Hugs Are Good For You!
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What The World Needs Now Are Hugs, Sweet Hugs!
I guess that it's a little like the half glass full -v- half glass empty question, except that hugging isn't a question of philosophy - it's an expression of the primal need for human warmth and reassurance, as is right and proper within a Society's moral parameters.
In fact, hugging is presently going through a transition within our own society, where it's now far less accepted / tolerated / encouraged than it used to be, especially between men and women of "breeding" age who aren't already intimately involved. Even school teachers of young children are discouraged from touching those in their care.
I'll briefly look at where that anti-hugging direction is taking us, via Scientific studies of both Man & Chimpanzees and then finally take a slightly philosophical look at the brave FREE HUGS campaign, which you may remember swept through the world a few years ago.
Finally, my thanks for use of the Abstract Hug photo
Table of Contents
- The Hug Song
- The Hugging Debate
- What Science Has To Say About Hugs & Humans
- Great Links For Huggers
- What Science Has To Say About Monkeys & Hugs
- And So To The Quixotic FREE HUGS Campaign - Part 1
- The Quixotic FREE HUGS Campaign - Part 2
- More Free Hugs From Around The World On Flickr
- The Illustrated Guide To Free Hugs
- The Quixotic FREE HUGS Campaign - Part 3
- Group Hug, Group Hug, Group Hug!
I Want A Hug
Hugging's the same around the world
"I want a hug - when you say 'hello'
I want a hug - when it's time to go
I want a hug - 'cause everyone knows
Hugging is good for you
I want a hug - it's a wonderful feeling
I want a hug - it's a part of the healing
I want a hug - 'cause hugging feels
Like the natural thing to do"
The Hug Song
words & music by Fred Small
The Hug Song
performed by Bruce Davies
Hugs On eBay
The Hugging Debate
Do you believe that you need hugs to be healthy?
Yes they are great for health and well being.
VisFeminea says:
Hugs are healing!
charmilbrettdotcom says:
YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
MoonandMagic says:
Hugs are great! I love hugging people and I believe it makes them feel better, whether it's their health or their wellbeing is irrelevant. I don't hug stranger though.
SelfAndSource says:
Yes, of course...there has been authentic research on this.
I-sparkle says:
Yes. Everyone needs one from time to time.
GuyB says:
Sure, who doesn't love a great hug. It makes me feel healthy
howtocurecancer says:
Definitely!
nDee says:
I'm a hugger and . . . proud of it!
LadyLovelace says:
Hugs are definitely good for you. They make you happy, and happiness is important to your health.
ajgodinho says:
Yes, there is something about a hug that touches the soul. I love to hug and love being hugged! :)
Hugs might feel good, but they have nothing to do with health
mypotlpeople says:
I think everyone needs love, and that doesn't have to be expressed with hugs.
glockr says:
I only like them from close family - parents, wife, kids. When someone I barely know tries to give me a hug it feels creepy.
dc64 says:
Yeah, they may be healthy for most people, but since I have Asperger's Syndrome, I don't want anyone touching me unless I have a close relationship with them. It makes me very uncomfortable.
Hugs On Flickr
My favorite is the final photograph - it's of a guy in Iran hugging his snow-man / face. Now, that's one weird hug!
What Science Has To Say About Hugs & Humans
Who Needs A Hug Poster
Buy at AllPosters.com
Well, despite mostly disappearing by the 1980s, it should be no surprise to anyone that Science is now proving that those almost terminally-cute posters and bumper stickers were actually correct:
Hugs Are Healing
...and that to not hug is to risk the emotional stability of both individuals and our society, in general.
The Daily Mail reported in November 2007 that we are caught in an epidemic of a non-hugging culture where we are either too time-poor to hug, or political correctness gets in the way.
However, the problem goes far deeper. The Scotsman reported in September 2008 that the increasing lack of touch between parents and children "could have wide and long-lasting repercussions in later life".
This is a fascinating article, which looks at several studies, including one comparing the non-sexual touching between adolescent friends of France with the isolated, non-touching of American adolescents, finding that the latter "displayed behavior that was more aggressive, physically and verbally, towards the group they were in."
