KINDNESS AND HEALING; DR DAVID HAMILTON

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Dr David Hamilton writes that giving and receiving kindness boosts the immune system.

Frequent kind acts can reduce high blood pressure and alleviate depression.

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Dr Hamilton says: "We are all wired for kindness.

"We act kindly because we know instinctively it's the right thing to do."


Some people need acts of kindness.

Dr Hamilton grew up in a small community in central Scotland where everyone helped each other.

Dr Hamilton became involved in developing drugs for cardiovascular disease and cancer.

But then he began to see that it was more important to teach people how to use their minds to heal themselves.

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Happiness

Dr Hamilton refers to a study at the University of California, Riverside, where volunteers were asked to perform five acts of kindness a week for six weeks.

The psychologists found that those who performed the acts of kindness became happier.

Marriages work better when people are kind.

Professor Gottman and his colleagues studied 700 newlywed couples for 15 minutes and, by counting the positives (kindness) and negatives (eg. anger), predicted with 94 per cent accuracy who would still be together ten years later.

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Kindness protects against heart attacks and strokes.

Kindness spreads.

Each time we are kind, we inspire someone else to be kind.

Read more: dailymail

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Dr Hamilton writes:

Mind Over Matter

When I was 11 years old and I was in the school library. A book fell of the shelf beside me. It was 'The Magic Power of Your Mind' by Walter Germaine.

At the time my mum was suffering from depression, which had begun a few years earlier as post natal (post partum) depression. I had an instinct that the book would help my mum so I took it home.

It really helped her. It didn’t cure her in a day or anything like that, but it taught her insights and strategies...

I learned a bit about the placebo effect...

Now, there is a wealth of research showing beyond all doubt that your thoughts, beliefs and emotions cause physiological, biological, and even genetic changes all throughout your body... 

Paying attention to your breathing also causes structural changes in the brain in such a way that makes it easier to find peace amid chaos.

Imagining happy things alters brain chemistry that can make you feel better...

Imagining moving your arm convinces your brain that you’re actually moving it, an insight from neuroscience that has reaped benefits for thousands of stroke patients, and athletes...

Mind Over Matter

Pay It Forward
Born to be kind

The Most Attractive Quality
Molecules of Kindness

Does a placebo work if you know it’s a placebo?
How a child with Chickenpox stopped itching

How to use visualisation to boost your self-love
How to deflect negative emotion
How to slow ageing

DEALING WITH STRESS

Professor Ian Robertson, one of the top neuroscientists, tells us how to turn your stress into something good.

Step One - Adopt a superhero pose.

Pump the chest out and stand up tall.

This makes the mind feel more confident.

Step Two - Tell your brain that it is excited not anxious.

Say out loud: "I feel excited."

The brain then feels there is an interesting challenge rather than a threat.

"If you are anxious, the stress hormone cortisol will impede performance, but if you are excited, we know that it boosts performance."

Step Three - Squeeze your right hand shut for 45 seconds, opening it for 15 then closing again for 45 seconds. 

This puts your brain in the right frame of mind, getting rid of anxiety, and improving performance.



Step Four - Breath in slowly for five seconds then out for six.

This changes the chemistry in the brain.

Forget relaxing - use your stress.



"Stress is a kind of energy that we can harness," says Professor Robertson.

We need stress.

People who never experience setbacks are often low achievers or become depressed.

According to Dr Robertson, stressful situations and life traumas can trigger incredible feats of creativity.

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You are stressed and your blood pressure is up?

You are grinding your teeth and there is humming in your head?

In the USA:

31% of teens report feeling overwhelmed by stress.

30% say stress makes them sad or depressed, and 36% have experienced fatigue because of stress. 

Stress in America Survey - the American Psychological Association

The Strategy of Tension is at work.


Orlando Mass Shooting..

The spooks use tactics that "aim to divide, manipulate, and control public opinion using fear, propaganda, disinformation, psychological warfare, agents provocateurs, and false flag terrorist actions."

Strategy of tension



Aangirfan has the cure.

"Next time you feel your adrenalin pumping and your brain whirring, remind yourself that stress is useful and that you can probably handle it."

UC Berkeley researcher Daniella Kaufer says that, in the right dose and taken with the right attitude, stress is downright healthy.

"The scientists have shown that stress helps monkey brains generate new cells that boost the animals' ability to learn and remember.

"They believe humans work the same way. Stress builds our brainpower rather than destroys it."

Interview with Science Center



How you feel about stress makes a big difference in how healthy stress is for you.

"People who feel resilient and confident that they can manage stress are much less likely to be overwhelmed by it," says Kaufer.

"Another powerful factor is social support..." Friends and family can help.

Physical exercise helps keep your stress levels within healthy limits...

Continued here: Interview with Science Center

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"Stress is a burst of energy that advises you on what to do."

Good Stress

When the brain feels some kind of stress, it starts flooding the body with chemicals.

This creates a variety of reactions such as an increase in blood pressure and heart rate.

Stress can improve how your heart works and protect your body from infection.

In one study, individuals who experienced moderate levels of stress before surgery were able to recover faster than individuals who had low or high levels.

Good Stress

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Emotional stress that stays around for months or years can be bad for you.

How do you heal the emotional stress?

1. Be yourself

Have fun. Help people.

2. Invent yourself

Decide to become a person who will experience less emotional distress.

Realise that the glass is half full.



3. Love and be loved

4. Get a grip on your mind

Think happy, healthy thoughts.

Dump the negative thoughts.

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5. Don't wallow in the past.

6. Flip the anxiety switch off

There are many anxiety management ideas - breathing techniques, cognitive techniques, relaxation techniques, and so on.

Announce that you will no longer live a fearful life or create unnecessary anxiety for yourself.

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Countries with less stress?

7. Rather than saying 'I'm fed up today' you instead say, 'I have an interesting meal to cook' or 'I have an interesting trip to make.'

You reduce your emotional distress by concentrating on your intentions and less on your mood.



8. Upgrade your personality

You may be angrier or more frightened than you would like to be.

Adjust your personality.

9. Deal with circumstances

Emotional healing requires that you take real action in the real world.

Go and play a game of golf?

Full details here: 10 Tips for Emotional Healing | Psychology Today