Happy Tuesday! Guess what today is??? NATIONAL HUG DAY!!! I am so excited! I never knew such a day existed! I am so happy it does!
I love hugs, I am a hugging person. Odds are when I meet you and we chat for awhile, I am going to hug you goodbye. If you come in my home and are here for awhile you are most likely going to get a hug good bye. I have hugged delivery people, nurses that helped deliver my baby, my kids friends, real estate agents. There was this one guy named Jeff, we had been waiting and waiting for our freezer to come and when it finally did, that guy got a hug! I actually saw him a year later and he remembered me! I love hugs! They are wonderful. What is it about a hug? Studies have shown that hugs are good for you. There is a saying by Virginia Satir, a known family therapist, “We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. We need twelve hugs a day for growth.” Hugs release the feel good endorphins in our brains.
When we hug our kids they feel safer, they feel loved. I once read somewhere to never be the first to end a hug. I take that seriously. If someone hugs me, I will hug until they are ready to let go. That doesn’t mean I sit there and just hug and wait. It means I let them pull away first.
Hugs make us feel like we matter, that we count. Hugs help us to relax. There are days that I am stressed and if I take a moment to just hug my kids, it always helps me to refocus and relax, to breathe and remember it is going to be okay.
Hugs help us connect with others. I know for me, in the morning sometimes it is just rush, rush, rush. Okay every day is just rush, rush, rush. I have to remind myself to slow down, it is going to be okay. I wake up the kids in the morning and it is tempting to just go by their door and say “good morning! Time to get up!” Even if I say that with joy in my voice, it is always much more pleasant to go in and sit on their bed and hug them and say ” good morning” When they leave for school, I make sure I hug and kiss each of them. It sometimes is a rushed hug but I know it matters. I hope to be a little more prepared so I can give better hugs! When your family comes home, hug them! That always makes our home a happier place.
At the end of family prayer, Emma started hugging everyone goodnight , I LOVED IT! I love that she was taking the initiative to strengthen her relationship with her family and it has snowballed that everyone is doing that and you know what, I love it, each night it warms my heart to see. Our family has gotten closer from her starting that and I am grateful. It is one of those things I will encourage to keep happening.
Hugs help us know we matter. As a baby you need touch and love to grow. As we get older we tend to forget that we need that. I still love it when I get hugs from my mom and dad. I still get weak in the knees when Mike hugs me. I still love to hug my kids! Even Emma who is now taller than me! I feel more connected to those I hug.
I think people can feel uncomfortable about hugs! One time we were out with a group of friends and I went to hug one of my friends husbands good bye, he backed up so fast! I was so embarrassed but at the same time, I wasn’t. I hug because on the basic level , you matter to me. I see you, I want you to feel love and to be happy and above all to know that you are important. In my defense, I always warn people. I always say ” just so you know I am a hugger!” I often tell people, you have to at least accept one hug from me and then I will leave you alone for awhile! Fast forward to now, He is our good friend and we all hug good bye every time we see them!
My kids are huggers, I love that! I have checked on them in bed and their little arms are wrapped around each other. They hug their friends, their teachers, our adult friends…… I am grateful for that.
So today is NATIONAL HUG DAY! Yes ! There are some great statistics on how wonderful hugs are for you! Just google it and see! I am going to celebrate today! Hug your kids , hug your friends, hug your spouse! They have said really good things happen when you hug for longer than 8 seconds. So I am going to work on that, sometimes I throw a quick hug, I am going to work on taking just a few more seconds to really enjoy it!
Oh and one really quick thing, sometimes we are not raised to be touchy feely or hugging feels really awkward to you. I have found that when something feels awkward like that, I just work through it. It will become more natural. Emma and I were not connecting like we usually do, we had moved her room into the main floor and all of the other bedrooms were upstairs. I noticed I was not quite as comfortable just going up to her and hugging her. It was very upsetting when I realized it. I slowly but surely had made our quick goodnight less meaningful. I had grown to just saying good night as she was brushing her teeth or getting things ready. I would often just pop my head in her room and say “love you good night” It had made us feel less connected. I figured it out when I wanted to hug her one day and actually took a second to think if I should, how would she react….. it was eye opening. I never wanted to have a second thought about hugging my little girl! I made changes right then and although it was a little awkward the next few times, that passed quickly. I don’t feel any bit of awkwardness now, and I plan on never letting that happen again.
SOOOO have a happy, wonderful National hug day! Hug your kids today, hug your spouse, hug your friends! Hey, today is the one day you can hug everyone! Just tell them, hey its national hug day! You want a hug? I will give you one! AND tomorrow, hug your kids, hug your friends, hug your family, hug your spouse! Remember “We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. We need twelve hugs a day for growth.” So go for 12! At least! Have a happy, wonderful day!
HUGE HUGS!!!
Lara
SMILE BOOK
1.National Hug Day!
2.Cleaning the house together as a family-makes any chore better
3.Italian chicken with rice….. yummy!
4. Marsha took four steps!!
5.My down comforter on a cold morning………… ahhhhhhhmazing!
6.lifeproof case for my phone! Love it!
We love hugs at our house too! Although, I am trying to teach my boys that a full body, jumping up with legs thrown around me, aren’t always the safest version.
Stacy!
That made me laugh out loud! Lucy did that to me today! I don’t know about you, but it almost knocked me to the floor! Hugging is the best!
Love,
Lara!