Receiving (More) Kindness!

Posted on August 20, 2023 by Mike Nelson Pedde — 2 Comments ↓

Hi Folks:

A year ago we posted a blog post titled, “Receiving Kindness“, where we wrote about two gifts we had received in exchange for our ongoing hugging spot chalk art project. The first was a beautiful painted stone someone left on top of our gate, and the second was a lovely note someone taped to the inside of our gate.

Our last blog post (A Smile from Niklas) profiled a smile rock we received from someone named Niklas, left on top of our gate, and this has since been followed by another lovely note! We found it after setting out our BE A HUGGING STAR design; the note looks like this: Continue Reading →

A Smile from Niklas 🙂

Posted on July 10, 2023 by Mike Nelson Pedde — 1 Comment ↓

Hi Folks:

Last year we did a blog post called Receiving Kindness where we highlighted two gifts we had been left. The first was a beautifully painted stone left on top of our front fence, and the second was a note letting us know how much someone loved our chalk art on the sidewalk in front of our house. We were quite touched by both of these gifts!

Well, yesterday we found another gift: an ocean-rounded stone upon which someone had drawn a happy face with a black marker. 🙂 On the back side was a name (Niklas A.) and the word happy. We don’t know if Niklas left it for us or if it was passed along by someone else, but it doesn’t matter. We are very happy because of it!

It continues to amaze us how much beauty and kindness there is in the world, every day. We’re a little saddened sometimes that there are those who don’t seem to see much of this, but this must be an individual choice. Grow joy in your own Being and you will radiate it out everywhere you go. As you do, you will become attuned to seeing it, and it will continue to show up spontaneously in your life.

Sending love and hugs your way,
M&M

P.S. Special thanks to the woman this morning who stopped to read the Hugging Poem on our fence and who called out, “I love this!” Made our whole day. 💗

For those of you who can’t walk by our front yard to read it, the poem is here:

Hugging is

Hugging is healthy. It helps the immune system, cures depression, reduces stress and induces sleep. It’s invigorating, rejuvenating and has no unpleasant side effects. Hugging is nothing less than a miracle drug.

Hugging is all natural. It is organic, naturally sweet, no artificial ingredients, non-polluting, environmentally friendly and 100 percent wholesome.

Hugging is the ideal gift. Great for any occasion, fun to give and receive, shows you care, comes with its own wrapping and, of course, fully returnable.

Hugging is practically perfect. No batteries to wear out, inflation-proof, nonfattening, no monthly payments, theft-proof and nontaxable.

Hugging is an underutilized resource with magical powers. When we open our hearts and arms we encourage others to do the same.

Think of the people in your life. Are there any words you’d like to say? Are there any hugs you want to share? Are you waiting and hoping someone else will ask first? Please don’t wait! Initiate!

We need four hugs a day for survival, eight hugs a day for maintenance, and twelve hugs a day for growth.

– Virgina Satir

Hugging

Posted on August 7, 2016 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

We came across this file recently, in an old computer folder. There are a number of versions of it online, but none of them (that we’ve found) know or list the original author. To that end we’ve posted it as Author Unknown, but if you know who wrote it please leave us a comment to let us know!

Hugs,
M&M

Hugging

Hugging is healthy:
It helps the body’s immune system
It cures depression
It reduces stress
It induces sleep
It’s invigorating
It’s rejuvenating
It has no unpleasant side effects
And is nothing less than a miracle drug!

Hugging is all natural:
It is organic, unnaturally sweet
No pesticides, no preservatives
No artificial ingredients
And 100 percent wholesome

Hugging is practically perfect:
There are no moving parts to wear out
No periodic checkups
Low-energy yield
Infection-proof
Non-fattening
No monthly payments
No insurance requirements
Theft-proof
Non-taxable
Non-polluting
And, of course, returnable.Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Author Unknown

Two-Fisted Hugger!!

International Free Hugs Day, 2013

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Mike Nelson Pedde — 2 Comments ↓

Hi Folks:

As you’re surely all well aware, Saturday, July 6 (the first Saturday in July) was International Free Hugs Day!!Â Marcia and I dutifully marched down to our spot at the Homecoming Statue at Ship’s Point and unrolled our ‘Free Hugs’ posters, then eagerly awaited the onslaught.Â We didn’t have long to wait.Â We both commented on how terrified we were the first time we did this down at the inner harbour, and how much we look forward to these outings now!Â We meet some amazing people from around the world (and around the corner), shared some great stories and some great hugs!

Thanks to everyone who came by for sharing your hugs, smiles, waves, air hugs (from across the street), and best of all, yourselves.Â We appreciate every one!

