Free Hugs - Instant Wellness

"We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth."
Virginia Satir

It has taken me many years to simplify the potentially complex subject of wellbeing or wellness. Years of study have taught me some incredible and esoteric things that are infinitely complicated to the curious, western mind.

Study of medicine, energy, meditation, yoga, NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), Time-Line Therapy, Hypnotherapy, to name but a few, have given me some varied techniques and perspectives along the way.

However, keeping the sustained feeling of change and positivity is something that had been illusive throughout this journey. How is it possible to get so many breakthroughs intellectually and not translate them into sustained action afterwards?

For the past few months I have been giving out free hugs in London, with a few dedicated friends. On occasions I have woken up and not really felt in the mood to face the unpredictable moods of the general public.

Each free hugs session will provoke just about every sort of emotional response possible. I have seen people get angry, hostile, insulting, rude and dismissive, each time I have gone into London free-hugging. This is part of the reason that it is so magical.

The contrast in perspectives just make the interactions of those who do understand that hugging feels good all the better. Feeling good is the only thing that matters in health and wellbeing. It is not what you do but how you feel about it that matters.

For many years I have questioned myself as a wellbeing role model.

"Do I have the healthiest diet possible?" No. I am prone to eating and drinking things that would not be considered healthy by purists. Though I enjoy what I eat.

"Do I have the healthiest exercise routine?" No. I sometimes have a lapse in my routine. But I always go back to it.

"Do I have the healthiest lifestyle?" No. I am human and have what many would consider flaws in the way I live. Yet I have stories and memories that make me smile every time I think about them as a result of these quirks in my character.

There will always be people who are better at certain areas of health and wellbeing than I am. There will also be those who sit in judgement of how I live my life. However, ask different questions like,

"Do I know how to feel good, instantly?" Yes. Everytime.

"Do I know how to be kind to myself, even when others are not?" Yes. Everything in life is a test of my congruence to my current path.

"Do I know that hugging random people feels fantastic?" Yes. Because I do it regularly.

As human beings we need to connect, we need to have physical contact and we need to FEEL GOOD. Every time I go out hugging there are always enough people who experience amazing shifts in the way they feel, instantly.

These are the memories I take from each free hugs session that I do. We were even passed by a large group of people who were hugging policemen! It was a most interesting experience and great fun as they queued up to hug us.

Forget the research, forget the complex systems of wellbeing and alternative therapy and forget the judgements of others. The fast track to health and wellbeing is feeling good and the fastest way to do that is to spend a day giving out free hugs. It will make you smile and change your mood and your life - forever.