The Power of a Hug

This Best of Rekindle Wednesday is via our Guest Contributor Rachel Weisberg whose post originally ran May 24, 2023. As it ends up, the toddler of note in this post asked for a hug when she was all keyed up in the car on Tuesday morning. Therefore, hugs on the brain!?

As I was driving my daughter, Maayan, to daycare this morning, I started thinking about hugging.

It's such a simple act. Four arms. Two hearts. Inhalations synced. Exhalations synced. Hugs can be a quick embrace or those long, drawn out, snuggly oozy form of a hug. They’re delicious! I call this version “puddle.”?

There's the hug where your chin rests on the other person's shoulder. Or when you join hearts ("the heart hug") of which Moe and Rich are big fans (the more prolonged the hug the better!)

I read somewhere once that the touch involved in a hug can lower blood pressure, ease anxiety, and bring down stress. Most of us are familiar with oxytocin, otherwise known as “the love hormone” which is activated in an embrace. Hugs just feel good.

I come from a family of huggers. Both parents come from families of huggers. I've thankfully been in friendships and romantic relationships with huggers. Just this evening, my dearest friend in the entire world, Heather, texted that she needed a hug from me.

My husband is a spectacular hugger (He really is! I have a friend who mentions it to me every time I see her!) I’m so lucky to have his embrace as a tool for good.

At our wedding, our amazing officiant and dear friend, Val, started our "ceremony" by asking everyone in the audience to hug. It was 100 degrees, but everyone's sweaty faces were beaming in the photos.

Corinne Hesser aka Kiki, my beloved Great Aunt on my dad's side, gave splendid hugs that squeezed a little too hard, but in a good way. I spent a few weeks with her every summer when I was a kid and relished in those hugs.?

In Kiki’s dinette, there was a little plaque that read: "Apple pie without the cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze." I've never had apple pie with cheddar, but I imagine it's divine (and I couldn't agree more - give me that squeeze!)

When we got off the phone, Kiki would say: “Take your right hand and put it on your left shoulder, and your left hand and put it on your left shoulder. Squeeze! That’s a hug from me!”

In my family, my parents would wedge me in sandwich hugs pretty regularly, and I never felt more safe.

My daughter, Maayan, puddles when she hugs. She’s done it ever since she was a very little thing. She just melts into the hug. Her hugs are famous at her daycare. She intuitively knows to offer hugs when her friends are feeling sad. So sweet!

She’s also a toddler with very big feelings who sometimes needs help with those feelings. Her beautiful teachers have taught her to ask for a hug when she’s upset, which she does (and it’s amazing how quickly she turns around). She asks for a hug in the car when she’s getting worked up (it breaks my heart into about a million pieces that I can’t wrap her up in the warmest most-puddle-ey embrace).?

Perhaps that’s why I was thinking about hugs this morning?

Ready for your Wednesday challenge? Give hugs. Ask for hugs. Linger in a hug. Relish in the oxytocin!

Now, take your right hand and put it on your left shoulder, and your left hand and put it on your left shoulder. Squeeze! That’s a hug from me!

Food For Thought by Rich Russakoff

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