The Hug Effect

There are always at least two sides to everything. This recent, very wonderful, weekend is no different. Today, although I woke with an incredible allergy headache - reunion, perfume and flowers do it every time - I participated in my walking group in the morning and after lunch did an hour of cardio in the pool at an Aquafit class. Granted, the walk was a bit shorter because we chose a different route. I took a couple of extra bus rides to extend my energy because I did feel pretty tired. I usually feel quite exhausted after such a day, sit down and rest a moment before heading home and then crashing for the evening with Netflix on and feet up on the sofa. Strangely that didn’t happen. I set out immediately, ran a couple of errands and came home to straighten things up in my little home.

Then it hit me. Hugs. That’s what happened to me. Hugs! Everyday for three days at the Class Reunion, there were hugs. Not just the side to side hugs, although there were quite a few, but the real heart to heart, sincere, ‘I am so glad to be with you’ hugs. There is research out there that says that hugs help all kinds of things. Huffington Post and Psychology today are both resources of this research. There were fifty-one nursing classmates and everyday someone hugged someone. We laughed with each other and were just plain silly - mature kind of silly of course. A oneness of caring spread through out any room we were in.

So what’s the down side of this? Well, if a class reunion only occurs every five years and it takes an absolute crowd of good friends to reset my ‘feel great’ status, I think I might have a problem. What if the hug-effect wears off before the next reunion in five years!? Thank goodness my kids know how to give and take amazing, loving, sincere hugs.

I think that all of us, anywhere, have gotten maybe just a bit too cautious about hugging each other in that sincere caring fashion. I’m really no different. So in this next five years, my challenge is to be mindful of that strange feeling that sets an awkward distance. As I write this, I also know that just hugging anyone, anywhere at anytime is not necessarily a good thing. We pay attention to climate change, to the tragedies of the world, to the beautiful people, to money when a simple hug on a regular basis may be what each of us, and the world, needs.

“A hug makes you feel good all day.”

~  Kathleen Keating