What if the most powerful thing you could offer the world wasn't your résumé or achievements, but simply your presence and a hug?
Tim Harris is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, Special Olympics athlete, author of The Book of Hugs, host of the Big Heart Talks with Tim podcast, and founder of Tim's Big Heart Foundation. Raised in Albuquerque, Tim built a life around one belief: love, kindness, and connection can change everything. He ran Tim's Place: Breakfast, Lunch & Hugs, greeting every guest at the front door — all while living with Down syndrome, not in spite of who he is, but because of it.
In this conversation, Tim shares about his seven steps to an awesome life, what he told a worried father whose baby would be born with Down syndrome, and why hugs are the best medicine in the world. Miles and Tim talk about their love of country music and feature a special performance of a country classic. These new best friends cover it all before Tim’s 5 o’clock flight home.
In this conversation, you'll learn:
- How to be the light instead of complaining about the darkness
- How to use your superpower to lift someone in their hardest moment
- How to dream something and then do the work to make it real
- How friendship becomes the foundation for everything worth building
- How to lead with love in every room you walk into
- How kindness attracts more kindness back into your life
- How to grieve loss while still showing up for the world
- How asking first makes connection stronger
- How to recognize the gift in people that the world underestimates
- How to love someone for a thousand years, starting today
Human School is powered by the work happening at Onsite, a place where people step out of their normal rhythms to do deeper healing work in community. Learn more here.
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More from Tim:Book Tim to Speak in your Community
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What We Discuss:
00:00:00 – Meet Tim Harris
00:03:02 – Country music fan since 13: Garth Brooks, Josh Turner & the deep cuts
00:05:20 – Nashville coffee taste test
00:10:39 – Tim's Big Heart Foundation
00:13:42 – "Oh, yeah": the trademark and how his dad gave him the hype
00:14:25 – Tim’s 7 steps to an awesome life
00:16:05 – Tim's Place: Breakfast, Lunch & Hugs
00:21:36 – Special Olympics USA Games Athlete: representing New Mexico
00:26:55 – The Book of Hugs: monkeys, bananas, and the world's biggest softie
00:30:21 – "Hugs are the best medicine to heal the world"
00:39:25 – Grief and the friend who gave his book away before he passed
00:43:14 – Speed dating, proposals, and dreaming about love
00:44:57 – A special performance from Tim & Miles
00:51:09 – Meeting Reba McEntire on the job
01:02:28 – World Down Syndrome Day and Tim Tebow's Night to Shine
01:13:41 – Emcee at the World Games & Hugging the Obamas
01:18:21 – "We should love each other for a thousand years"
01:19:03 - Tim makes Miles his new best friend — officially
01:21:33 - Tim McGraw reached out about "Humble and Kind"
01:23:01 - Nashville boots, cowboy hat, and a human school gift
