Our April Hug event has now passed and I am without words to truly describe the impact this event has on me personallyy, the other huggers, those getting hugs, and simply those that walked past us with a big smile on their face. It is such a powerful feeling to me that I now choose to consciously recreate that feeling every day. Two days later, I’m still on a high from Saturday and can’t stop smiling.

Team Huggers were amazing at 20! Those sharing their Saturday afternoon with us included:

Past huggers:  Steffani, Lena, Jennifer,  Leila, Justen, and yours truly.

First time huggers: Kirsten, Juddha, Rossi, Justin, Shantai, Joe, Melissa, Joe, Tiffany and her son Renato, Michael, Chris, Melissa and Barbie.

Pictured below from left: Jennifer, Lena, hugee, and Kirsten

Pictured below from left: Justen, Shantai, Chris, Joe

Pictured above from left: Chris, Steffani (it’s so windy the sign doesn’t need to be held), and Joe. 

 Juddha (pictured above) a new Positive Focus Community Leader had a great reception to his first event. You’ll see him around a lot!

 For 2.5 hours we gave and received hundreds of hugs. I am simply in awe of the reception free hugs get and how people walk away happier than when they came. So many thank yous and that is what I needed are heard by all of us that I can’t imagine your spirits not being lifted.

One woman was a bit too enthused about our event and tried to man handle people into getting hugs. She eventually calmed down after it was explained our mission isn’t to force the issue but rather welcome people with open arms. The vast majority of people who chose to walk by without a hug, walked a way with a smile on their face.

 Then there was the kids on a school field trip from Morris, IL, who asked to join us in line. They joined us for over an hour and we ended up hugging even longer as their mom hadn’t come back yet to claim them. They were fun and hugging 30 more minutes was easy, although cold as it was really WINDY.

There was a fire chief who pulled his car up, got out and sternly asked us what we were doing – and then proceeded to get hugs and then drove off with his siren going and waving at us.

I wasn’t able to be everywhere, but the biggest hug I saw of the day happened to Michael (pictured below) as a group of high school kids all lunged on him at once and the entire group tumbled to the ground. Nobody was hurt and there was a lot of laughter as they all got up. 

Rossi (pictured below), who is often behind the Positive Focus photographs was able to get in there and enjoy the event herself.

Then there was Justin (pictured below)  who received hugs in March and looked us up, joined the community and came out to hug. I’ll share his story in the sharings portion as it is truly remarkable all on it’s own.

I wish I could show you every smile, every hug, and let you listen to the laughter and joy of the event. I’ve tried to capture it on camera and in words, and perhaps this will inspire you to join us next month or start a hug group in your community if you aren’t around Chicago. We held this event as a Global Hug Day as there were huggers in Toronto, Indianapolis, and a city in Australia. When I receive pictures from those events, along with Rossi’s pictures, my pictures, and anyone else who shares them from Saturday, I will create a video montage, as well as add the pictures to our website.

Community sharings:

“It couldn’t have been any more wonderful!”  ~ Steffani

“Amazing amazing amazing! The energy was off the charts!!!” ~ Rossi

“I love doing the hug events! It’s so much fun and a positive twist to stranger’s lives.”  ~ Lena

“This was awesome!!! I hugged so many people, felt so amazing, and I’m sure helped other people feel amazing too. the group was also really great—wonderful people to be around!” ~ Shantai

“It was so awesome meeting you all!!! It was such a great atmosphere and it set the tone for the rest of the day!!! I can’t wait until we do it again!!! Hugs to everyone!!!” ~ Barbie

“So after all the huggers left I decided to walk up to State and Division while holding my sign with great reception the whole way  including a girl getting out of her friends car to give me a hug and ran back to the car. I

then walked back to the park around 4:30 and stayed there for another 45 minutes then hit the road walking with the sign and a huge smile. I think I gave over 500 hugs up and down Michigan Ave. from Delaware all the way south to the Art Institute and then through Millennium park, where I learned free hugs are forbidden. Two people went and hugged the security guards walking me out! Then back North on Michigan Ave to Water Tower park again, where I stayed for about 20 minutes until 6:15pm, before going to meet a friend for dinner. Then I went to go see Blue Man Group. A positive show all around, by the way. As I was standing waiting to get in to the theater 20-30 people in the lobby area approached me. I had my sign backwards and checked it during the show, they recognized me and came and gave me and my friends one more hug, my friends were shy… keyword: were. My friends were amazed by the amount of people who seemed to be thoroughly touched today by our free hugs (all of ours) This was an amazing experience and I must say thank you… for organizing this and getting it going in Chicago.” ~ Justin

Thanks again for everyone participating and I look forward to May’s event. As a matter of fact, I plan to make include this more than once a month! Keep checking the calendar to see when you can join in.

