Human contact is rapidly taking the forefront as one of the most essential pieces of life being lost in ‘1st-world’ societies all over the planet. In countries where technology soars, true conversations are being lost to words on a screen. We are losing an essential factor in maintaining our health and happiness. We abandon real people and the relationships that take time and commitment to culture into lasting bonds for electrical impulses saying we have more ‘friends’ and ‘followers’ than ever before. The potential for people to interact and stay in communication is greater now than this Earth has ever known, and what do we do? We hide behind our walls and TV screens, our computers and cellphones. Many of us fear authentic intimacy, or more often, we fear the possibility of rejection from our kind so much we do not even try to initiate conversation in person. We drive in our fiberglass and steel boxes watching so many around us do the same day in, day out, over and over again, mere feet away from us, yet they may as well be on the other end of the planet. I cannot begin to count how many times I have attempted to greet someone walking down the street or standing in a line only to be ignored completely. A great many of us avoid eye contact at all costs and even take a different route than we may have originally intended to prevent another from attempting to reach out to us. I have no idea why that is. We have become foreigners, aliens among friends.
Human contact, especially touch, reduces stress levels and even helps prevent chronic stress and fatigue. I have a laptop in front of me at this moment, writing to you, and I can honestly say I would throw this hunk of hardware out the window in a moment for a hug from a real person before I tuck in for bed tonight. I know life is hard, but it is easier and by far more beautiful when lived connected to those around you. The warmth we feel from a compassionate touch goes much further than the nerves in our bodies. A touch can stir a soul to sing, to dance, to write, to run, to go to any length to protect, to serve, and to love.
Touch is communication. Holding her hand, massaging his shoulders, tickling, caressing, poking, pushing, punching, shoving, pulling, and carrying all convey a different message at different times. We lose much when we put aside contact for blinking lights and buzzing bricks in our pockets that only make us desire true contact more than ever. So many lonely people, so many who cry at home while staring at their ‘friend’ list, my heart breaks for all of those who have no one and who think they have no one while being surrounded by many. 7 billion people walking the lands and we do not even know who lives next door.
Do not take your family for granted, do not betray your friends and other loved ones. If they are gone, you will feel it. Appreciate the love others share with you, and if you believe you are unloved, open your eyes, open your heart, and look at how you love. Do you love? Do you communicate when you have a problem, or do you lock it away and perhaps speak to every person you see except the one with which you take issue? That needs to be remedied. Gossiping makes trouble where there may be none and staying silent allows the space between grow. When the world gets too heavy, try sharing the weight. It may surprise you how much lighter it feels when your shoulders are not the only set under the burden.
Reach out, relate, communicate, conversate, hug, kiss, love, disconnect from your electronics and reconnect with flesh and bone. Create new friendships, new relationships, revive old ones where you are able and never let them go. Go to a concert, watch a sunrise or set, go for a hike, a walk, a ride, hold hands, show people you care and open their hearts, as well as your own, to what it means to experience contact.
Much love, so very much love rolling out to you
FyaLight 