And in an entirely different but related field, The Guardian reported in May 2010, that researchers at the University of Wisconsin - Madison had created a fascinating experiment which proved that - for women, at least - a phone call from your mom often had the same stress-reducing effects as a cuddle or hug from her.
Great Links For Huggers
vote for your favorite
The Irish Times: Ecstasy Hugging Female Indian Guru Amma, The Indian Humanitarian & Spiritual Leader
October 2010: Ex - The Irish Times1 point
1000 Homes Of Happiness: A young family decides to give away 1000 Origami homes as an equivalent of hugs
Ex - The 1000 Homes Of Happiness blog0 points
Humor: The Science of Celebrity Hugs - Why They Are So Different
June 2009: Ex - Guidespot0 points
Why Autistic People Don't Want Hugs
February 2010: Ex - Science Daily0 points
Students From England's Salford University Break The World Hugging Record
March 2010: Ex - BBC News0 points
What Science Has To Say About Monkeys & Hugs
hugging is more primal than we think!
"Consolation usually took the form of a kiss or embrace,"
said Dr. Orlaith N. Fraser of the Research Center in Evolutionary Anthropology and Paleoecology at Liverpool John Moores University in England.
Two Young Japanese Macaques (Snow Monkeys) Hug to Keep Warm on Rock Photographic Print
Buy at AllPosters.com
And Monkeys In The News reports that "female spider monkeys without infants, it seems, will hug mother monkeys in exchange for permission to kiss, sniff and touch their babies."
And So To The Quixotic FREE HUGS Campaign - Part 1
Writing about the FREE HUGS campaign is a little like writing about flared pants of the 1960s or the outrageous shoulder pads of the 1980s - it's a remnant of the past. The recent past - admittedly - but still, the past.It's the story of one man - who cleverly adopted the public name of Juan Mann - and who then somehow managed to briefly turn FREE HUGS into a global movement.
That process, feeding on the three inter-twined snakes of Social Media, News media & - admittedly non-profit Viral Marketing - is an uplifting story of Synchronicity and Stardust worth retelling...
A FREE HUG From Juan Mann
Juan's the tall guy on the left
"I'd been living in London when my world turned upside down and I'd had to come home. By the time my plane landed back in Sydney, all I had left was a carry on bag full of clothes and a world of troubles.
No-one to welcome me back.
No place to call home.
I was a tourist in my hometown.
Standing there in the arrivals terminal, watching other passengers meeting their waiting friends and family with open arms and smiling faces, hugging and laughing together, I wanted someone out there to be waiting for me.
To be happy to see me.
To smile at me.
To hug me."
"My life had fallen apart and had nothing left to lose - I'd spent months living alone in a remote part of Australia [the Blue Mountains], avoiding human contact where possible."
Mann's life fell apart after his parents divorced and his fiancee broke off their engagement. He was studying Anthropology and Communcations in London at the time [and] he moved back to his native Australia for a change of scenery.
After living in Australia for a few months, a friend tracked him down and dragged him to a party so he could "reconnect with society". At the party, a complete stranger [a young woman] walked up to Mann and hugged him and for that brief moment, Juan Mann didn't feel down about himself.
After the short embrace, he realized then that a simple hug could do the trick to making other people feel better.
Business Insider
"So I got some cardboard and a marker and made a sign. I found the busiest pedestrian intersection in the city and held that sign aloft with the words FREE HUGS on both sides - and for 15 minutes, people just stared right through me.
The first person who stopped, tapped me on the shoulder and told me how her dog had just died that morning.
How that morning had been the one year anniversary of her only daughter dying in a car accident.
How what she needed now, when she felt most alone in the world, was a hug.
I got down on one knee, we put our arms around each other and when we parted, she was smiling. Everyone has problems and for sure mine haven't compared but to see someone who was once frowning, smile even for a moment, is worth it every time."
Juan Mann's story
The Quixotic FREE HUGS Campaign - Part 2
Juan Mann's story about how the FREE HUGS campaign came about
And so, through one man's emotional crisis..."The idea of standing in a busy city street holding up a sign offering to be friendly to a stranger scared me - I thought that if I could offer Free Hugs, then I could do anything."
