Sharing a GSH — Genuine, Sustained Hug
On International Women’s Day
I sat with a friend the other day. It was just the two of us — two women in complete silence, alone together. The birds were chirping in their trees, obviously sharing something important. It was as though we were eavesdropping on their conversation of incessant tweets, caws, drawn-out songs, and the weaving of their trills into the landscape of the trees surrounding us.
The traffic from the street behind the park we were in was lulling, a far contrast from the rush hour traffic that would start within the hour. And the playground equipment remained silent, as the children were down for their naps or still in school.
For my friend and me, it was a sacred sitting time, a time for just the two of us to be. We looked at each other knowingly — “We’re so good at just being with each other” — was what our smiles said to one another.
We had both gone through some hard weeks and knew that what we needed was a 20-second hug that released the oxytocin we were both craving. Funny how we had both read the Psychology Today report that described what researchers learned about a tight and sustained embrace. The two of us now referred to this as a “GSH” — a genuine, sustained hug. More than anything, my girlfriend and I knew that those hugs were one of the single most…
