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Health & Fitness

An Emotional Hug

Someone gave me such a hard hug last year that I had a headache from it. I checked it out with my doctor and he said there was mild bruising to the facial muscles and a bit of strain. It would heal completely and I'd just need to take some Tylenol and Aleve. The muscles just braced themselves when she hugged me.

Have you ever heard such a silly thing before? Now, if I should meet George Clooney and he wanted to hug me, I would have to say no. I told an acquaintance of mine this story as she got ready to hug me and she said, “OK, I will give you an emotional hug.”

What a nice line. An emotional hug. I like that and we can all give them to others through the Internet, email or on the phone. I always said to Mom during the three times a day I called her that I loved her. Such a simple group of three words and they can move mountains, move doubts, move sadness and most of all move the person who is the recipient of hearing them.

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I used to say to my two children “I love you up to the sky.” Now I say it to my grandchildren. Think about it. The sky is so high, especially in a child’s mind. I had a friend whose son-in law died suddenly when his son was about eight. One day, as his widowed mom and grandparents were on their way to the ocean, he looked up and said “dad is with me, I think he can see I am going to have fun in the water.” That made him feel secure as he was going on his trip. It was a tender, yet, sad thought from an eight year old boy who had recently lost his dad.

Once when we took our older grandchildren to a restaurant, they gave the youngsters a balloon. My second grandson let it go up to the sky when we departed the place. He said it was for his great grandmother, my mom, who he never knew. He said she can hold onto it while up in heaven. Children speak what they feel, and most of the time it is quite suggestive of their feelings. They say it with innocence and love.

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I always say that we ballroom dancers should embolden new people in their dancing with inspiring and complimentary encouragement. I could also add that they should get an emotional hug. An emotional hug can be received by someone on the other end of a phone call. It can be texted (though I do not text), it can be written and sent through the post office and it surely can be given by a loving look.

So in person, on the Internet, on the phone, on a text or a handwritten note, give somebody each day an emotional hug. You will be acknowledged and admired for what you have done. It costs no money, takes no time and most of all, it could come right back to you as you could be the recipient of an emotional hug. Pat Boone had a daughter who made her first singing appearance with a song called You Light Up My Life. She and the song became a sensation. The words were so meaningful and beautiful, it almost became a phrase in life in those days.

So light up someone’s life and give them and yourself an emotional hug.

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