I love being touched or hugged.
The only exception is when I dislike the person in question, or when they put me off for some reason.
A gentle touch makes me feel closer to the other person; it makes me feel better about myself and it diminishes (social) anxiety.
Of course it matters what kind of touch. Not every kind of touch (a hug, a pat on the shoulder, a hand on the back) is appropriate with everyone, but if I would solely follow my own impulses I would do it a hell of a lot more.
I noticed that scratching or rubbing some particular trigger points around my shoulder blades can literally switch my brain in a different gear. The exact location of those points seems to vary, and they are not always equally sensitive. But when it works, the effect can be incredibly intense. My thoughts seem to stop and there's a feeling of the borders of my self dissolving, as in what people describe about Zen meditation or Yoga. In that state it is literally impossible to worry about anything. It also just feels very good, in a way that I find hard to describe.
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... then softly she began to sing / a theme of sleep and slumbering wandering, woven with deeper spell / than songs wherewith in ancient dell Melian did once the twilight fill / profound, and fathomless, and still.
-- the Lay of Leithian, J.R.R. Tolkien