Have you ever felt stuck to move forward? Stuck that you can’t find the right words to say? Stuck in fear? Stuck, stuck, stuck!! I had an aha moment on feeling stuck as I prepared to write today’s affirmative message, as yes, it’s actually Wednesday morning past the normal time I send this out – as I was stuck! I thought about writing about earth day and making little changes in your life to help Mother Earth. I thought about writing about fear and how it holds us back unnecessarily. I even thought about sending a past message and allowing myself to do so by saying even Oprah has reruns. But after writing the initial couple sentences, figuring out what quotes do I use , and coming up with a link to share, – I realized, I was stuck!

Then it hit me, why am I stressing about this message when in fact, worrying about it, is exactly what is keeping me from letting the words flow. So due to my own stuckness (yes, I’ve penned a new word), this message was born. So if there is anything in your life you feel stuck at, reframe it and see the endless ideas and possibilities that will flow from you when you choose to move forward. Release your stuckness from the ‘need to do’ and open yourself to allowing the ability to ’simply be’ flow through you.

“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result.” ~ Gandhi

“There are no failures – just experiences and your reactions to them. ” ~ Tom Krause

“Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up.” ~ Chinese Proverb

Laughing at least 10 times a day. Laugh at the silly things you do. Laugh at the silly things you see. Laugh at the silly things you worry about as you realize worry keeps you stuck and laughter will free you.

Saying YAY Carol (insert your name of course) when you become aware of where you feel stuck, as awareness allows you to quickly move forward.

Saying YAY to yourself at least 10 times a day on the many ways you give to the world that you don’t see as a big deal. Those little things you do, do make a difference. When you give a smile to someone you are shining your light. When you open a door for someone you are showing they matter. When you open your heart and share your beauty, you lift the world energy.

Mostly, I invite you to be kind and gentle to yourself and simply have fun. Decrease your judgment of others and yourself. Exponentially grow your gratitude. Laugh big, love big, live big, and I guarantee your abundance in all aspects of your life will flow.

Have a fantastic week until next time.

~Carol

Looking for a way to stay focused on Living Life Fulfilled? Make sure to surround yourself with people who lift you up, inspire you, support you, and simply love to laugh and have fun.

“In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

“Life’s like a play; it’s not the length but the excellence of the acting that matters.” ~ Seneca

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” ~ Plato

Do you remember all the different things that brought you happiness as a child? Do you remember when a puddle brought a smile to your face as you couldn’t wait to jump in it, rather than having to walk around it? Do you remember when snow meant sledding, snowmen, and snowball fights, rather than adding another hour to your commute? Do you remember having an active imagination and playing house, cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers? Or imagining ‘when I grow up I’m going to be an actor, singer, athlete, doctor, fireman, etc, etc’ and playing that role? Do you remember simply having fun and not worrying about the outcome?

How often do you allow your imagination to have a full out play time as an adult? In our busy schedules, we now have arranged appointments for kids to gather and play for a couple hours together called play dates. I highly recommend it as adults too!

For the next week, I invite you to schedule play dates for yourself by taking time to:

Activate your imagination each day to daydream about your dreams and desires. Feel them to be true, right here, right now.

Play out your perfect job as a place where you are an integral part of the team’s creativity, vision, success, and receive great compensation.

Play out your perfect relationship as a partnership based on open communication, absolute trust, tenderness, passion, and simply lots of fun and laughter.

Play out whatever it is you truly desire in your life for when you are in play mode, your resistance is down and fun has to occur.

Mostly I invite you to allow yourself the freedom to play, to dream, to love, to laugh, to be silly, to be loud, to be goofy, and to be childlike. As when you allow yourself to act out your dreams and desires and not take life so seriously, you will find your ‘adult self’ will see life as a big play date of love, adventure, success, and fun. Oh – and don’t forget to jump in the puddle!

Have a fantastic week until next time.

~Carol

Looking for a way to stay focused on Living Life Fulfilled? Make sure to surround yourself with people who lift you up, inspire you, support you, and simply love to laugh and have fun.