On soul hugging strangers

I recently wrote a blog post on soul hugging, and something I touched on was the idea of hugging total strangers for a whole minute. Gasp! It was just a minor chord in the piece but it seems to have captured people’s imagination and I thought I would explore it further.

I wonder what the psychic impact on the world would be if we had places where it was socially acceptable to hug strangers. In my mind, the ambiance would be more spiritual like a church than like a single’s bar. Embracing strangers would be respected, even revered. Whether it was free-form or facilitated, people could visit this venue to give and receive long embraces with anybody.

Hugging as souls would hug

Hug from the soul

Have you ever hugged someone for a whole minute? A whole, long, no-cheating sixty ticks?

That might sound like a piece of cake, especially if you envision or remember hugging the love of your life or if your minute-long hugs were simply a prelude to steamier activities. But what about hugging a friend or relative or (gasp!) even a stranger for a whole minute?

I’d love to see the changes that would occur in our society if we made hugging more prominent and acceptable. I’m not referring to the fleeting body collisions many people in our culture produce for the occasion (“give” would be the wrong word here). You know, the A-frame, don’t blink or you’ll miss it phenomenon.

I’m talking about a true connection, a long pause at the traffic light of time to hold someone in your arms and be present with that person for a whole minute. Hug that person with reverence and respect and empathy. Hug as a prayer and give thanks for our existence by taking the unusual step of holding a kindred soul close.