Thursday, December 27, 2007

Dear Diary, do you DARE to hug?


Intuitively we all know that hugging feels good, dispels loneliness and overcomes fears. Therefore, it stands to reason that we should hug everyone, not just our best friends. However, in the conservative Asian countries, we do not hug each other in daily lives and that is not a likely thing to happen. To people in Asia, it brings meaning of “sexual” statement; whereas in the West, people do not think that hugging is a sexual thing towards each other and that is the thing which happens everyday in their lives.

Can you imagine a person tells you, “I can’t believe it, but I actually hugged the person I dislike most intensely!”

Remember that hugging is nonsexual. You aren’t making a sexual statement when you hug another person. You are making a statement about human love. Love/hug statements have a long tradition. Mark’s Scandinavian forefathers used the Norse word hugga, which meant to comfort, hold close and console.

Ask permission before you give a hug. Some people have been severely sexually and physically abused as children or as adults and may find hugging others a bit overwhelming or over stimulating in terms of their emotions, so it is always best to ask first. Ninety-nine percent of people will say yes if you ask (what I have been realized from a survey.)

So dare to hug. Go for twelve hugs a day. It is joyous and wonderful.

Dare to request a hug when you need one. The most aware parents, seeing a child in need of reassurance, take the initiative and say, “I need a hug.” The child now willingly gives and, even more importantly, receives. This mentally and emotionally refreshes and reinforces the young ones to move forward openly.

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