A previous teacher of mine at Saint Francis said that daily hugs promote emotional health and that everyone needs them, something that has stuck with me since. See, I’m a fairly tactile person and not necessarily in the sensual way. Something I realized in high school was that simple touch can disarm sadness, frustration, anger, and any sort of bad mood.

Juan Mann on a Free Hugs Campaign

Many years ago Dietrich and others, including my girlfriend at the time, headed out to The Edge, the under 18 club up in Palo Alto. I felt so cool. I don’t remember why the GF was in a bad mood but that evening it remained so no matter what was said, unswayed by my lifted spirit that was excited to be in such a place. So I did what any other immature adolescent would do: I left her sitting alone on a stool. It wasn’t until Dietich suggest I do the simplest thing did her mood shift. “Dude just walk up and give her hug and massage her shoulders, that shit always works”, and it did!

Fast forward ten years and four hundred miles south in Los Angeles. I’ve been telling and showing a good friend of mine, who has been down recently, that everyone needs a hug. Hug! And although she says she disagrees with a resonating “ewww” I know each time it lifts her spirits if even the least bit. A genuine smile is hard to hide.

What prompted this whole blog entry was an email from Hazel (and her panties) containing a video of Juan Mann on what is known as the Free Hugs Campaign:

Sometimes, a hug is all what we need. Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, A man whos sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives.

It’s a somewhat moving video but I think the video description captures what I’m trying to say here:

In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal.

Free Hugs Campaign Video on YouTube.com

This whole hug topic brings me back to a blog entry where I talked about my mellow mood, which Sonny misconstrued as extreme depression. But yes I was feeling blue so he took it into his own hands and asked the Yelp-verse to give me a hug at that evening’s event. I gotta admit I was initially a bit irked because who wants strangers on Yelp all up in their personal life?

One of Many Yelp Postings from Sonny

Tired from the day and in that irked mood I was received at the Yelp event with open arms — literally. I probably got a dozen hugs from strangers that night and each of them lifted my spirit that much more. It was and still is amazing how that works.

So go give someone a hug and if you see Sonny, give him two! And if you need help on hug technique, click here and scroll down.

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