Category: Compassion Cells

i was asked to write a blog on my experience in laguna. it was unexpected, but very well worth it!! i wasn’t able to get out of work until 3:30. i called up one of my friends to meet me in laguna to give out free hugs. so we met at about 4:30pm. i was expecting to see some other volunteers there, but we were alone. so we decided to walk around ourselves with a big “free hugs” sign. it was AWESOME!! i received at least 25-30 hugs in an hour and a half, got some good Lose Weight Exercise in b/c we were walking non-stop, we saw a gorgeous sunset on the beach, and i gave my phone number to a potential private client!! what a PERFECT day. even though i didn’t get a chance to meet the other volunteers, i’m really thankful that i made it out to laguna!!! when we were walking on the beach watching the sunset the first child that approached me asked me what my sign read. i told him free hugs. he asked me if he could have one, then after i gave him one, his two older brothers came over to me and they wanted one. it was SOOOOO cute. the little one was maybe three or four years old. i received hugs from about 5 or 6 little kids playing on the beach and at least 25 from people of all walks of life. most people would read the sign, smile at me and walk on by, but for those that stopped and hugged me, my soul thanks you very much!!! i definately will be doing this again, maybe i’ll even make it a point to do it once a month. it’s a new year, anything is possible. KEEP SPREADING THE LOVE WITH ONE HUG AT A TIME!!!!

Laguna is a lovely, charming village of sorts…and there’s an eclectic blend of people…some people have money, some people don’t. There are people who live in their vans, who beg on the streets. There are street musicians and extremely talented artists. There are surfers who hit the beach as often as possible and skateboarders who sail down sidewalks and roads of tar every day. As I drive into Laguna, I see so much…the beauty of the ocean, the wayward traveller with a worn backpack and smile, a spiritual man walking in gardens behind the hare krishna temple, a hummingbird, intense sunsets…

Last Saturday, some volunteers went to Main Beach in Laguna to present “Free Hugs” to this town.

Here are some reasons this town could use a hug or two….

Laguna Fire of 1993: http://www.light-headed.com/asite/laguna/laguna_history/laguna_beach_fire.php

 Laguna Landslide: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-0601laguna_slide-pg,0,7121675.photogallery?coll=la-home-headlines

 Just the positivity we created on January 6th of 2007….I feel will be rooted into the earth of this place of lovely natural wonders and give to some who lost everything they owned in fires and landslide.

On a personal note, my own family had a house fire in Laguna when I was four. We had to get all our belongings out before the whole place fell apart…luckily we got most out in time, but some things were not salvaged…and it just was a sad day with neighbors crying for us, some innocence as a child/family/community that at the time seemed lost forever.

And just after the “free hugs” with be the cause, I was able to show someone the house I used to live in that was refurbished/rebuilt. Just showing this to another brings things full circle. I moved back to Laguna Beach after college partly to unite again with the little girl in me who felt such magic here as a child before my sister, mom, and I had to move. So when I was hugging others on the corner of forest and Pch and on the boardwalk…I think subconsciously I was envisioning times where I used to sit atop my dad’s shoulders and we would all laugh and delight in just being a family and I realized I was embracing Laguna and hugging my mom, sister, dad and the loss they have felt, the child in me that little by little has let go of the sadness of a fairytale that seemed torn from me…like a perfect mirror…shattered. 

Devastations like these…it’s surprising that citizens of the Earth continue to keep their heads up and walk on…but there’s been talk of a phoenix bird, and that creature has been said to rise from the ashes…and that’s just what I had to do, my family had to do, and many who are faced with some immeasurable circumstance that is a mystery and something no one would want in their heart of hearts…but something that will forever change you and grow you in ways unimaginable…