Sometimes a hug is all what we need :)
Hugs are universal medicine and the
best part about a hug is you can't give one without getting one !
Hugs are magical and an instant dose of happiness.
Religions dissolved, apprehensions and possible inhibitions overcome , hearts were bridged, an abundance of love overflowed when
a group of volunteers decided to dedicate a Saturday morning to
spreading love and smiles to reach out to people and make them feel
loved.
Sometimes it’s better to
put love into hugs than to put it into words. The feeling is more
than beautiful!
Right from the health conscious doctor
on his morning jog, a beautiful 60 something cancer survivor to the
the labourers were treated to a dose of love which left them smiling
and over whelmed! The initial apprehension was natural and expected
and we were questioned for our intentions and affiliation with any
organisations if any and as to why we were doing this! And that is
when the magic began. When people got to know that it was a group of
volunteers who wanted to spread some love and smiles – support and
appreciation poured in. Two 22 some things on their regular jog joined
in to spread some love.
Selfless love is the purest form of
expression when it is in the medium of a heartfelt hug – it is
sure to touch your heart! I remember a lady absolutely overwhelmed by
the hug (turns out it was her birthday that morning) and then being
treated to a group hug, could it get any more amazing..oh yes it
can! What followed was an abundant overflowing of love - nani-
nanas', a group of doctors, a cancer survivor, few labourers, the
sweepers, kids, teenagers,an expectant mother, watchman –
everyone got a big dose of love! Imagine a volunteer with open arms
walking towards you with smile on his/her face to make you feel loved –
How can that not make your day!
And if you're wondering if this is the
first of its kind – here's some history on the Free Hugs campaign!
The entire world is waking up to the
power of hugs and it all started in June 2004 when an Australian
who went by the pseudonym Juan Mann started giving out free hugs in
his local shopping mall. Mann had reached a point of personal crisis
in his own life: his parents had divorced and his fiancée had broken
off their engagement. He realised that people were living
increasingly disconnected lives. The need for human contact had been
neglected. In Mann's eyes, we were living in a computer-mediated
culture where friends were made through My Space and families were
breaking down. Where previously small-scale local communities had
been integral to individual well-being, now people were pursuing
far-flung separate lives in different corners of the globe.
Mann hand-wrote a sign advertising Free Hugs and went to the Pitt
Street Mall in central Sydney, where he stood for 15 long, lonely
minutes before an elderly lady took pity on him. Her dog had just
died, she confessed, and the hug had made her feel better. Soon Juan
Mann was handing out hugs every few seconds. As the days passed, more
volunteers with their own handwritten signs came and stood alongside
him.
In 2006 he was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and Free Hugs went
international: branches sprang up in Taiwan, Israel, Italy, America,
Switzerland, Norway, India, Portugal and the UK. It seemed to touch a
nerve.
Everyone is fighting a battle. Everyone has a different story of
struggle and overcoming and it is in times like these when the power
of a heartfelt hug wields its magic!
How does it feel when you walk up to a complete stranger give
him/her a hug , post which you realise that he has been feeling
miserable about himself or about life and the hug just transformed into a ray
of hope – a feeling that said Yes you matter and you are loved!
Hug a stranger today- You never know
you might have just touched a life!
Gift yourself that happiness that one
gets when you give from your heart – could be hug or even a smile
And to you who is reading this – A
big virtual hug to you! You are loved! :)