International Free Hugs Day, 2013

So go out and hug someone today, and be sure to check out our other ‘Free Hugs‘ posts!

M&M

P.S.Â We recently came across a FB page for a woman named Rita who is also a hugger.Â You can check her out here: 10,000 Hugs in 100 Cities.Â Rita is also based in Victoria; we may not have all of the world’s best huggers, but we’re certainly on the map… ;-)Â We haven’t (yet) met Rita in person, but the hugging will be epic!

International Free Hugs Day!!

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Mike Nelson Pedde — 2 Comments ↓

Hi Folks:

Today, July 7 (the first Saturday in July every year) is International Free Hugs Day!!Â So hug someone you love today.Â Or a stranger.Â Or, preferably, both!!Â This is our third year of hugging Victoria, so if you’re in Victoria today, drop by the Homecoming Statue (near the Tourism Victoria building, downtown by Ship’s Point) and we’ll be happy to share a hug with you!! Continue Reading →

International Free Hugs Day!

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Mike Nelson Pedde — 2 Comments ↓

Hi Folks:

It’s not (yet!) commonly known, but the first Saturday in July every year has been designated ‘International Free Hugs Day‘; that meant it fell on July 2 this year.Â Not that we ever need an excuse to hug people, but in order to celebrate we took our ‘Free Hugs’ posters down from the shelf and headed downtown.Â We also brought along a stack of ‘Hug Certificates‘, of course!

For our last ‘Free Hug’ session we were down on the walkway of the inner harbour, but we chose a different location this time: In order to celebrate the 100^th Anniversary of the Canadian Navy last year, a bronze sculpture called ‘The Homecoming‘ was erected at Ship’s Point.Â The sculpture shows a young girl running into the waiting arms of her father, returned from sea.Â It was a perfect location for us!

We held our signs aloft and waited, but not for long.Â Very soon we had a reasonably steady stream of people coming by to hug, be hugged and, in some cases, to have their pictures taken.Â Several people asked why we were doing this, and we simply told them that it was International Free Hugs Day!!Â A couple of people wondered if it was a tourism promotion put on by the city;Â that may be a good idea (‘Hug Me, I’m from Victoria‘ T-shirts?Â Hmmm…) but no, it’s just something we enjoy doing.Â We hugged young people and old people and everyone in between.Â We hugged both locals and visitors to our city, all with gay abandon.Â We were instructed on how to say ‘a hug’ in Portugese (um abraca, I think), and basically we had a wonderful time!Â Hugging is good for you (and the person who’s hugging you), doesn’t take a lot of time, is non-fattening, doesn’t cause cavities and contributes to world peace!! Continue Reading →

Marcia’s Meanderings – Ladybugs and FREE HUGS!

Posted on June 7, 2010 by Marcia Mae Nelson Pedde — 4 Comments ↓

Hello Dear Ones!

It’s been my hands meandering today – over poster board with glue and markers, 3″ diameter paper ladybugs and brightly coloured flowers.

Tomorrow, June 8th, 2010, Mike and I celebrate the eighth anniversary of the day I proposed to him. Yes, I did! Down on one knee, rocks and all, by our favourite river. June 8th, 2002.

In honour of the day, Mike and I shall be down at what is referred to as the Inner Harbour here in Victoria, British Columbia at 4pm …. the same approximate time that I popped the question and Mike responded with a resounding YES!

Mike and I are both dolling up these placards to say, simply, FREE HUGS. Yet they are decorated by each of us individually – so each is unique – as are we! Mike’s has a butterfly, hearts and bright colours. Mine has ladybugs and huge flowers.

We’ll be giving out free hugs to any willing participants and we certainly hope there may be a few daring souls. Should you happen to be in the neighbourhood, come join us – even if it’s just to watch two mature adults make absolute fools of themselves – enjoying and savouring every single moment of it! There’ll be ample supply of laughter, hugs, smiles and yes, even free hug certificates as giveaways.

If you’ve not yet checked out our Hugs Certificates page, take a moment to do so here. Mike and I carry a stock of these business card-sized certificates which we delightedly give out to: cashiers; people we see sharing hugs with a friend; as bookmarks in magazines and books in the stores we frequent; on the seats of buses; anywhere we happen to go and someone either gives us a reason to smile or really needs one of their own – which we happily oblige by giving them one of ours. What a joyous adventure this has become – such fun!

An exceptionally BIG thank you to Mike for this marvelous idea, for providing the materials and for the inspiration to make this a play day! A lifetime supply of HUGS, just for him and him alone …

In Light and Laughter,

Marcia

BTW: we’re not the first to do this and hopefully not the last! Check out the Free Hugs Campaign that inspired us to do the same.

