Choosing Truth by Harriette Cole

Author:Harriette Cole
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2003-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

GIVE YOUR SELF A HUG

WE EXAMINE the many layers of our lives so that we can access that inner reservoir of immense joy and serenity that is perpetually present. Look within for that source of love and joy that is always there. Know that it can be tough to remember to go inside even as we maintain the best intentions. There seems to be so much out there to latch onto, so much abundance within others and in different ports of call, that it can be hard to sustain an inner focus. And yet we learn time and again that the love that we all crave is already within us.

A friend has had a compelling message on his answering machine for many years: “Give yourself a hug.” When I first heard this message, I thought, “Oh, how clever—and corny.” Once, for the heck of it, I physically followed his instruction. I got off the phone and tenderly wrapped my arms around my body, humming and swaying with my eyes closed. As I stood dancing with my Self, I felt a smile creep across my face. I hadn’t begged it to come out and play. I hadn’t thought of it at all. I wasn’t trying to perform for someone else’s delight or approval. I was loving me. And in the process, the most exuberant and simple expression of love emerged. The inner smile came to greet me as I loved me. That day, as I greeted others and fulfilled my many responsibilities, I glowed with my own inner smile of recognition and joy.

Because I gained so much from this simple message, I wanted to understand its origins. Rashid explained that when he was a child, his mother had been emotionally unavailable to him. His Aunt Edna came to the rescue with some essential tender loving care. Rashid says, “She knew I needed a mantra and a mother. She knew I could supply the mantra, but the supplying of the mother was giving yourself a hug.” Rashid continues, “I have never known a mother’s embrace, but I do know the embrace of a mother-aunt, a mother-grandmother, and friends. As a boy when I was going home and I was a little sad that I had to go back, my aunt used to tell me, ‘Don’t forget to give yourself a hug.’” As Rashid grew up, he never forgot this message: “The feel of a child having his arms wrapped around him is his conscious experience of being in the womb. The more you hug yourself, what a great hugger you become, because you know what it feels like. You don’t have to be alone, because you have two arms that can embrace you.” Thank you, Rashid.

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