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| In
the News
07/29/03 A new Web-centered venture based in North Brunswick
is reaching out to the world with a call for “conscious acts of kindness.”
Visitors to www.soulgraffiti. com are invited to read
and submit stories about good deeds, join in discussions about selflessness,
and purchase signature journals and polo shirts. Eventually they’ll
be able to invite the venture’s founders to conduct seminars and
workshops for corporations.
“All people are connected; we automatically impact
other people,” he continued. When we commit to doing acts of kindness
every day — like letting a car in on a busy street — we have
an effect that goes on and on.” In a recent exchange on the site, for example, a woman
identified as “KLD” described in painfully graphic terms how
she had survived rape and abuse thanks to kind treatment. Wrote one person
in response: “Dear KLD, I just wanted to say thank you for sharing
a part of yourself with me. When I finally looked up from my monitor,
I couldn’t help but stare at the pictures of my children surrounding
me in my office. Man, I feel sooo grateful. Know one thing, wherever I
walk and breathe, you tagged me!” “Isn’t that the purpose of life, from the
Jewish perspective, to infuse the world with spirit?” asked Powers,
who also makes reference to the value of tzedaka, of giving, especially
when it comes from the heart. Members of what Powers calls the “Soul Graffiti
family” — some paid, some volunteering their time — are
shaping the business as they go and, in true e-business style, are working
together from locations all around New Jersey. It’s barely four months since he came up with idea.
Powers was at his desk, at the pharmaceutical company where he had been
working for four years, when a question struck him. With three patented
software applications to his name, he had a promising future in the industry,
but something was missing. “I started asking myself, ‘What am
I doing to impact people’s hearts or spirit?’ I suppose I could
have used my money to do something nice, like start an old people’s
home, but I didn’t feel my work was benefiting anyone.” He began to explore the idea of kindness with small
groups of people. “The feedback was tremendous. People were so moved
by it. We began collecting stories about kindness, from friends and friends’
friends.” As the company began to take shape, contributions came
in other forms from those inspired by the concept. “Nearly everyone,
including our lawyer, business development director, head of marketing,
Web designer, and CFO, have volunteered countless hours of their time
to helping Soul Graffiti take off,” Powers said. He’d had the
term “Soul Graffiti” in mind since high school days. Everyone
wants to have an impact on the world, to leave their mark, Powers explained.
But rather than do it in a materialistic way, he wanted to imprint global
consciousness with this notion of benevolence. If that sounds ambitious, a look at Powers’ background
shows it’s merely par for the course. “The word ‘no’
doesn’t mesh with me,” he said. Growing up in Rochester, NY,
he was fascinated by hypnosis. He qualified as a hypnotherapist at the
age of 17, one of the youngest ever to do so, he said. Hypnosis, he explained,
works through mental associations with story and imagery. He went on to
study psychology, and worked in AIDS and addiction research, an exposure
to emotional pain that helped inspire his present path. Now he wants to
share stories that inspire hope, not despair. “Research has shown that 80 percent of what we
think today, we thought yesterday. So often we live unconsciously,”
he said. “We won’t automatically start subscribing to kindness.
We have to become aware of our patterning, and consciously decide to commit
acts of kindness. When we act deliberately, the impact is far greater.” Powers and his colleagues aren’t exactly targeting
a gap in the market. Inspirational books abound, as do Web sites with
such messages. What differentiates Soul Grafitti, he said, is the emphasis
on action. “We’re not looking to Chicken Soup for the
Soul or Tuesdays with Morrie,” Powers said. “We’re looking
at The Guinness Book of Records, at what people are capable of doing.”
Elaine Durbach can be reached
at edurbach@njjewishnews.com
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Already
incorporated, with a commercial side and a not-forprofit foundation, Soul
Graffiti is still a work-in-progress, as fresh as wet spray paint. Yet
since its launch in late June, the company’s Web site has received
hits from over 3,000 computer users from 14 countries — including
Nepal, Mexico, New Guinea, and Japan — who check out its stories
of good deeds and offer their own accounts of such acts of kindness.