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David R Hamilton PhD

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You are made of stardust

Published on July 1, 2020July 1, 2020 by David R. Hamilton PhD

Every atom in your body was made in a star! That means those that make your heart, brain cells, skin, hair, teeth, bones, even the air you breathe, plus those that compose the trees, dogs and cats, rabbits and horses, lions, tigers, and bears, Oh my!; plus the insects, birds, fish, roads, buildings, and cars. The […]

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Dr David R HamiltonFollow

Dr David R Hamilton
Retweet on TwitterDr David R Hamilton Retweeted
carbonchoicesukNeil Kitching@carbonchoicesuk·
18 Jan

Dear Glasgow … Neil Kitching – The Glasgow Agreement https://theglasgowagreement.org/2021/01/18/dear-glasgow-neil-kitching/
@planetunplugged @wasteheatuser @DrDRHamilton #COP26

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Retweet on TwitterDr David R Hamilton Retweeted
talentinsightgpTalent Insight Group@talentinsightgp·
18 Jan

Kindness is one of our core beliefs. We have a Kindness Guru: @DrDRHamilton. So we were definitely going to share this new research from @WF_Institute showing that compassion boosts a company's bottom line... https://bit.ly/35EJNsP

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DrDRHamiltonDr David R Hamilton@DrDRHamilton·
15 Jan

Take things one step at a time.

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Retweet on TwitterDr David R Hamilton Retweeted
GillH1973💙Gill💙Archies mum 💞🐶🐾@GillH1973·
15 Jan

Great little piece in this months @PsychologiesMag from @DrDRHamilton . Thinking kind really helps 💜

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DrDRHamiltonDr David R Hamilton@DrDRHamilton·
13 Jan

Here’s how kindness can slow biological ageing, in part possibly through an anti-inflammatory effect. https://youtu.be/A-NmrnL7brs

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davidrhamiltonphd

Dr David R Hamilton
Take things one step at a time. We’re into 2021 Take things one step at a time.

We’re into 2021 and many people feel they need to achieve something significant to compensate for last year. Big goals can sometimes feel overwhelming. No matter what your goal, you don’t need to achieve it all in one big jump.

Try taking one step, even a tiny one. Then rest a bit and take another. You don’t always need to keep your mind on the final destination. Sometimes that helps, but sometimes it’s better if your focus is just on one step at a time.

Soon, you’ll turn around and look back and see how far you’ve climbed.

I get like this when I’m running. I compete against myself in that I always try to beat my best time. I live at the top of a very steep hill. If I’ve run, say 3-5k at pace, when I arrive at the bottom of the hill, I feel the stress immediately arise at the prospect of the hill, given that I’m already out of breath. How can I possibly keep the pace? 

If I look to the top of the hill, so high up, I feel like giving up. It’s too hard. But instead, I stare at my feet and the ground just in front of me. With my head down, I focus on taking one step at a time. That’s all. Just one step! Then another. It makes it sooooo much easier. 

These single steps quickly accumulate. After a bit, a quick head turn shows me I’m over half way and I almost can’t believe I’ve come so far. Again, head down, face the ground and before I know it, I’m at the top and feeling elated that I made it.

It’s a good way to think about life. I know it’s good to set goals, but you don’t need to achieve it all right away. But if you just take one step, then another, you might actually surprise yourself with how much you achieve and how fast.✨🌈

#youcandoit #icandoit #selflove #bekindtoyourself #takeiteasy #onestepatatime
I just thought I’d put on a wee post about fake I just thought I’d put on a wee post about fake Instagram accounts. This is a sample of some of the fake accounts that have pretended to be me over the last few months. I’ve reported two today alone.

If you suspect an account is fake, please report it. It’s not just me. Lots of people get impersonated. You can report an account by clicking the 3 dots at the top right of the page.

These accounts typically send people private messages and try to get them to part with money in some way. Sometimes they say, ‘I’ve created a smaller, private, account just for friends or special people.’ Words to that effect.  I had to report one to the UK police a few months ago - a person who was using my image and a fake name on a dating site and attempting to con a number of women. One lady, having exchanged several emails and even spoken with him on the phone, suspected something when he asked for money. She ran an image search on Google and it came up as my photo. She got in touch and I had no option but to contact the police, given what had occurred. The police acted quickly as the fake page was removed within hours.

Please know that I have only one Instagram account, @davidrhamiltonphd, currently with just over 23k followers on the page. I will never private message you and ask for money. 

The main reason I’ve posted this is so you can better spot if a fake account DMs you and tries to take advantage of your good nature, not just pretending to be me but anyone else they choose to impersonate. If you feel suspicious at all, report the account or, at the very least, challenge the person. 

