The handshake hug

Never an awkward moment for me.  I’ve been hugging my entire life.  I was raised in a family of huggers and we all just keep on hugging.  If you’re brand new to me, I’ll greet you with a warm handshake, full and strong, while looking you in the eye to make your acquaintance.  But if you’re being introduced to me by someone whom I just gave a hug to that I know, then I’ll likely hug you as well.  You’re family now if the person I just hugged equally digs you.

Hugging makes the world a better place. The handshake, such an uptight Protestant work ethic choice of greeting, in my humble opinion, can be really, really bad when one half of the shake is met by a limp, no-muscle-in-the-game, stick of flesh and weak fingers. That makes it much worse than a quick hug even if you’re not hugged back.  You get the sense of the person’s shoulders and more strength.  No way they can limp hug you.  They can choose not to hug back, but you still feel their power.

From the wiki on a handshake:  “A handshake is a short ritual in which two people grasp one of each other’s like hands, in most cases accompanied by a brief up and down movement of the grasped hands.

Note the words grasp, grip, hold, clutch:  they have strength in them, no? And words associated with hug: embrace, squeeze, contact, hold, adjoin.  These are also strong in character and vibe and intent.  (Thank you to ThinkMap’s Visual Thesaurus.)

Give a hug or take a hug today and step into your character. It will make you feel better.