What a fabulous man Dr David Hamilton is … swoon.
He was brought to my attention a few years ago by a good friend of mine, a fellow coach, who has seen him talk many times in Solihull. She has always raved about his presence and his energy-aligned talks around kindness and health. Over the last couple of years or so, she has always told me whenever she has seen his talks being promoted, but the timings never really worked with the distance I’d need to travel. And, up until now, he had never delivered talks in Nottingham, at least not to my knowledge, until February 2019 when an announcement popped up on Facebook to say that he was talking locally.
Whoop! Ticket quickly purchased, and on Tuesday 26th February 2019, I saw him talk for the first time. As it turned out, several of my friends were there too!
I saw ‘Dr David’ in the bar first of all and was lucky enough to talk to him, along with some of my friends, before he delivered his talk: How the Mind Heals the Body.
His full bio is on his website but, in short, he has a PhD in Organic Chemistry and has worked in the pharmaceutical sector, which he left to write books and educate people about the power the mind has to improve health, having been inspired himself by the placebo effect. To date, he has authored 10 books, writes for magazines and appears in the media.
He is an advocate for kindness and is working ardently to inspire a kinder world – something I too am very passionate about.
It was fabulous to hear him talk about all that I know and believe, and understand personally about the impact of kindness on our health and that of those around us. For those who love statistics and scientific proof, his talk provided that too. In fact, he probably covered all bases of learning, minus slides and props, as he spoke passionately and eloquently all evening; he even went over his allotted time for the Q&A session afterwards.
On a personal level, I found it empowering, if that indeed is the right expression, that someone so educated holds the same beliefs and values and understanding of life as me.
I bought his latest book on kindness which I am now reading. It’s a lovely, small and very tactile book to hold whilst reading. It contains lots of insight and inspiration to encourage the reader to act in a kind manner to those around them, and to themselves too.
Essentially, he talks about a kindness hormone (oxytocin) being the opposite of stress, which when released reduces blood pressure, protects the cardiovascular system, makes people happy, boosts the immune system, relaxes the nervous system, reduces inflammation, and can be an antidote to depression.
What’s not to love about releasing this hormone?!?!
It’s all about the way we behave. Namely our thoughts, words and actions. When we start to behave in a kind way towards others in the situations we find ourselves in from time to time, whereby we have a choice in how we behave, if we choose to act in a kind manner, our health isn’t affected in the same way it is when we react with a stressed approach. I could chatter on for ages, but I will sign off here, asking you to click the link below for more information. It really is fascinating. And I would certainly recommend buying The Little Book of Kindness to improve your life.
Top tips
Aim to look for the positive in any given situation – what learning can you take from it?
Be kind: give compliments, hugs, send loving energy to all those around you.
Keep a journal and monitor your actions of kindness and gauge how much happier and healthier you feel as you proactively increase your acts of kindness and release more oxytocin into your body – it’s got to feel great, hasn’t it?!
