INSPIRATION
familiar, you’re experiencing a common problem
known as affection hunger. And you’re not alone.
How widespread is the problem? Consider the
following:
• More Americans than ever—nearly 28%—
are living alone
• One in four Americans reports having not
a single person to talk to about important issues
• Loneliness among American adults has
increased by 15% just in the last decade
Ever since that hug at the party in January had
lifted Juan’s spirits so much, he’d been eager for a
way to give back. “I used to say to my friends, ‘I’m
just one man. What can I do?’” he remembers. What
he did was start the Free Hugs Campaign, a social
movement that now stretches across Australia and
New Zealand, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa,
the United States and Canada, and Latin America.
Recalling that he’d wondered what one man could
do, he adopted the pseudonym Juan Mann . . .
and by 2006, he and his movement were famous.
A video of his efforts, featuring music by the Australian rock band Sick Puppies, has been viewed
more than 70 million times on YouTube. He’s been
on Oprah. Free-hug events have taken place in the
most diverse of places, from Israel, Taiwan, and
Uganda to India, Malta, and the Dominican Republic. Inspired by what Juan Mann could do, people
everywhere seemed to be spreading the love. That
includes the United States, where free huggers can
be found from San Diego to Boston, Seattle to Boca
Raton.
By all accounts, the movement couldn’t have
reached U.S. shores at a better time. As a group,
we Americans are starved for affection.
Perhaps you can identify with Juan Mann. How often do you find yourself feeling lonely, or craving
more affection than you get? Maybe you wish your
spouse or partner were a bit more expressive, or
maybe you’ve tried without success to get certain
people in your life to be more affectionate with
you, so you go on wishing and hoping for more affection than you get. If these descriptions sound
17 | NEW CONSCIOUSNESS REVIEW
• Three of every four American adults
agree that Americans are affection-deprived
• We touch our cell phones more than we
touch each other
These findings paint a picture of a people experiencing affection hunger, meaning they don’t get
as much affection as they need and they hunger
for more quality human interaction. We normally associate hunger with food, of course—but we
don’t feel hungry simply because we want food.
We feel hungry because we need food, just as we
feel thirsty because we need water and tired because we need sleep. Our bodies know what they
require to function properly, and as I’ll explain in
this book, meaningful human contact belongs on
that list right next to food, water, and rest.
Meaningful is the key word. The truth is, if you
have hundreds of acquaintances but you don’t
feel close to any of them—close enough that you
give and receive affection with them—you can
still feel lonely. Your loneliness might be situational, if, for example, the stress of a major deadline at work keeps you from sharing quality time
with your spouse and children. Loneliness can
also be chronic, wherein you constantly long for
more substantial contact from those you know
and love. Either way, loneliness, and its ensuing
hunger for affection, is a condition that many
people experience. If you feel lonely, you likely
aren’t receiving the amount of affectionate human contact that you desire. And, as I’ll show
you in this book, affection is absolutely vital to
your mental and physical well-being.