From the Harvard University Gazette:

Hugs are as vital to the health and development of infants as food and water.

According to Virginia Satir, people need 4 hugs a day to survive, 8 hugs a day for maintenance, and 12 to grow. How are you living?

Hugs are crucial to developing a sense of community. They help you to connect on a visceral level with the people in your life. Touch communicates deep emotions that often cannot be captured with words or other actions. In addition to all that touchy feely stuff (pun intended) hugs help to lower your blood pressure, reduce stress, increase your pain threshold, and help to heal wounds faster by increasing the levels of oxytocin in your body. So says the National Institutes of Health.

Now there are many ways to hug. There’s the popular man hug that starts off with a handshake and ends with a quick pat on the back. I guess that’s as mushy as you guys want to get. Then there’s the close cousin to the man hug, the quick I’ve-met-you-for-the-first-time-but-everyone-seems-to-be-hugging where you embrace with just shoulders touching. There are hugs for friends, and hugs for parents, hugs for children, and hugs for your crush. There are bear hugs, pound hugs, and my all time favorite, cuddles. And, of course, there are the deep embraces that we reserve for lovers. These hugs last a while and sometimes we even dare to gaze into the person’s eyes.

For the second gift of Christmas, give 2 full contact, long lasting hugs. The best part is that you give yourself the gift of better health and human contact.

In Spirit,
Nneka

How quickly time passes! It’s already December and the season of gifts, generosity, and cheer is upon us. I love Christmas. Despite the level of consumerism, I love taking the time to pick out the perfect gift that’s just right for a loved one. The gift that lets them know that I know, understand, and treasure them.

Do you have a gazillion people on your list that you’d like to give gifts? You don’t know what the perfect thing will be. During this series, I’ll share a few ideas that won’t cost much, but might mean the world to someone. It will warm your heart and theirs.

The first gift is service.

As I mentioned in the 2 posts Serving Others Serves You and Serving Yourself Serves Others, the act of service has many benefits. Among them are the opportunities that open themselves up to you as you share an activity with other people, the sense of gratitude and joy that comes from helping someone else, and building your community. Service helps you to gain perspective on your life as well as keep you in the present moment.

Service can be as elaborate as using one of your skills to help an organization, or it can be as simple as taking a pie over to an elderly neighbor and spending the evening listening to their tales of yesteryear.

So, the first gift of Christmas is service. Your assignment: Complete one hour of service before Christmas Day.

In Spirit,
Nneka