
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
tree wisdom

Nature is human and humans are nature, so who better than nature to remind us of who we are?
Ever since I was a little girl, a lot of trees have nudged me. I wanted to communicate with them, but I thought that was crazy. When I finally allowed myself to open up and actually listen, a big oak tree taught me a valuable lesson about polarities.
Everything in nature has male and female polarities. When those polarities come together, there is creation. This creation energy flows from every leaf of nature and within each of us.
Throughout our being, in every cell, each one of us has male and female polarities, but our society has become unbalanced. We value the left side of our brain, the masculine, which represents logic, organization, and judgment. Meanwhile, we suppress the right or feminine side of our brain that represents intuition, emotion, and creativity. We very much admire a big profound thought, but when someone has a big profound emotion, we act embarrassed.
So, how do we plug the feminine side of our brain back in and generate all that creation energy within ourselves? How do we become the amazing human beings we really are? First, we have to realize that emotions are a powerful part of being human. We must allow ourselves to have emotions and honor others when they have emotions.
Then we have to listen to our intuition. How many times have we looked back at a situation and thought, I should have listened to my gut? The good news is that the more we listen, the louder our intuition gets. It becomes our inner GPS system, guiding us in the correct direction every time.
We also need to reharmonize with our environment by being in as much nature as we can. Nature is already balanced, and is stepping forward to assist us. When we’re with nature, we become revitalized. We start to feel the rebalancing of our polarities and the reharmonizing of our being.
I once asked nature, “Why are you so willing to help us humans when we’ve been so cruel to you?” I said, “Nature, you are unconditional love.”
What I heard back was, “No, we are not unconditional or conditional love. We are love.” It’s just their state of being. It’s who they are. They remind us that it’s also who we are. We are unlimited, all-powerful beings of love.
– Kaitlyn Keyt
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