I’m hoping that @instagram will approve my blue tick at some point. They turned me down last time. You need to be ‘notable’, they said. Well at least I tried.🤣

Anyway, on a softer note, remember to be kind where you can. It’s a difficult time for everyone right now, so sprinkle kindness wherever you can. It might just give someone the little bit of light they need that day. 😊✨
As we’re now in 2021, I thought I’d post a wee As we’re now in 2021, I thought I’d post a wee bit about myself for the benefit of those who have newly followed my page over the past few months.

Well, I live in Dunblane, in central Scotland. I’m an author and speaker and I’ve written 11 books. I failed English at high school on my first attempt so you can imagine that writing is about the last career I ever imagined having.

I have a degree and PhD in chemistry (organic) from Strathclyde University in Glasgow and worked as a scientist with AstraZeneca, based in Cheshire, in the area of cardiovascular and cancer R&D.

A fun fact during those years is that I accidentally became lead singer of a 14-piece soul band called, ‘Souled Out’. I say accidentally because I accidentally won a ‘Stars in their Eyes’ contest that I hadn’t entered (long story) and some of the newly formed band were there and persuaded me to be their lead singer. I was very reluctant as I’d never sang in public, except for the above contest which, as I said, I hadn’t entered. 

After leaving pharma, I co-founded an international relief charity with some friends (Spirit Aid Foundation), whose mission was to help children around the world whose lives were affected by war and poverty. It’s still a thriving charity but I moved on after 2 years so that I could get on with my passion to write and speak.

I soon started writing my first book and also took two part time teaching jobs, one tutoring chemistry in the department of adult and continuing education at Glasgow University and another teaching chemistry and ecology in the formerly known, James Watt College in Greenock.

My first book was rejected by every publisher I sent it to, so I self published it. It was picked up by @hayhouseuk shortly afterwards and I have since written 9 more books with them, mostly covering the mind body connection, self esteem, and kindness. 

I do a lot of public and corporate speaking. Pre-pandemic, I was doing anything from 60-100 talks and workshops a year. 

I’ve been doing talks online since and been working on a new book. Oh, and I also play a lot of tennis, but I suppose that’s to be expected when you live in the town where Andy and Jamie Murray grew up.🎾😊
I wish you all a happy 2021 when it comes. I’v I wish you all a happy 2021 when it comes. 

I’ve not posted for almost a month. I think that’s the longest I’ve gone without posting since I first properly joined Instagram about 3 years ago. 

To be honest, I’ve been practicing some self care as I had been feeling mentally tired and just plain overwhelmed. Partly a consequence of having a book deadline on top of mathematics assignments and all the learning that has to go into them (I’m in my 4th year of a 6-year part time mathematics and physics degree with the @theopenuniversity ), plus loads of other stuff I do as part of being a writer and speaker. This past week or so has actually been the first time in around a year (since Christmas 2019), that I’ve had more than 2 days off in a row. Recognising this, one of my 2021 commitments to myself is to take more time off and practice a bit more self kindness. 

That’s my story but we all have a story. 2020 has been an incredibly tough year for everyone. Many have lost friends and loved ones to covid-19. It’s been absolutely heartbreaking and I don’t personally know anyone who hasn’t experienced some covid-19 loss either in their immediate or extended family or in their circle of friends.

I’m so pleased scientists have created vaccines in record time. Vaccines are very clever. It’s like giving a tiny portion (like a shaving) of the virus (either an RNA fragment or spike protein), but inactive and just enough for the immune system to get the ‘scent’ and enable it to create antibodies. The immune system then does its thing from there.

I hope 2021 turns out to be a terrific year for you all in multiple ways. May it bring you health, happiness, and may you be at ease. And may it see some of your most important dreams come true. 

Personally, I’m feeling much more rested now and looking forward to spreading the spirit of kindness in my posts and books through 2021.✨💛🙏😊
Trying to rock a new pair of glasses. I’m just a Trying to rock a new pair of glasses. I’m just a wee bit short sighted so I only ever wear glasses when I’m driving. I’ve had a pair in the car for a few years but I lost one of the legs. It hasn’t mattered as they still sat on my face OK when I drove, even with just the one leg.😂

But I play a lot of tennis. Tennis is ok from a socially distant perspective as you’re at opposite sides of the net from your opponent and I use hand gel after every service game as that’s the only time I ever touch the ball.

It’s getting darker at night though, and without glasses it’s tricky when an opponent serves a ball at about a hundred miles an hour, even when we use the floodlights. 😅  I’ve had to play most of my recent tennis league matches at night so I’ve been wearing my one-legged glasses for a few weeks (with an additional leg from an old pair sellotaped on as they kept falling off when I hit the ball). They definitely help because I played a match at 9pm last Sunday (when it was 1 degree 🥶) and I won.😀

I play better without them during the day but it definitely helps at night when the floodlights are on.

Having one legged glasses when I drive is one thing, but they don’t cut it on the tennis court. Even though the sight of them gives people a laugh, I thought I should upgrade.