...the short-lived global movement to hug the world was born, first starting on June 30, 2004.
Mann distributed his FREE HUGS on the streets of Sydney, once a week for several months and in the process met Shimon Moore, member of Alternative Rock band, The Sick Puppies.
Moore video-ed Mann distributing his FREE HUGS but did nothing with the footage, although the two rapidly became friends, eventually even sharing a house in Inner Sydney.
By mid-2005, The Sick Puppies relocated to L.A. and Mann intermittently continued his quixotic quest while caring for his sick grandmother. Then, when Mann's grandmother died, Moore edited the FREE HUGS footage to one of The Sick Puppies songs and sent Mann the music video as a gift, to cheer him up.
A week later, Moore uploaded the music video to Youtube and the rest, as they say, is history. Over the next few months FREE HUGS videos were popping up from all over the world on Youtube and a few are available in the module below.
Free Hugs From Around The World
Video # 2: Australia's TEN News reports on how the FREE HUGS music video has gone viral in the USA, including interviews with Juan Mann & The Sick Puppies
Video # 3: Thanks from The Sick Puppies for the success of the All The Same / Free Hugs music video
Video # 4: Juan Mann thanks the world for the wildfire FREE HUGS campaigns that were then spontaneously happening around the world and also introduces his new charity initiative
Video # 5: FREE HUGS in Hollywood. Los Angeles, USA
Video # 6: FREE HUGS in New York City, USA
Video # 7: FREE HUGS in Peru
Video # 8: FREE HUGS in Scotland
Video # 9: FREE HUGS in Helsinki, Finland
Video # 10: FREE HUGS in Sondrio, Italy
FREE HUGS eBay
The Illustrated Guide To Free Hugs
by Juan Mann
While The Illustrated Guide To Free Hugs is brief, I found it utterly charming and surprisingly well written, especially the present-tense vignettes, which all bristle with the excitement of a keen eye capturing the moment. Every hug described makes you feel that you're right there with Juan, lifting the spirit far more than you might imagine.
With no accolades that I can quote from famous reviewers, I feel naked recommending The Illustrated Guide To Free Hugs but I do so wholeheartedly. In all earnestness, I give it 5 HUGS!
The book version is also available through Amazon.
The Illustrated Guide to Free Hugs
Amazon Price: $13.97 (as of 06/01/2012)
The Quixotic FREE HUGS Campaign - Part 3
As with many well-meaning popular movements, FREE HUGS rise was meteoric and its fall equally so.Part of that was because the nature of viral media successes virtually guarantees that happening.
Another reason was that The Sick Puppies brand of Depresso-Rock anti-song music (the last sting of the Alternative Rock Grunge tail) is now decidedly unfashionable and FREE HUGS are forever associated with that "brand".
The least savory reason might also be the most telling. Money!. In late August 2006, Google (which owns Youtube) began "paying" its successful video makers (over 1 million views) by sharing a percentage of the revenue from ads that would appear (initially) around a video when it was played - (the ads now appear on the video itself).
With 66 million views, that meant that the FREE Hugs video was generating revenue and though Mann was "signed" to The Sick Puppies' management when the music video was first posted online, the FREE HUGS guy has never seen any income from them. Mann says:
"[The Sick Puppies & their manager] are firmly of the belief that all FREE HUGS related earnings are theirs. I haven't seen a dollar from [them]...Needless to say, we aren't friends anymore." Business Insider
As a result, the FREE HUGS website Free Hugs.org (and forum) is a virtual cyber-ghost town these days and with Mann retiring from the FREE HUGS movement in August 2009, both the concept and the website is now, sadly, up for grabs.
Such is Life.
If You've Found This Lens Huggable, Why Not Send It Some Love?
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Have You Been Hugged Today?
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siobhanryan
Mar 11, 2012 @ 2:03 pm | delete
- Very good Lens--enjoyed scientific proof
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BusinessSarah
Feb 10, 2012 @ 4:57 pm | delete
- Hugs to you and your fantastic lens! A hug could be the shining moment in someone's day -- what are we all waiting for? :)
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Leopold-Blatt
Jan 13, 2012 @ 4:16 pm | delete
- If a lenses could be Hugged then this one would win hands down... or perhaps hands around!
