Starbucks and Empowerment

Art and Meditation Wednesday

Today in my art and meditation alternative prayer service, I had a group of 27 thirteen and fifteen year old boys and girls. Since today is the eve of the fast day Tisha B'av, I wanted to facilitate a discussion that would inspire some new perspectives about this solemn day. So, I began today's session with a discussion about Starbucks and empowerment. Huh, you might ask?

I read an interesting article last night on Aish.com about the connection between Starbucks and Tisha B'av. In short, the multitude of tragedies that took place on Tisha B'av can be traced to the Bible, where the spies were sent out into the land of Israel to scout it out. They brought back stories of giants residing in the land, tales of fear and angst about entering the land of Israel. Moses knew that with trust in God, they would be protected, but the people did not have faith or vision. They thought small. They were punished severely for this flaw in their character.

Howard Schultz, a kitchen parts VP, visited Starbucks when it was a small town operation in Seattle, Washington. He came in to buy a coffee grinder and left with the vision of Starbucks shops throughout America. Only glitch was that the three owners of Starbucks had no desire to expand. Schultz opened his own coffeehouse, which was a huge success, and a few years later, bought out Starbucks for a mere 3.8 million dollars. There are now over 16,600 stores worldwide, and a net worth of over $10 billion!

If Schultz had let go of his vision and thought small, where would Starbucks be today?

I asked the kids the following powerful question: What is one thing in your life that is keeping you small, holding you back from being the most powerful you can be? Paint your answer.

The painting above was done by a 15 year old girl. She described the one thing that is holding her back is chaos, represented by the dark colors at the bottom of the painting. The colors coming out of the chaos represent order. What does she get when she has order? Clarity. Pretty profound coming from a 15 year old!

I challenge you with the same question: What is one thing that is holding you back from being your most powerful self? If you like, paint your answer and post it here. I would love to see what comes up for you.