Hold My Hand, it Will Help You Sleep Better

We are all familiar with the research findings that children who receive very little human touch and are touched without love develop at a slower pace, have trouble learning, are more susceptible to illness, and are less able to feel empathy then children who receive frequent love, human touch and attention. Adults are equally as affected by human touch. It is not necessary to be a holy person, or a healer, or a scientist to realize the importance of interactive human contact and the power of connection.

I really became aware of its importance while traveling recently on a business trip. Ravaged with tension and a myriad of personal problems, I was extremely restless and unable to relax enough to get any sleep on my transatlantic flight. The female passenger sited next to me noticed my plight and commented she recognized my discomfort and tension. Hold my hand she said, it will help you sleep better. I looked at her suspiciously at first and half smilingly declined her offer. She smiled at me reassuringly and grasped my hand, stating do not worry, it is only in a friendly way and she held onto my hand as I maintained the connection.

A few hours later I woke up truly refreshed and still holding my seating companions' hand. I profusely thanked her and asked if she was a healer or spiritual shaman. She responded No! There is no magic. When people connect, energy flows and when I held your hand, your tensions and anxiety flowed through me as well as you, we carried them together and they flowed away. Healthy touch implants feelings of acknowledgement and value in each of us. A burden, heavy when it is carried alone becomes considerably lighter when shared.

I am sure it is not by accident that the words, "healing," "holy," and "wholeness" all stem from the same root word. Touch in a friendly way restores individual and collective wholeness and heals. Following my friendly touch experience I have began utilizing it for the betterment of my community. Visiting hospice facilities, nursing homes, and long term care patients in the hospital, I sit and visit, sometimes silently, sometimes while conversing, but all the time holding hands and other exhibitions of friendly touch. My initial friendly touch experience revealed to me how different things would be if we all held one another's hands in a friendly way a little more often. I am sold. Imagine what the world would be like if we all saw ourselves as more a part of the whole and more equally faced the burden of poverty, hunger, sickness, and war, and exchanged friendly touch more?

Resource: Personal Experience

Tags: health and wellness, alternative medicine, touch, healthy touch, the power of touch