.....hugs

Yogis,
I am a hugger by nature. Come in for a hug and you will get the real deal. Not the lean in with the body held back at a safe distance kind, but a chest to chest, heart to heart, full on connection. A good hug feels awesome and I hadn’t realized how much I missed them.

Last week we had a big 85^th birthday party for my mom. A luncheon at a country club near them which we have now used on four occasions. After avoiding close indoor contact for the past few years we decided it felt ‘safe enough’ and that it was time to start marking the important milestones once again. Turning 85 is definitely one of those milestones.

Almost everyone came. My mom’s sisters, my dad’s sisters and all of my sons and grandchildren. Cousins I hadn’t seen in years who drove many hours or even flew from California. Close friends of my moms from various places we have lived over the years. One by one, we hugged. And hugged some more.  Reconnecting.

We hugged when everyone arrived. We hugged at the end of the party. We hugged again at the after party at my parent’s house and one more time at the brunch. We all couldn’t get enough.

A hug lets the other know that you feel them. That the space between you doesn’t really exist. That the time we have been separated can vanish in an instant. A good bear hug shares your love. It shares you.

I looked up the power of a hug and here is what I found:
When we are hugged we receive a jolt of oxytocin, the love hormone. There is a transfer of positive energy from one human to another, creating feelings of calm, closeness and trust. Hugs also lower cortisol which is the stress hormone.

Hugging is free medicine with no negative side effects. Be sure to share it!

That night as I lay in bed I felt as if my heart was bursting out of my chest. Like flowers may begin to bloom out of me. Smiling ear to ear I replayed each of the moments of the day in my mind. Still feeling the hugs.

The next morning as I ran around the kitchen cleaning up and getting packed for the trip home, my mom came down from bed and asked me to come over to her. ‘I’ll be there in a minute’, I said as I had a few more things to do. ‘No, put those down and come over here now’, she said. Huh. So I did. Laying everything on the counter I turned to walk toward her. She opened her arms as wide as she possibly could and I walked into one of the biggest hugs ever.

She too was feeling the medicine.

Want a hug?
SARAH