experience, resented that I’d had to see it and feel it with my own hands.

Then, about two years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to something called hot yoga. The intensity of doing yoga in the heat freed my mind. The introspection of the mat allowed me to realize that we’re each put here for a simple purpose and when we find it, it flows as easily as water from a pitcher.

I was put here as a healer. On the yoga mat, I was able to realize that on that day in 1995 I was not only where I needed to be, but where I wanted to be. I wanted to be the one who held the hand of that little girl. I wanted to have the honor of getting her ready for her mom and dad. Now I’m grateful every day for that experience. It helps me define myself – not to others, but for myself.

I’m training to teach yoga now, so I can pass along this feeling of gratitude to others. That’s what healers do, right?

– Jack Bower

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Your Turn

Have you ever been somewhere you really didn’t want to be?
How might your perspective change if that actually was exactly where you needed to be, in a positive way?
Is there something from that experience you could forgive yourself for?

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