There's a story that I heard about recently that's really stuck with me.

It's about a convicted murderer who spent long periods of time in solitary confinement.

He recalled sitting in his cell with his eyes closed when a fly landed on his leg.

Instead of swatting it away, he stayed still and he let it walk along his body.

The sensation for some reason reminded him of his wife's touch.

And from then on, he spends time imagining it's her and not the fly crawling on his hands

and legs.

Eventually, he even begins catching flies whenever he's allowed outside his cell and then

releasing them to fly around and land on him when he's back inside.

For decades through his incarceration, he said it was the flies that kept him company.

What's interesting to me about the story is how viscerally it depicts our need for physical

touch.

Such is something most of us can recognize when we're lacking it, but rarely do we realize

what the absence of touch can do to our body and our well-being.

Just about everyone in the world right now appears to be experiencing less touch.

There's less hugging, less handshaking.

This is certainly nothing like what the inmate in the story went through and I don't want

to suggest that.

But for those riding out the pandemic alone and even those living with the partner or

friends, this reduction in touch can have real biochemical consequences.

So on today's episode, we're going to explore the power of touch and what we can do to reclaim

the benefits of touch even in the COVID-19 era.

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