|
In my great quest for personal growth this year, which, by the way, is going far beyond any level I could have imagined, I have recently discovered the outlet through which I can comfortably exhibit my sentiments and emotions towards people. As anyone who has known me for even just a week is aware, I am not an outwardly emotional person. I do not share the profound thoughts of my mind with many, and I certainly do not go around hugging everyone. I have a strict unwritten policy on hugs. In a nutshell, I believe that there are times when hugs are both acceptable, and also needed. To the shock of some, I have, upon seeing a friend in need of support, gone forth and actually initiated a genuine hug. Let me explain the difference between the types of hugs. There are obnoxious hugs like people do just because they know I'm not a huge hugger. There are what I will call happy hugs, where girls who have just seen their best friends run with flamboyant excitement to embrace them for inordinate amounts of time while almost falling over rocking back and forth. There are protocol hugs, such as when I visit my grandma. No matter who you are, you hug my grandma when you arrive and you hug my grandma when you leave. Then there are genuine hugs. A genuine hug occurs when a deep emotion in you is felt and where there is no other way in which to share that feeling other than through a hug. A genuine hug is appropriate when a friend is visibly in distress, or when a person is leaving and you will not see them again for an extended period of time, and other similar situations. During a genuine hug, there is an emotional connection between the two embracers. That inner emotion I mentioned rises from within you and meets with the inner emotion of the other hugger, creating what we call "a moment". That can be a moment of love, care, relief, true happiness, and other strong bonding emotions.
Now I'm sidetracked. I was talking about my outlet for exhibiting sentiments and emotions, which is NOT hugging.
A few weeks back, I was sitting in church. I do not remember what was being discussed at the time, but I felt somewhat impressed that my friends needed to know how greatly I valued their friendship and that they were important to me. Specifically, a couple friends came to mind who have unknowingly influenced my life in remarkable ways and through who's example I have learned and grown tremendously as a person. Now, I can carry on interesting and insightful conversations all day, but, insert emotions, and it gets more awkward than a racist joke told at church (not that I would know). I ignored the feeling until, a week or so later, it came again. This time, I pulled out my notebook I keep for writing down such impressions and scribbled a reminder to follow through on it. I kind of knew how to approach the subject, but I had some trepidations. I have always been a little old fashioned. One thing I love is writing letters. However, in my experiences with them, I usually never get a letter back, so I kind of stopped sending them to people. It was only recently as I contemplated this situation that I realized that my purpose in sending letters was not to receive one back, but to relay information to people via a method that is more appropriate than an instant email or a text message. To me, writing a letter and either hand delivering it or mailing it signifies a more personal relationship with someone. Emails and text messages serve their purposes, and neither one I find appropriate for sharing deeper messages with.
The point of what I'm saying is I know that I have at least some level of talent with writing. Through writing, I can convey the true intent of my heart and mind without awkwardness or difficulty. That is what I desired to share with my friends, so, I wrote a couple letters. Therein lies the outlet I mentioned at the beginning of this somewhat scattered tale. If you do not write letters to anyone ever, I suggest you try. I guarantee you will be glad you did, and so will your friends, or family members.
Patriotic music for the Song of the Day. USA! USA! USA!
Now I'm sidetracked. I was talking about my outlet for exhibiting sentiments and emotions, which is NOT hugging.
A few weeks back, I was sitting in church. I do not remember what was being discussed at the time, but I felt somewhat impressed that my friends needed to know how greatly I valued their friendship and that they were important to me. Specifically, a couple friends came to mind who have unknowingly influenced my life in remarkable ways and through who's example I have learned and grown tremendously as a person. Now, I can carry on interesting and insightful conversations all day, but, insert emotions, and it gets more awkward than a racist joke told at church (not that I would know). I ignored the feeling until, a week or so later, it came again. This time, I pulled out my notebook I keep for writing down such impressions and scribbled a reminder to follow through on it. I kind of knew how to approach the subject, but I had some trepidations. I have always been a little old fashioned. One thing I love is writing letters. However, in my experiences with them, I usually never get a letter back, so I kind of stopped sending them to people. It was only recently as I contemplated this situation that I realized that my purpose in sending letters was not to receive one back, but to relay information to people via a method that is more appropriate than an instant email or a text message. To me, writing a letter and either hand delivering it or mailing it signifies a more personal relationship with someone. Emails and text messages serve their purposes, and neither one I find appropriate for sharing deeper messages with.
The point of what I'm saying is I know that I have at least some level of talent with writing. Through writing, I can convey the true intent of my heart and mind without awkwardness or difficulty. That is what I desired to share with my friends, so, I wrote a couple letters. Therein lies the outlet I mentioned at the beginning of this somewhat scattered tale. If you do not write letters to anyone ever, I suggest you try. I guarantee you will be glad you did, and so will your friends, or family members.
Patriotic music for the Song of the Day. USA! USA! USA!
Post a Comment