The hug

During my visit to NYC last week, my cousin Cantu and I arranged to meet at the Barnes and Noble bookstore to kickoff our marathon shopping afternoon. As Victoria and I walked into the store, we all waved happily and energetically “Here I am” and flew into each other’s open welcoming arms for a long, warm hug.

As we unravelled from the tussle of three bodies, six arms and three sets of teeth gleaming broadly in unbounded smiles, a diminutive elderly lady came into our orbit. She had been standing there watching us with her hand on her heart, tears in her eyes and was saying over and over: “Oh. This is so beautiful to see people hugging like this. You have made my day”. We brought her into our space, acknowledged the beauty of the hug and gave her a hug too. It so touched our hearts that she was so touched.

And that is the joy of the present moment, when three people are hugging each other totally focused and present to that moment of hugging. That moment extends to others so that our observer was also absorbed in the joy of the hug. Who got more joy – the huggers or the observer? I really don’t know. Perhaps there is no “more” during a present moment. Perhaps the joy of the moment is absolute – it just is, with no comparisons. Everything is relative we often hear. Yet, that moment of hugging was relative to nothing. For Cantu, Victoria, our friend and me in that moment we were not remembering past hugs or anticipating future ones; we were not distracted by thoughts of anything else – all our attention was focused on that moment of hugging. We were one with each other, with our family of birth but also with our entire human family. The elderly lady was no stranger – she was us.

The beauty of such joy is that it continues even after the moment of the actual hugging – we felt great to have made someone’s day, in addition to our own; our observer floated away on a cloud of joy, no doubt to have a different type of day than she was having before; I am still revelling in the moment four days later as I write this, and hopefully, you, the reader, are feeling the joy of that moment – and of this one, which is all there is.

How mighty and magical is the moment!