
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
transforming

There are so many levels on which we exchange with people – some are verbal, some are physical. Underlying all is the energetics of how we exchange with another person – what we give to that person, and what we receive. Sincere relationships have a lot to do with that exchange. Within an exchange, we know when there’s a balance of giving and receiving with love and sincerity.
We’re receiving energy and messages all the time. It helps sometimes to slow down, to pause and even ponder, to tune in to what we feel and honor our feelings. That’s very important.
Honoring our feelings means that when we have a response, like hurt, we ask ourselves, “What’s going on? What is this all about?” – even if it’s not in the moment, but later. This gets us further than doing what a lot of people do, which is say, “Oh, well, I’m not going to talk to that person again because they said that,” or they go into a stony silence and cut people out of their lives.
Very often, when people ask themselves, “What’s going on?” and start to realize what their reaction is all about, they see that it’s a reaction conditioned in childhood. Habituated reactions developed in childhood are etched in our limbic system. They become part of us. Often, the things that caused a reaction are lost or forgotten, but we still have the terror or sadness or sense of isolation or whatever was part of our reaction when we were children and not protected in some way.
Rather than reacting from that place, we can allow the part of us that’s now more informed and adult to say things like, “You don’t have to be distressed here because I’m going to step in and intervene. I’m going to take care of you.”
I help people gain insight into what’s often been pushed down into the unconscious, and to bring it to consciousness so they can learn to intervene on their own behalf.
I’ve often found that when people come to really see the value and beauty and light of the child that they were, who’s still with them, it can cause a huge transformation of self-acceptance.
Those destructive behaviors and difficult emotions linked to the past can be brought to light and transformed. Through this transformation, we find a deeper, more peaceful way of being in the world.
– Leah Matalon
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