…gets posted to the Internet!

I just finished participating in an interesting seminar in Las Vegas and a shorter seminar in Toronto.Hug Clinic 2 One of the most memorable events was in Las Vegas when we were separated into groups to do something that seemed unlikely to accomplish. I was put into a group that was given the assignment to put on a “Hug Clinic” where in a period of only a few hours we needed to raise $1000 to be donated to a charity Hug Clinic 1of our choice – and not using any money from our own team. At the same time, each of us had a personal challenge – to do something or act in a role that would help us overcome a personal fear.

So we wrote on our t-shirts, made some signs, and went out on the streets to start hugging people and asking for donations.
With only 1 and a half hours left, we still only had just over one hundred dollars.

This motivated us to engage a couple of new strategies. I Hug Clinic 3was totally surprised that when our time limit had ended and we had collected $1049 for the Las Vegas children’s hospital!!!

One of our new strategies was to try and get my friend Neil on stage in front of a crowd somehow. Hug Clinic 4After talking to the M.C. of a big outdoor stage show he gave recognition to us and our cause – and then we were able to go around the audience (with a beautiful girl helping us) giving hugs and collecting over $500 in about an hour!
I hugged one woman, told them about our cause to raise money for the Las Vegas children’s hospital, and her husband gave me $10. Out of gratitude I gave her another hug. Then her husband paid me $20 more dollars to stop hugging his wife. 🙂

There were a ton of other funny, meaningful, and life-changing memories from the event (gathering a crowd pretending like we won on the slot machines, trying to get a ‘Siamese twin discount’ with my brother, McDonald’s moment of uniting the whole restaurant in a few moments, karaoke dancing, “power hugs”, people guessing my brother, friend, and I were Mormon because we seemed pure and were having “way too much fun for guys who have not been drinking”, etc.) Hug Clinic 6 – but here are just a few of my favorite quotes from the seminar itself:

“If things are difficult to do, sometimes it takes a little while to accomplish them. If things are ‘impossible’ to do, it just takes a little longer.”

“Never trust an ‘enlightened being’ that does not dance… You are invited to the party of loving life – so start showing it.”

“Something that often stops people from moving forward is fear (e.g. fear of rejection).”
“Fear does not necessarily mean STOP. It just means PAY ATTENTION.”

Hug Clinic 5“The world is going to be the way the world is going to be. The question is – how are YOU going to be in the world.”

“Ask the powerful questions.”

“Don’t worry about what you can’t do. Decide what you can do. As you take the step you can take, the next one will emerge.”