When I was a kid I had a morbid fear of being smothered in hugs by overweight and ultra-demonstrative aunts and it stuck for quite a while. I used to subscribe to the creed that every human being is entitled to maintain at most times at least 2-3 inches of “private space” around his body free from contact and invasion and that only a relatively few times in his life is this space ever breached by a fellow creature and then too only for a limited duration. In short, I wasn’t your regular cuddle-bunny type.

But the moment I held my firstborn son in my arms and he reached out for me, all that went out the window. There is something about enveloping your arms around someone you love (and being enveloped in return), covering your skin with theirs and breathing in their essence that just can’t be put down in words. A hug literally involves putting down your armor and defenses and opening up your heart. Now I’m well versed in the power of hugs – the hug of comfort for my children when they were kids and had bruised their knees while playing, the respectful hug for my ex-wife that acknowledged our time together and the need to part, the possessive hug of belonging to each other that is more expressive than words as my girlfriend Alice and I lie on the sofa of a quiet evening.

I don’t know whether you’ve read about Juan Mann – he started the “Free Hugs” campaign with the mission of reaching out and hugging a stranger because he thought the human touch was sorely lacking in this age of social disconnectivity.The police had some slightly different views on this unsolicited hugging and I confess I too haven’t quite reached that level of “hug a stranger today” yet.

But the most touching story I ever read about a hug was about this pair of twins who had been born prematurely and had to be placed in incubators. One of them was quite weak and wasn’t expected to live for very long. A nurse removed the weak baby and placed her in the same incubator as her stronger sister. The healthier sister suddenly threw her arm over her weakening sibling in an endearingly protective “one-armed” hug. To the hospital’s amazement, the weaker baby’s heart rate and temperature rapidly stabilized. In very little time, she was back to normal and both sisters were soon sent home where they continued to sleep together, snuggling each other. The hospital was so convinced that they even changed their policy after that to allow multiple babies in a single bed.

As whoever it was said - a hug is a handshake from the heart.