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the777group
Jan 13, 2012 @ 5:58 pm | delete
- Thanks - and I'd hug you back if I could!
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MoonandMagic Jan 31, 2011 @ 5:06 am | delete
- Brilliant lens! I love hugs and do think it is good for the soul! Thank you
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- Load More
Group Hug, Group Hug, Group Hug!
What's In The News About Hugs
- Hugs no more: Priest to give fist-bumps to kids
- By HLNThu, May 31 2012 at 12:18 PM EST By HLNtv.com Staff A Catholic priest known for hugging children in his Michigan parish will now give fist-bumps instead. The change came after an anonymous letter sent recently to the Diocese of Grand Rapids ...
- Bar Refaeli spotted 'hugging and kissing' Shaun White in NYC
- Sources told the New York Post that, the pair were seen 'dancing, hugging and kissing' to the early morning of Monday morning,. "They were all over each other. They were dancing, hugging, kissing - you name it," the Daily Mail quoted the source as ...
- Spotted: Bill Walton hugging Nancy Pelosi
- An observer says Walton gave Pelosi a hug and told her that Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead said hello. A spokesman for medical device company NuVasive, Walton visited the Hill with CEO Alex Lukianov to discuss industry issues, according to the trade ...
- Coca Cola Vending Machine Trades Sodas for Hugs
- National University of Singapore and Coca-Cola have teamed up to flex their creative biceps with their new machine on site--a hug machine. Since 2009, the company has been enacting a campaign to improve morale in various places around the globe.
by the777group
Hi, I'm Andrew Goulding a ghost writer by trade and a goofball by nature. You can find out lots about me via my Get Follow Me Buttons
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The Hug Therapy Book
over 500,000 copies sold!
The Hug Therapy Book
Amazon Price: $4.91 (as of 06/01/2012)
"Those who already love hugs will be glad to read encouraging words from a kindred spirit; those who don't just might change their minds"
Amazon reviewer Ingeborg S. Norden
"Want to earn a certificate as a Hug Therapist?
Then read the book, practice a few times and fill out your own certificate badge. Wear it proudly and I'll bet you will find others wanting to be Hug Therapists also."
Amazon reviewer Barbara Melton
"When I first read this book, I wasn't too much of a hugger but after, I hugged lots of people and people enjoyed my hugs! This book is a must, especially for shy people! I recommend this book to EVERYONE!"
Amazon reviewer A. Ventura
Darshan - The Hugging Saint
the life, work and heart of Mata Amritanandamayi Devi a.k.a. Amma, the hugging saint
Darshan: The Embrace
Amazon Price: $47.89 (as of 06/01/2012)
"Darshan: The Embrace, is truly a film of great inspiration. Rather than focusing on Amma's verbal teachings, the film exquisitely zooms in on Amma's physical presence, her dark radiant face, her arms reaching out to thousands of devotees, her legs barely able to walk after a non-stop 21 hour marathon of constant embracing.
Such images say more than words ever can - it brought tears to my eyes. "
Amazon reviewer David Fields
"Mata Amritanandamayi Devi is the embodiment of Love in Action...She...has extensive charities that she supports with donations from her followers, including orphanages, schools and hospitals, where everyone can be treated regardless of their ability to pay. "
Amazon reviewer J. Rentfro
"This movie is, in reality, a darshan with Amma, as Her energy is permeated throughout, God in a tiny human frame, hugging the world....I suggest getting a real hug and kiss from this Divine being, and decide for yourself. "
Amazon reviewer Leland D. Gibbs
Hugs Daily Inspirations for Women: 365 devotions to inspire your day (Hugs Series)
Hugs Daily Inspirations for Women: 365 devotions to inspire your day
Amazon Price: $7.24 (as of 06/01/2012)
"I purchased this book for my wife and she absolutely fell in love with it. Since then we have purchased and given away a dozen copies."
Amazon reviewer Chuck
"What a wonderful soul-inspiring book. It perpetuates the tenacity and perseverance that is part of the woman in all of us."
Amazon reviewer I. Allen
"I have several daily devotional books and this is one of my favorites."
Amazon reviewer Shannon Hefley Bird
