This way of viewing the world offers you unique access to building and embracing a life that inspires you.
Regardless of your situation, you can change your life. Awareness of your present situation is your launching pad for moments, days, and years of unlimited possibility. It all begins with action today. This is about achieving the end result on the one hand, and—perhaps more importantly, and at least equally importantly—understanding who you know yourself to be in this moment, based on the action you take today. What if today was the last day you had to live? How would you want to know and love yourself? Not in any way bound to the balance in your bank account, retirement plan, or having the most toys, but in a more essential manner. How would you want to be with your loved ones and all the people around you? How would you embrace this moment and be fully engaged in life and the magic of you?
When you embrace each of these components, anything is possible. You will know with your entire being that you are a miracle, and that you can dance and play through life.
If you follow the recommendations here, you will begin to embrace yourself and the world, feel fully alive and present, and increase your potential to create deep connections wherever you go.
Brief History of Hugging
The official origin of where or when the act of hugging began is uncertain. It seems to be one of those instinctive behaviors humans share with primates to express emotional connection, love, consolation, and comfort. Wanting to be held in a tight embrace by another appears to be human instinct or primate instinct, and arguably, mammalian instinct. Human biology requires nurturing by our primary caretakers in order to thrive, because we can’t care for ourselves as babies and children. A hug may often be used when words fail or seem insufficient.
When we stop to think about it, hugging likely goes back as far as human existence. Even when there was only one person in existence, that individual likely had an evolutionary focus on taking care of themself (a self-hug). Once there were two or more individuals, they likely bonded together to support each other, and for the propagation of the species.
Historically, offering a hug or a handshake demonstrated that neither individual had a weapon, and was a sign of good faith. It is also a gesture that can be seen in the art of many cultures throughout history and across the world.
The specific origins of the word “hug” are unclear, and two theories exist. The first suggests it to be of Scandinavian origin, and is often presumed to be connected to the Old Norse hugga (first used in 1560), which was understood to loosely mean “to comfort.” The second, is that the word is related to the German word hegen, meaning to foster or cherish, and originally meant to enclose with a hedge.
Tree Hugging
One distinct use of the word “hug” is tied to “tree hugging,” which was first identified in India in the 1700s. The legend goes that when the maharajah wanted to build a new palace, he planned to build it on the land of the Bishnoi people, to whom trees are sacred. The Bishnoi people worship nature, and thus, the killing of anything in nature, including trees, is forbidden. A female villager noticed men about to cut down the precious Kherjri trees, and positioned herself between the men and the trees, wrapping herself tightly around the tree, legend says, hugging it with all her might. She is said to have offered her head if it would save one tree, and the maharajah’s loggers chopped her head off with an axe.
The story goes that three other girls, and eventually hundreds of Bishnoi villagers, responded in the same way, joining the protest. Legend has it that 353 people had been murdered before the maharajah ordered a decree protecting the land from future harm. To this day, logging and hunting in Bishnoi villages is still prohibited.
Through the years, tree-hugging has continued to be a means of peaceful resistance to prevent the lumber industry from destroying native forests. It has become a more common way for environmentalists to protest, as well as become a part of green spiritualist practice.
Amma
One distinct and extremely influential and powerful hugger is Amma. She was born into a low caste family in the fishing village of Parayakadavu in the district of Kerala in India on September 27, 1953. Her parents remarked that she was born into the world smiling, and not crying. She grew up very different from other children in that she was very spiritual, and it is said that even at age five, she was spending much of her time praying. When she was nine, her parents sent her off to school, and she was given the worst jobs to do, which she did gladly. As she grew older, her mystical experiences intensified, and she began to gain followers attracted to her spirituality. Her devotees often said she took on the form of Sri Krishna, and many miraculous healings have been attributed to her.
Amma is uneducated in the traditional sense, but she teaches her followers about the ancient traditions of Yoga and Vedanta. Her main teaching has been to reject the false sense of ego, and focus on the divine, true nature of man. During the past thirty-five years, her main focus has been to travel the world and offer unconditional love to people from all walks of life. It is estimated that Amma has hugged over thirty-three million people worldwide. On some days, she may have hugged up to fifty thousand people in a day, working for up to twenty hours.
She does not try to convert people to her religion, and says that her “sole mission is to love and serve one and all.” Some people claim to feel vibrations when they hug her. They have come to see that her hugs are not just physical, but are spiritually powerful, and her touch is a blessing. Because she hugs for hours, her stamina and presence seem almost otherworldly. It is that endurance that gives her the magnetism people call saintly.
National Hugging Day
Kevin Zaborney is credited with the creation of National Hugging Day in 1986. It is also known as National Hug Day, International Hug Day, and Global Hug Day. This immensely important observance occurs annually on January 21 and was first celebrated in Michigan. It is now celebrated all over the world. Zaborney explained that the idea of National Hugging Day was to encourage everyone to hug family and friends more often. He chose the time of year for National Hugging Day because it is the emotionally low period following Christmas/New Years and before Valentine’s Day. The benefits of hugging are extensive, and in part, can reduce blood pressure, increase self-esteem, and improve both physical and mental health.
Zaborney cautions people to ask first if uncertain of the response, out of respect for personal boundaries. Zaborney has traveled all over the world promoting National Hugging Day. He is a founding member of the National Hugging Alliance, which worked with the Guinness World Records to set the benchmark for a world record of the Most Nationalities in a Group Hug. That effort successfully brought together more than forty-three different nationalities in the world’s first 21-Second Hug on January 21, 2018.
Free Hug Movement
In 1999, Bernard and Delia Carey started an extraordinary social movement by washing people’s feet in New York City. They placed a sandwich board sign out on the street, and waited for people to come in, no donations, and no fuss. People started getting curious and stopping into the little storefront on East 10th Street. Before long, the Careys were offering hugs, bandages, and money. The biggest letters outside the store were the ones that read “Free Hugs.”
What began as a storefront whim became an artistic experience. Customers referred to it as “performance,” but the Careys wanted to do something bigger and more impactful. They delved into the idea of “relational aesthetics,” traced back to the 1960s interdisciplinary community, Fluxus, which included performances by artists like Yoko Ono.
They began taking pictures and videotaping their experiences, and, before long, their “Free Hugs” became a national news story. They were asked to be in the Whitney Biennial Art Show in New York City, where
