The Hug Effect | David Sylvester | TEDxDilworthPark

24 Sep 2024 (2 days ago)

The Inspiration for the Hug Tour

Giving hugs makes the speaker feel undeniably extraordinary.
The speaker's friend, Kevin Bowser, was killed in the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.
The speaker biked across the United States after Kevin Bowser's death and spoke to people about Kevin Bowser along the way.
The experience of biking across the United States in 2002 was filled with moments of feeling seen, supported, shielded, comforted, connected, and beautiful.
During that summer, the decision was made that a simple hug would be life's currency, and the desire to obtain more of it led to the idea of a bicycle trip across Africa.

Preparation for the trip included physical training, raising money, getting inoculations, purchasing airfare, and quitting a job.
The five-month bicycle journey through Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa provided the sought-after life currency.
Returning home from Africa, there was a wealth of life currency and a desire to share and spend it, leading to discussions with friends who saw even more potential.

Support from people met on previous trips came in the form of prayers, good luck charms, and trinkets, including a rock with a meaningful story.
The rock, sent by a successful hedge fund manager who had a troubled childhood, symbolized encouragement and connection, making the recipient feel seen, soothed, shielded, and hugged.

During a hug tour in 2019, a woman in a mosque in Belfast, Northern Ireland expressed that she couldn't hug due to her faith but offered her smile instead.
On the same tour, while going through security in Jordan, a stern security officer, after hearing about the hug tour, smiled and hugged the speaker.
During a 48-state good deed tour during the pandemic, the speaker met Woody Williams, the nation's oldest living Medal of Honor recipient at the time, who said the speaker was the warrior the world needed.