Things i know about Hugs...

As we left the hospital where my Father laid, recovering from surgery, a strange thought crossed my mind. Each of the family not only Hugged my father, but we in turn hugged each other. I thought about each time we see each other, and that is at least two or three times a week, we always hug one another when we are leaving. We have always been a huggy family. I was raised in a very loving family and church I think might have been some of the learning about hugs too. Whenever you left church, you either shook hands or hugged. No one seemed shy to do this and so it became a sort of life-style. I thought about the feeling that the hug left me with as I walked away that day. It wasn't just a feeling of happiness. It was more a feeling of being loved or cared about. A feeling that someone cared enough not to be to shy or embarrassed to hug me.
Throughout my life, hugs have been used for so many reasons. I used them as a greeting to someone I had not seen in a while. By that hug, I could tell if they were truly happy to see me or just "going through motions." Hugs were there when someone did good or someone caused others to smile. Those same hugs were there for me so many times throughout my Love and my years of walking through her illness together. Times when her body hurt so badly, that the only intimacy we could share was talking and hugging one another. It was a way of showing one another that we loved and wanted to be with each other. It sustained us many times through out our life together. Hugs were a way of communicating without saying a word. To simply walk by someone you love or someone that is hurting for any reason, to squeeze their hand or hug them gently from behind is the silent way to say "I care."
There are so many benefits to a hug, both emotionally and physically. The world that shuns hugs or the person embarrassed by them is missing out on not only a wonderful feeling inside, but very often a physical feeling that has healing powers beyond your imagination. Some of the benefits to a hug are a renewing of your sense of worthiness. At times when you feel down or feel as if you serve no purpose, a simple hug from someone can place your mindset into a whole no view. It can help one to heal because I learned through life that attitude is more than 50% of healing. A hug can give you a better attitude which in turn gives you a better chance at healing.
I sit here and I think of the people in prisons or on death row. My mind can not help but wonder how many of those people might not be there had they had the benefits of more hugs when they were younger. Many of them never knew the feelings of hugging and the emotional bonding that came with the hug. Something so simple, something that takes less time than it does to say "Hey, great to see you" could have changed their lives. Something so simple and yet so powerful as a hug.
When a newborn enters the world, that baby is placed on the mothers breast to be embraced. That isn't always the first time that gift of heaven has been hugged. Sheila and I hugged our baby girls even while she still carried them inside of her. Did they feel that hug? I say "yes." A baby born to a happy mother is a healthier baby. Those hugs were felt by that precious angel long before he/she would ever see this world. The bonding that takes place when a newborn is placed on its mother body is ever lasting. Few things in this world are matched by a "baby hug."
I sit here and think about the fact that my family hugs as much as they do. I wonder if those hugs had been absent in our lives, how close would we be. I wonder even more, if they had not been there, how would I have known how much my family loved me? Stop for a minute and think about the feeling you got the last time a little baby wrapped it's fingers around yours. The trust and the unconditional love that came with that tiny hug is indescribable. If that gihugically of a feeling can come from something so tiny, just think what a "bear hug" could do for you or someone you love.
The next time you want someone to know how much you care or that you are there for them, just reach out and Hug them. It is one of the best "two-way" blessings you will ever know. "HUGGSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS to you all. Darrel