Therapeutic Touch

The other night I used my therapeutic touch as a nurse.  When there are accidents and traumas and people are upset and crying, I never feel like I am a good person to give them hugs, I imagine it would be like getting a huge from a strange young short person and who wants that?  I feel like the point of hugs is to be enveloped with goodness and I really can’t do much enveloping at my size.  The motherly nurses are better at that stuff. Anyways, I never usually offer hugs or anything like that and when I do hug someone it usually ends up just being awkward.  Last night this 6'5" black guy was sitting in the hall waiting for someone and as I started to talk to him, he started crying. "Oh my gosh, are you crying??!" I said. (Don't worry, the therapeutic part is coming) "Yes and I don't know why!" the guy goes.  "Oh man, oh man," I said. "Um, I am going to give you a hug right NOW!" I said and I just hugged him as hard as I could.  It totally caught me off guard.  He started laughing he was caught so off-guard too I think, then I started laughing, and it totally made things better. "Man, I really appreciate that!" he said after I was finished hugging him, and I think it really did help, because at least he was laughing and smiling at that point.  Hugging strangers in the ER is kind of like kissing a boy, it has to be the right time and the right circumstances and you have to think the person wants it and is going to reciprocate.  That is probably why I am so bad at it.  I think I may have found my method of hugging at work: loudly announcing what I am going to do, and then just doing it.  If only that worked with kissing, too….