The Benefits of Touch

In an article for Lending Success, Patti Wood, motivational speaker and communication trainer, discusses the benefits of touch and what is "safe touch" in the workplace. Check the link for her informative insights.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/34851978/Lending-Success-Can'tTouchThis

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://pattiwood.net/. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Should You Spank Your Children?

Should you spank your kids? There is an interesting article on MSNBC (http://specials.msn.com/A-List/Spanking.aspx?cp-searchtext=Spanking&gt1=36010) with a photo of Kate of John and Kate Plus Eight spanking her child. I know that the limbic brain, which fires us up for flight or flight is engaged quickly while the higher cognitive brain takes longer. This explains why parents go to a physical response before a logical, cognitive response to bad behavior and why it works. Kids who are engaged in a "bad" or "dangerous"physical activity may not be able to get a logical verbal request, "Stop that!" or "Stop that our you will get a spanking." The spanking shocks the child. It is disturbing that the parent's hand that shows love and connection and the palm of the hand that non verbally communicates honesty may be used as a punishment. You hope your children always associate touch with love. My best friend never spanked her child unless her daughter was about to, or was doing something that physically endangered her such as crossing the street without looking. And she raised a wonderful loving daughter. I am not sure spanking is a good method for all children or that all parents can control their anger enough to make sure it is not their first means of punishment or that it is not given without a warning. My parents where of the 'spank now, admonish later' variety. I certainly never cross the street without looking as an adult, but my other punished behavior of talking back or "smart mouthing" has managed to survive in what my friends and clients think is wit. Thank goodness my father had and my mother has a great sense of humor! What do you think?

We Hold Little Girls More Than Little Boys

Boy babies are put down sooner and not touched as much as girls... Mothers hold their girl babies longer than boys right after birth. They touch and caress girls more and give them more eye contact and smiles. Boy babies, even in their first baths after birth, are handled less gently and put in their own beds away from their mothers sooner. And we wonder why men and women are different. What have you noticed about touch differences between men and women?

We touch our dogs more than we touch each other

My friend Beth takes care of my dog Bo when I travel. Today, she sent me results from a recent online survey about dogs. It says that, two-thirds of dog owners said they would put in longer hours if they could bring their dog to work.

The poll, conducted by the online dog forum Dogster and the job search engine Simply Hired, revealed that almost a third of those surveyed said they would go so far as taking a 5 percent pay cut if that meant their dog could accompany them to the office.

About 70 percent of the 150 individuals surveyed also considered a dog-friendly office an important job benefit.

I think that dogs make us feel better on so many different levels. I read in my local paper the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the Shelters after Hurricane Katrina were much calmer and well kept if the people in them had their pets with them.

As the National Spokesperson in Canada for Vaseline Intensive Care Lotion we surveyed 1500 Canadians on touch. Guess what? The survey found we touch our pets more than we touch each other. So today think about the positive touch you give and are given.



I am lonely today. I got up and got on my computer like so many people hoping to download emails from friends. Sure enough their were emails from friends meeting me tonight for dinner and comedy improv compitition and other friends that want to meet for dinner and movie tomorrow night and one from a girlfriend friend who just was checking in. But I am still lonely. I am sitting at my computer in my big old four bedroom two story house, all by myself, well there is Bo the wonder dog curled up at my feet. Lovign my dog Bo is wonderful but I am so lonely I am resisting the urge to belt out the old 70’s song ALL BY MYSELF. That’s lonely. I don’t think they we were meant to be so lonely and isolated.
We spend so much time working to get the big old car and house and live in suburbs were we can’t hear our neighbors and have to drive to get anywere…we co-exist rather than live in community. Richard Schwartz, a psychiatrist who co-authored the book, "Overcoming Loneliness in Everyday Life," with his wife, Jacqueline Olds, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School says, "Our notion of success is being able to purchase what you need and not be obligated to anyone,'' I Want to be obligated to people. I have that with my wonderful friends. I want someone to expect things of me. I want someone to expect me to be there when they call, to love hearing their voice, to enjoy seeing their smile, to think that their company is a delight. I want someone to miss me when they have not seen me in a while. I want intimacy.