So here they are - my new driving and nighttime tennis glasses.
I just got home after a gruelling tennis lesson. I I just got home after a gruelling tennis lesson. It was really hard work, but made so because I've improved so much in the 4 years since I started playing. It means my coach ( @markwalkertennis ) can make the sessions much more challenging (hence, my watch shows I burned around 800 calories in the one hour lesson!!).

It got me thinking about being patient with ourselves. There's been times over the past few years where I felt frustrated because, despite knowing how to do certain shots and strike the ball in certain ways, once I was playing a league match and it gets fast paced and stressful, I often seemed to forget to do what I knew and lose the match as a result.

It's like life. Often we know what to do, or have the insight afterwards, but don't always say or do what we would like to say or do at the time. This is where we need to take a breath and be patient with ourselves. Learning is always happening, even when it doesn’t seem so. 

Take the time to take your time.

The sun is never in a hurry to rise, the moon doesn’t rush across the sky. Flowers take their time to bloom. Trees grow steadily. Nature happens by itself.

You’re part of nature too. Be patient with yourself. Things will come good in the end. Hindsight is a good thing because it's learning, and with some patience you will eventually say and do what you know to say and do. 

You're doing great, even if there's times you don't notice.

With a wee bit of patience, my tennis game has come a long way. With a wee bit of patience, you’ll look back and see your life has come a long way. 

Take the time to take your time. You don’t need to master everything before the end of the year. You don’t need to solve all your problems this week. Go easy on yourself. You deserve it. 

And it’s when you go easy on yourself that, funnily enough, you move forwards faster.

You’re doing great. High Fiving you now. 🙌
This is what I’m doing starting today. I love th This is what I’m doing starting today. I love the work of @52.lives 

Founded by Jaime Thurston, it helps a different person every week all through the year through acts of kindness. 

So the idea is to put one different item per day in a basket that you will donate to a food bank (in plenty of time for Christmas). So it’s a reverse advent calendar, where rather than open a square and receive a piece of chocolate each day, you give something each day instead. It’s great for getting children involved in the spirit of Christmas.💛

Here’s what Jaime posted:

“In the first 6 months of the pandemic, @trusselltrust food banks distributed 1.2 million food parcels. And they have seen 47% increase in need since Covid hit.

Most of the food distributed by food banks is donated by the public. So without the kindness of people like you, others would be going hungry.

What do they need?
If you’re not sure what to put in the basket, visit the Trussel Trust website - there’s guidance and also a food bank locator. A lot of supermarkets also have food bank collection boxes detailing what they need.”
.
.
.
#reverseadventcalendar #52lives #bekind
I’m so pleased that Influential Woman by Dion Jo I’m so pleased that Influential Woman by Dion Johnson ( @dionthewomanologist ) is now published. I mentored Dion as part of the @hayhouseuk Diverse Wisdom programme. I recall the day when Dion had so much happening in her life that she wasn’t going to submit the book at the end of the competition. Now, I’d read the sample chapters and thought they were brilliant, so I ‘kindly’ gave Dion a little nudge to get it done. 😂 During the call, we went through all she needed to do to make the submission.

To cut a long story short, she won the competition and her book is now officially published. I love it. Even as a man I took so much from it, helping me to see where I could embrace some of my individuality and be the leader I want to be. It is aimed for women, of course, and I believe it will be helpful to women, whether you are, or wish to be, a leader in business or even in your own personal life. I think it will help you to step into the leader you know in your heart you can be. I think that’s why I love the book so much.

I also know what it’s taken for Dion to write the book. As a black woman and with a facial disfigurement, Dion has had to face inequality most of her life. Yet, she has embraced the power inside herself to move past these inequalities, to rise up and become the person, and the leader, she always knew she could be.

If you feel moved to read the book, I hope you gain much insight and inspiration from it.🙏💛😊
As it’s Black Friday, here’s my FREE 4-part on As it’s Black Friday, here’s my FREE 4-part online course on, ‘The Biology and Contagiousness of Kindness’. It’s not just free on Black Friday. It’s always free, to be honest, but I thought today might be a good time to let everyone know. 

It covers how kindness impacts mental health, physical health, how it’s contagious, and even shares how to practice kindness to yourself. It’s all backed up by science, and there’s transcripts of the lessons, videos, audios and PDF’s of exercises. Feel free to share it with your family, friends, colleagues, neighbours. It’s free. Link is in my bio. 😊

I originally created the course as one that I’d sell as an online course but I decided that I wanted everyone to have access to it as I truly believe that kindness can make a real difference in people’s lives, and the more we know about it the better.🙏💛✨😊
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“David Hamilton is an expert on how our thoughts and minds can physically change our bodies.” Daily Express

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Kindred Spirit Magazine, “Best MBS Writer Award 2016”

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