The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”
I’m here to write about one of the most exquisite feelings to ever exist. About something that makes us feel the most eternal feelings. Human Touch.
Our first form of communication. We need that touch almost as much as we need air to breathe. Granted Human touch in itself diminishes the entire meaning of the quote above. Like, why mention something that contradicts the quote. Hear me out:
For as long as I remember, I’ve never been able to write about how I truly feel. No matter how much I try, there’s always something in my piece that doesn’t correlate completely with how I feel. Feelings might be the most incomprehensible thing to exist. Never perfect, constantly changing. ‘No feeling is final.’ It fits right, feels like this is it, that it was what was missing but, at the same time it drives us impossibly to the edge and makes us lose every inch of sanity trying to understand them.
There are a lot of feelings to exist. Some of which I have felt, some of them which I have steered clear from, and an entire box of them which I haven’t opened yet. I am not here trying to describe or differentiate feelings. I am here to tell you about some of the moments where I have felt something like never before. For so long, I had hooked feelings with a memory. Kept the memories stored safely in a box and when I wanted to go back to the comfort of one particular feeling, I’d open that box, skim through layers and pick the one most suitable. I couldn’t even comprehend the possibility of being able to feel something so immense and intense with just one touch. A touch that barely lasted a minute at max but left an everlasting effect inside me.
Agreed that each of us has a different experience with touch. But I’m here mentioning the ones that make you feel safety, security, and comfort all in the gentle caress of the finger. The intimacy deeply welled in a platonic touch. Since birth. When we wrap our hand tightly around our mother’s finger or the feeling we get when a baby holds our finger tightly. When we hold our hands with someone and how the fingers fit perfectly, just the lock of your hand with the one you adore. When someone puts a hand on your small back when you walk somewhere, when someone lays their head on your shoulder and the all the trouble fade away then, the tiniest squeeze of your arm that speak volumes to show support, the boop on your nose, the hi-fi when they accomplish something, the hug which makes you curl around them like you’re a creeper plant, the hug that makes you feel you would rather be here than anywhere else, the hug that makes you feel full and empties away every other worry, the kiss you get on your forehead, the pat on your shoulder given by your dad pours out all the pride he feels for you, the caress of your hair by your mother which washes away all worries, the way your cheeks are gently touched to wipe away the tears, the way your face is held in their hands, the way your mom completely engulfs you when you feel low and that is the biggest high you would ever feel, the big squishy kiss your friend gives you on your cheek when you meet them after ages, the playful smack on your forehead as a sign of saying that you’re the only one they want by their side, the nudge of shoulders to define that you’re not alone, the most annoying pull of your cheeks which you secretly adore, the bubble of laughter that bursts through you when someone tickles you, the way someone ruffles your hair, the way your mom blows in your tummy and makes you erupt in a chain of giggles, the way you squeeze someone’s hand when you are in pain- getting a tattoo or an injection probably, the way your hop on someone’s back and ask them to give you a piggy back, the way you’re held in someone’s arms when your world’s falling apart. The way you’re felt valued through touch, the way you feel important through touch, the way you feel safe through touch, the way you feel like you belong through touch, the way you feel cared for through touch, the way you feel protected through touch, the way you express protectiveness, love, care, warmth, gentleness, all through touch, the way you feel loved through a touch. The way you feel something that stays for ages through one millisecond of a gentle touch. The way you now skim through the way you’ve felt to feel what you want to. The way a memory of touch lights you up, soothes you, calms you down, comforts you, elevates you, makes you feel content, and makes you take a long breath and let out a happy ‘sigh’. It connects us.
This is not about touch but, how touch has made you feel. How a safe, positive, platonic, meaningful touch has made you feel. It’s like filling a balloon up, slowly releasing the air inside, and seeing it rest. The gentle lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub of your heart. These touches have the power to make you feel completely in a daze. They make you forget everything and just, just, be there and feel. Within you, with you. The feeling of human touch flows like a rushing stream all through you, for a millisecond.
But, it’s enough. It’s what you’ve found a home in since the time you were born. Since the time you were first held. It’s enough. It makes you feel enough. So, don’t hold make. Feel and make your adored ones feel. The most beautiful thing that is there to exist.
It’s everything.