Gratitude Day 11 Sense of Touch

Today I am grateful for my sense of touch. When I really sit and think I believe I have always been grateful for my sense of hearing and sight as we can not imagine how difficult life would be without these two senses. However I am not sure that I have thought to much about our sense of touch.

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As I was sewing at my craft group yesterday I became firstly aware of how sore my fingers were becoming sewing through thick fabrics with stiffener in between them with wool instead of cotton and how tender my fingers were to the constant tugging on the needle. Then due to the tenderness it seems to bring out more senses to the tips of the fingers to feel the small fibres of the wool I was working with and the different textures of the fabrics I was embroidering for my wall hanging.

I am making a small wall hanging representing fire

I am someone who really enjoys being touched. Whether that is by a massage therapist, a hug from a friend, a loving arm resting over you in sleep, holding a pet, a tiny child holding one finger, the breeze on your skin after a hot day, the warmth of a hot drink passing down through the body, wearing clothing made from beautifully soft fabric.

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The sense of touch forms before all other senses in embryos, and it is the main way that infants learn about bonding with other people and their environment. It is also the sense that remains the longest during old age as our eyes and ears fail our sense of touch remains.

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It is how we protect ourselves from harm, our touch indicates whether something will cause pleasure or pain.

You have more pain nerve endings than any other type. The least sensitive part of your body is the middle of your back. The most sensitive areas of your body are your hands, lips, face, neck, tongue, fingertips and feet. There are about 100 touch receptors in each of your fingertips.

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Touch is how we determine the size, weight, texture and temperature of an object. Through touch we determine how much pressure should be applied when picking things up so we don't drop them, also then so we don't break then. The skin is the sensory organ for touch, it is also the largest organ of the body. The skin makes up about 15% of your body weight, measured in surface area, the skin averages 20 square feet in adults. Skin is constantly renewing itself, which is a good thing since you shed 50 million skin cells every day - that's about 30,000 to 40,000 skin cells every minute.

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We have all heard that if babies do not receive positive touch they will fail to thrive. There has been studies done on Attachment Theory, this has to do with the relationship between affectionate touch and parent-child bonding. If a child does not receive adequate affectionate touch because his or her parents are emotionally neglectful, then the child and parents will not form a proper emotional bond. The lack of bonding will, consciously or unconsciously, cause unhappiness and a lack of trust on the child’s part. As a child grows older this will manifest itself as an inability to relate to other people, which will cause further unhappiness and stress.

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One can also feel the awesome and delightful experience of your wife or husband reaching out and touching you, kissing you, and caressing you. The gentle action of his/her fingers tracing all the smoothness and warmth of every surrounding and curves that makes up your personal frame that you call your body. The sense of touch (as do all the other four senses) gives us the gift to experience and express our love for each other. What an awesome and wonderful gift that just reading or thinking about it alone should cause goose bumps to rise freely on your skin. Our sense of touch is so very important yet we usually take it for granted!