Comfort In Hugs

There is one thing I know for sure.  The comfort in hugs. 
What this has taught me.... it crosses all barriers. While  I may not understand a language that is foreign to me..... Touch is universal. Some parts of the world may be very relaxed with touch.... others easily offended.  Embracing may be a little bit of this...... or a whole lotta  that.
In crisis, fear, sorrow, catastrophe...the overcoat of  formalities seem to somehow be stripped away.  Underneath it all..... the true reveal.
We all want the same thing...... to feel safe, warm, loved, cared for.  Holding the hand of a stranger....
now becomes our life line.  Sometimes I think shake-ups in the world....... are a reminder to bring us back to our humanity....
simplicity. A computer, as much pleasure as it brings, does not, and cannot replace  the comfort of a warm hand  through a fierce storm. A hurricane. Human contact ........ seems to be highly underrated.

Why only in childhood do we get the sweet hand holding.... tid bits of comfort? "There, there little darling, everything is going to be all right. You'll see." We are still quivering children inside when terror strikes. Why automatically deny there is nothing wrong as adults? Our body still feels it.
The denial that it is there.... pushing it so far away, as though it doesn't exist. The bravest of the brave
explorers speak of how absolutely terrified they were to discover New Land..... New Life.
The truth is...... everyone is..... or they wouldn't be human. It is the next steps we take.
Allowing the fear........ not denying it is there. Which actually cripples us in other ways.
Breathe it through. Cough it out. Scream. Run, jump....... whatever it is you do......
PRAY. Get on your knees.  Cry buckets. Then when the raging river inside you stills,
lift your head to the skies and rise. If there is no one to hug you for the courage you have faced....
 the lions and tigers and bears..... then you hug your self.

 Put your arms around that amazing body that  just moments ago felt so terrified  in thick, deep sludge.
Gently... with the same compassion you would give  the smallest child...  until the fear subsides.
Down at the ground you focus now..... until you fully have your bearings.  Your feet, now have become like roots from a tree in the earth... so solid. Strength wells inside you...... as the roots climb higher and higher..... rising
all the way up the trunk of your body. You breathe in the solid, quiet strength that is now you.
You put one foot in front of the other. They become lighter and lighter.  You realize something has lifted.
Where once was fear.....  now replaced by total well being and refreshed energy.
You look around. The calm stillness.  You breathe it in.  All is well once again.
Your breathing is light..... regulated once again. One foot in front of the other.