What is your relationship to touch?

The ability to touch and feel the world around us is really amazing.  All the senses are utterly amazing and they work in an interrelated way to provide us with this full sensory experience that we so often take for granted when we get all wrapped up in the mindless chatter of our monkey minds.

I am definitely a touchy-feely person.  It's a very important sense, allowing us to differentiate between objects and providing the emotional connection we feel from touching each other, touching animals, and even touching plants.  If you think about the emotional aspects, the touch of another human hand is so vitally important to our development. 

Many child rearing books contain a guide of how much physical contact humans need at each stage - from being held constantly to a couple hugs a day.  One thing that was quite interesting is that we never reach a point where physical contact is no longer beneficial for us.  I don't think that babies are the only ones who die of "failure to thrive", and we would all thrive a little better with a little hug, a handshake, a high-five, a pat on the back, some kind of contact. 

Beyond the emotional need to touch and be touched, there are so many other ways in which touch is such an enjoyable sensation.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Walking into a fabric or craft store, closing my eyes to the overwhelming array of COLOR (which is the other enjoyable part of craft stores) and just letting my fingers wander over the interesting textures of fabrics, yarns, and other textiles...some soft, some rough, some thick, some sheer....

The fuzzy softness of my Buddha puppy's ears (he has beautiful floppy ears) and the warm, damp wetness as he returns the favor of a good petting....

The tickling sharpness of the tongues of three purring black barn kitties...

The heat of the sun on my face...or of raindrops kissing the end of my nose in a storm...the gentle brush of the wind blowing in my face and hair...

The rough texture of tree bark...the veiny softness of leaves...

The smooth softness of a child's hand in mine and the flutter of baby eyelashes against my cheek...

The warmth and tenderness of my lover's arms holding me tight as I drift off to sleep or slowly come back into consciousness... and even better than that, in the moments before kissing me, the way his nose rubs against mine and the feel of his breath against my lips....

Waking up on a lazy Sunday morning in a big fluffy bed with a giant, cushy pillow and sheets so soft that I can't stop running my fingers across them...

Touch is such a beautiful and wondrous thing....