The Little Book of Kindness<\/a>\u00a0(my illustrated book)\u2019), because it is associated with feelings that can be brought on by kindness.<\/p>\nCloseness produces oxytocin, hugs produce it, love produces it, friendship produces it, affection, compassion, gentleness too. It is certainly associated with behaviours of the heart. It\u2019s nice that Nature rewards these heart behaviours with a healthier heart. It\u2019s as if Nature is saying, \u2018Yes! More of this please\u2019. Just as we train a dog by offering rewards for certain behaviour, perhaps Nature is training us humans by rewarding our good behaviours.<\/p>\n
Dogs don\u2019t ask for much. Other than food, they really just ask that you love them. That makes a happy dog. The emotional reward you get is some happiness. The physical reward is a boost to your cardiovascular system. Happy dog, happy heart!<\/p>\n
Of course, the same also applies to other animals we bond with, like cats, rabbits, horses. Indeed, a study of rabbits indeed found that those shown more affection had healthier hearts. All animals have an oxytocin system. Oxytocin is so important to us, and animals, that the oxytocin gene is one of the oldest genes we have, at around 500 million years old. That it\u2019s with us after all this time tells us how important it is for health \u2013 ours and that of animals.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the love and kindness that we show each other and to animals that matters.<\/p>\n
Be kind. Show compassion and affection. Be gentle. With each other and with animals.<\/p>\n
Some things in life are really quite simple.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I find myself writing this piece today because it was 5 years ago on this day that my dog, Oscar (main photo), passed away from bone cancer at the age of just over 2. He came into my life two days before I started writing my book about self love \/ self esteem, \u2018I Heart…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,164],"tags":[77,160,10,11,55,12,26,33,82,163,15,16],"yoast_head":"\n
Happy dog, happy heart - David R Hamilton PHD<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n