Update:

We had a great time, and we shared over 200 hugs in 3 hours. Our friend Aaron came by as well and made some photographs. Here are a couple of the best of them:

P.S. Be sure to check out our International Free Hugs Day 2012 and International Free Hugs Day 2011 posts!

Hug Certificates

Posted on November 27, 2009 by Mike Nelson Pedde — 12 Comments ↓

Hi Folks:

Well, the results of the latest survey show that rampant hugging is sweeping the world! Okay, so we made that part up, but there’s no doubting that hugs are good for you, non-fattening, and won’t cause cavities!

Because of this, a couple of years ago I had an idea to make up Hug Certificates. I designed the original Hug Certificates using CorelDraw, and printed them out using standard business card stock. They look like this:

front

back

We’ve given out Hug Certificates to people we’ve met hugging each other on the street, left Hug Certificates in books at the bookstore, on seats on the bus, on chairs in restaurants, and basically everywhere we go during our days. And yes, we’ve also given them out in exchange for hugs we’ve received. We’ve even mailed packets of Hug Certificates to friends in other places, so they can start their own hugging trends… Recipients of Hug Certificates have returned smiles, laughter, happy tears, and more than one hug back to us.

So, in an effort to make hugging a truly global phenomenon, we’ve decided to put up a link to a Hug Certificate file so you can print out and give away your very own Hug Certificates!

Instructions are very simple:

1) Go to your local office supply store and purchase a set of blank business card stock pages. These come on 8Â½ x 11″ sheets, 10 to a page, usually 300 in a package. Each card is 2 x 3Â½”.

2) Click on this link: Hug Certificates to download the file. This is a Microsoft Word file, suitable for any version of Word from 1997-2007, and I assume it will work with later Word versions as well. It may work with other word processing software, but I haven’t tried it. Open the file, and you should have a two-page document. Print page 1 on one side of the business card stock, and page 2 on the back side. See your printer guidelines on how to load the paper properly and how to print on both sides of the paper. I find it easiest to print several copies of one side, reload the paper and then print the other side, but it depends on your printer.

3) Fold along the perforations (folding both ways helps it tear easier), and separate the cards into a stack. Recycle the leftover bits and go out on your merry way, giving out certificates as you go!

_____

NB: (May 20, 2010) The new version of bit.ly shortened links allows us, the users to create custom links. Therefore, we’ve replaced our old bit.ly link that links back to this page with a new one. The new link is: http://bit.ly/HugCert The old bit.ly link still works and will lead here, but the new one is a lot easier to remember. I’ve updated the back of the card (above) to show this, and also updated the downloadable Word template. Also, we’ve decided that we each prefer slightly different wording for the backs of our Hug Certificates, so the template now shows five of each style. Feel free to edit the back of the template once you’ve downloaded it to reflect your own preferences, but we’d appreciate it if you’d leave the bit.ly link attached.

Update: After seven years of hugging, in 2016 we had to make new Free Hugs posters (see below for our first Free Hugs campaign in 2010). All you need to make a poster is a pen or marker and a stiff piece of cardboard, but if you’d like the template we used to make ours, you can find it here: New Posters: For the Love of Hugs As of June, 2019, we’ve shared hugs with Ambassadors from (at least) 84 countries!! 🙂
_____

And be sure to check out Marcia’s page: Marcia’s Meanderings – Ladybugs and FREE HUGS! for information on our own ‘Free Hugs’ campaign to celebrate the anniversary of our engagement. More images are available here. Also visit our post on International Free Hugs Day 2011!!

Know anyone who’s looking for a really Big Bear Hug?

Hugs,
M&M.

P.S. Every time you give or receive any Hug Certificates, or if you find one somewhere, we’d love it if you would leave us a comment and share your experiences!

Update!

Free Hugs Campaign – Official Page (music by Sick Puppies.net )

and

Free Hugs Campaign continued….

The official site: Free Hugs Campaign
__________
Update: February 14, 2010

A man from Ohio (unofficially) broke the world record for the most number of hugs in 24 hours: 7,777!

More here: Hug record attempt over Valentine’s weekend

______________
P.S. II, the sequel:

There are a number of ‘Free Hugs’ videos available on YouTube – they’ll definitely bring a lift to your day. Here are a few examples, and from there you can find links to others:

And one from Vimeo: Hug Therapy – You can Change the World, One hug at a time…

_______
P.S… III!

Hug it Forward is “a movement to inspire people everywhere to live their passion while giving back to make a lasting change in the world.” Click the link to see more!