Hugs All Around
Rhythms of Renewal: Connect Rhythm - Hugs All Around
Do you know people who just can’t wait to wrap their arms around you? Often, at least in my world, these people seem to operate at a loud volume and smile frequently. Being a quiet, introverted person who doesn’t crave other people’s touch—especially those I don’t know well—I find their overpowering desire foreign and challenging to understand.
Connection and Comfort Zones
Of course this is in the chapter about connection. Here we go again with recommended ideas that make me feel like I’m walking on a narrow mountainside path. Watch every step! Be cautious! Swallow that fear! The two chapters about rest and restoring felt like walking along a Lake Michigan shore to me—familiar, comforting, tranquil, soothing, spacious, and restorative. Precisely, in fact, what I’ve discovered in life to be my rhythm of renewal. The hesitating steps along an unfamiliar trail feel much less comfortable and secure.
Perhaps that is why Rebekah Lyons wrote this book: to push us out of our comfort zone and to encourage us to embrace all these healthy habits, even when they aren’t what we would naturally gravitate toward. Are you also finding that in your own life some of the headings or ideas in this book feel as comfortable as slipping into your fleece pajama pants, while others feel as unnatural as wearing a crown on your head?
The Science of Hugs
“When we hug, our brain releases the neurotransmitter oxytocin, which promotes feelings of contentment and reduces anxiety and stress. In addition, hugging stimulates dopamine and serotonin production in the body and keeps depression at bay. In other words, hugs can be an antidote to our stress and anxiety, and in the long run can stem the threat of depression” (196).
Who couldn’t use a little more oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin, right?! I think that finding a free cure for stress and anxiety sounds pretty amazing. I’m bound and determined to take the optimistic path on this topic.
Does that mean pushing past my initial inclination to avoid hugs from strangers? Not so much … in my humble opinion, it’s a pretty good impulse to avoid an awkward scenario when one person is not by nature a hugger. But maybe it means I push past my natural reaction and reluctance to say good-bye to a friend using physical affection, and instead I put out my arms and give that person an embrace.
This sounds do-able to me. As Lyons says, supportive touches can be seen as a way of saying, “I’ll share the load” (199). What a positive message to send to my friends!
Where Do You Fall?
Where do you fall in that spectrum of demonstrating your affection in a physical manner? If you love to give hugs, keep blessing and encouraging those of us who are slower to reach out and touch somebody. Those of us who aren’t naturally huggers can work on growing together in allowing that behavior to enter our repertoire of ways to show that we care … or maybe we can at least not stiffen up when someone wants to cuddle us for a second!
