Morning Ritual

This morning was like most other mornings. Shortly after I woke up Azrael was right there curling up beside me. He wanted his morning dose of love and adoration. As he is nestled in beside me I realize that what he wants is just that sense of touch. What is it about the sense of touch? It is reassuring. It is therapeutic. It's about love.

I think that everyone longs for that sense of touch... even the people that seem to flinch when you touch them. Everyone craves that sense of touch. We want to be reassured. We want to be loved. And there is just something therapeutic about the touch of another.

I have to draw some of my examples from a cat. But I have seen how he responds to touch. Azrael will wag his tail when he's happy. His face just lights up. And he comes running to me. He doesn't always want me to pet him. Sometimes he just wants to be held. It's not just humans that respond to the sense of touch. Azrael does as well. Right now he is holding my hand.

We all need someone to hold us, reassure us, or even just give us a pat on the back every once in a while. Speaking of a therapeutic touch I am long overdue for a visit with the chiropractor.

Human Contact

I've been thinking a lot lately about the sense of touch... mainly when it comes to human contact. In the work place (and in schools) the emphasis is "hands off." If you touch someone you might end up spending some time with the nice folks at HR. I'm not referring to sexual harrassment or anything that might be inappropriate. But you can't even give someone a pat on the back and say job well done without facing that, especially when in a leadership role. Yet in some ways that need for human contact is entrenched in us. Me promoting this is somewhat funny since I shy away from human contact. It makes me feel vulnerable. I still remember one day when I was sitting at my desk and Chris came up beside me. She put her hand on my shoulder, probably to get my attention. Since I wasn't expecting it I was caught off guard and there were a lot of mixed emotions. I felt vulnerable, exposed but I also felt threatened since I don't like being vulnerable. After a moment it was over and things went back to normal. Not to say there was anything wrong with it.. It just comes back to my own issues with trust. For a long time my motto was "Trust no one. That way you don't get hurt." But that is also a lonely existance. If you can even call it an existance. Eventually I did realize that I wasn't an island and couldn't do everything on my own... mind you some days I still think otherwise *lol* Then I go to the chiropractor and have no problems with human touch. Kinda weird. But I think it's because I expect it. I'm not really sure what my point is here... just something I've been thinking about. Or maybe it's the fact it's Friday night at 4:00 a.m. after a long week and I should have gone to bed ages ago. So that is where I am headed.