Episode 85: Can kindfulness help us to feel enough? With Dr David Hamilton. How Your Body Reacts to Kindness, and How it Boosts Creativity & Self-Compassion

Enough, the Podcast

You may have heard about the health benefits of being kind. Not only can it lower blood pressure, and boost immunity. It can also positively alter your relationship with yourself, which piqued my interest for those of us who’ve spent decades driving ourselves relentlessly. Is kindfulness a solution to feelings of not-enoughness?

Dr David Hamilton is a speaker, columnist, and author of twelve books, including his most recent, The Joy of Actually Giving a F*ck. He’s delivered kindness sessions for Google, Bank of England, the NHS, and many others.

In this episode, David and I discuss “kind genes”, how mindfulness doesn’t help everyone to be kinder, and rethinking what success can feel like. David also gives us a kindness challenge, which I’ve been taking. Hear some of the things I’ve been trying.

0:00 Intro

3:04 Definition of “kindfulness”

4:00 Does mindfulness work for everyone?

6:26 What mindfulness actually does.

7:18 Does it make you more self-critical?

11:02 David’s “Inner Buddha” technique

15:50 The fear that self-compassion means we lose motivation

17:12 Productivity, creativity and neural networks

20:35 What success “feels” like as you’re pursuing it

28:45 The Physical benefits of kindness

33:21 Research on kindness and self-esteem

35:04 “Writing as a technology of healing,” (to use Jessica Waite’s phrase from the previous episode)

41:29 David’s 7 days of kindness challenge

44:18 List of what Mandy tried

47:17 One of David’s ideas

50:19 David’s Brick of Wisdom

51:12 Outro

Links:

Dr David Hamilton (includes his new book).

Episode 66 of Enough, the Podcast (on kindness).

Alexandra Franzen’s list of 50 ways to be ridiculously generous.