This was my favorite question yesterday!
Charmaine Heard, is writing a book called, "The Courage of Contentment"so we Love Nerded all over this question yesterday over coffee.
Huggers v. Non -Huggers.
Who are the Huggers in your life?
According to Shannon V McHugh, PsyD ,- we all have people that are Huggers in our life.
Charmaine is a Hugger, but she wasn't always that way she practiced and now talks better about the power of an Embrace than I've ever heard it described before.
I am what Dr McHugh refers to as Non-Hugger. I'm such a Non-Hugger that Jeff Reynolds teased me for years about me holding the record for the world's most awkard hug. I recovered well since then and I've been blessed to have fallen in love with some of the world's greatest Huggers.
The Top 5 Reasons You Could Fear An Embrace:
Personal Space
Cultural Influence
Trauma or Anxiety
Express Love Differently
Health Reasons
Top 5 Reasons You Could Want To Hug:
1. Importance of Physical Touch
2. Upbringing
3. Personality Traits
4. Cultual Influence
5. Hormones
My Favorite Answer
Charmaine describes a hug as "An embrace that brings her back home to a deeply held place of stability."
She also gave this Non-Hugger some good advice, "Just start with the easy hugs first."
She also gave me a permission slip to say, "I embrace my personal space but thank you for offering a hug"
Our Love Nerd Toolbox
As we discussed this question, here are some tools that we shared with each other if you too want to Love Nerd Out on this question.
Read This Cherokee Poem and Ask Yourself Which Wolf Do you Feed?
Watch Brene Brown's Stop The Blame Game!
Listen To This Mediation on Relationships, from Jean Schilling at Somatic Wellness
There were also two books we mentioned:
It didn't start with you and The Body Keeps The Score