Lightning in a Hug

Glittered, girlfriended and graced with an RV, I attended the Lightning in a Bottle Festival this year, near Los Angeles. Three days of music, yoga, costumes, spiritual speakers, camping (or in my case, glamping), play, community and 11,000 amazing souls, all there for the sheer enjoyment of expressing Self in every way. Last year, this lifestyle and caravan of community gave me festival fever and led me to do some “festival research,” culminating at Burning Man, the Burning Mother of all festivals. So I returned this year to LIB, my favorite, probably because it was my first and such a peak experience.

Day One. Setting up camp, feathers flying, immersing in the swirl of color and “meeting the family,” or strolling about.

Day Two. I just wasn’t feeling it. Embarrassing to admit, but I was just having one of those days. I felt alone (right?), even in a crown of 11,000. This is the anti-thesis of the festival credo because I learned at Burning Man that you create on the outside whatever is happening on the inside, in fact, it gets magnified. But for me, it was just one of those days where I felt like I had a hole in my heart. I have no explanation for it, other than I was just having the human experience of emptiness.

Then I saw the Hug Deli, a booth where you order a hug, all for the price of two compliments to be given to the hugger. Wow, did I need a hug. This was just what the doctor ordered so I ordered a “warm and fuzzy hug” with a side order of back scratching. And it was awesome, in fact, professional level. I looked at the menu and kind of wanted one of each. There was the “long and awkward” hug, the “gangster” hug, the “group” hug, the “creepy uncle” hug, the “I haven’t seen you in a long time” hug, and on and on.

Then it hit me, I really wanted to work here and give out hugs all day. So I asked the man in charge if I could work there and before I could finish the sentence, he handed me an orange apron to make if official. I was now an official “hug ambassador.”

I went to work, like a mother hugger. In my glam yellow coat, I gave myself fully to all those who wanted a hug. It was my “glAmma” moment. The more I gave of myself, the more the hole in my heart got filled. We all know that one of the simplest ways to be fulfilled is to give, but I guess I needed a reminder. And it felt so good.

Every hug I gave intoxicated me more and more. I added “hug cocktail” to the menu which is a long and still hug that you stay in until you melt into something like euphoria. I love hugs. There is something new about hugs for me and I plan to do more research in this area. Instant giving of the heart and instant receiving, what a concept. Heart linking!

I see the heart as the new frontier. It seems to be the guidance system that never fails. This purring battery creates it’s own resonant field that extends far beyond our bodies. Are we now living in the resonant heart field?

Hello heart. Take over.