Comment by neuralkoi

This exercise was part of a 3-day weekend team-building workshop which was part of a voluntary work thing.

This particular exercise was assigned as "homework" by the coaching staff: "You will give a hug to a minimum of 5 people who you don't know before returning to tomorrow's session (no children)".

I think the goal was to 1) Step outside your comfort zone 2) Learn to take rejection less personally 3) Learn something about trust

I did my "homework" by going to Chipotle (some people put up a sign at the hotel lobby with the text "free hugs") and asking the cash register attendant and people inside. I remember going to this older lady who seemed like she had just gotten off a looong shift. She looked up and gave me the warmest smile and said "oh this is excellent! Is this part of church or something?" I got the biggest hug ever and it felt amazing. I had a similar experience with the other four hugs.