
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
inward

When we complicate our lives with chaos and debris, they represent more than the stuff we see. They represent the chaos and debris of the past traveling with us, usually as a pain or wound. If we clear that out, we can do what we were born to do. Helping people with that process is my great joy in life.
Growing up, I was organized because my mother was very organized and if you lived in her home, you had to be organized too. But I discovered that being in control of my environment unleashed my creativity and gave me a way of expressing myself. That’s how I learned what my mother never understood – that being organized is a creative outlet and part of a spiritual life. She was organized because she wanted to impress other people. Her focus was outward. Mine has always been inward.
Last year I went back and found a terrible wound from the first two weeks after I was born. Even though no one consciously wanted to hurt me, I had a medical problem when I was born and was put into isolation in a room by myself. The hospital had decided I was going to die, so my mother went home without me and I wasn’t cared for by the hospital. My grandmother discovered me there alone, lying in my own waste products, crying for help, and she saved my life. Now, as an adult, I see that every mistake I’ve made, certainly in the area of relationships, can be traced back to that little infant who’d been abandoned and thought she was going to die.
Babies come with an avalanche of stuff. They need so much. It helps to be organized and conscious about how you use the time that frees up to pay attention to else that’s important, like your other important relationships. I wish my parents had done that. They died when I was in my 20s. I’ve also wished I could sit down and talk with them as adults. I’d like to understand them better. If we could take blame off the table, maybe they could explain to me where so many of the decisions they made came from. I’d like to have appreciated them, and I wish they’d been around long enough to understand who their daughter was.
“This is who God sent to you, Mom. Let’s get with the program.”
But if I hadn’t been hurt, I wouldn’t be here, on this journey, which has made me a richer, deeper, better person, and I’m so grateful for that.
– Regina Leeds
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