A little neuroscience hack!
As we launch into everyday, and the outside world, it is important to create rituals that help you stay connected. One of those is the “Welcome Home Hug”.
Now this is not the ordinary hug that entails a pat on the back!!
This is a hug that when you arrive home the first thing you do is find the other, children, dogs, cats, emails do not come first, your partner does. And you give each other a hug.
Don’t let go of the other until you are both “relaxed”!
How do you know? Each others shoulders relax, their breathing gets deeper and you both feel connected again.
The importance of this ritual is that you come into resonance with each other, sync your breath and your nervous systems. You create a safe sanctuary, a tether for each of you to go out into the world. Children anad adults alike gain enormous benefits from this simple ritual.
Coming back home, we launch into a ‘Welcome Home Home’ as Dr Stan Tatkin calls it, where you leave the stress of the outside world, where it should be, outside the house and you are maintaining that bubble that keeps you safe, happy and connected.
As a couple’s counsellor I prescribe to start with one hug a day right at the beginning, then work up to one entering the house after work, then further to at the end of the day. Watch the difference this makes.
So if in doubt, hug it out!!
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Resources
Dr Stan Tatkin’s ‘Welcome Home Hug’ in PACT work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9FBdC2Kykg
Solving Disconnections https://youtu.be/V7ohDhnltz8?si=gUxyaGA2MuWhCW62
‘4 Important New Discoveries About Hugging’, Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/the-asymmetric-brain/202202/4-important-new-discoveries-about-hugging
