Did you know that you can actually affect your emotions through biology?
To understand this, you need to understand that the things that cause you to feel a specific way is actually different hormones in your body. Sound wacky? It did to me too, but bear with me!
Putting it very simply, take dopamine, for example. Dopamine gets you to do things and enjoy the success of doing that.
Imagine you’re living in the time of the cavemen. No distractions, no screens, not a lot of food.
You wake up one morning and you’re hungry. You decide to go hunt a rabbit, because that’ll fill you up well. Dopamine floods your brain at the thought of this rabbit, creating focus and drive, and you collect your sling and head straight out.
But you miss your first shot. Your dopamine levels fall dramatically, and in frustration you throw your sling into the bushes. You’re stressed and depressed and just stand there staring off into space for a while. But you know that there are fruits growing, and after a few minutes of despair you remember that you’ve seen some a little further away. Dopamine returns, and you head off to find your new breakfast. You pick what you need to fill your stomach and get a hit of dopamine as a well done (as well as a raised blood sugar and reduced cortisol because you’re no longer stressing over food for the moment, both of which also make you feel good).
All of your feelings are created this way, through chemicals that enter receptors in your brain. And you can actually affect how much of these chemicals you create!
If you have ADHD, you may know how sensitive your dopamine is and how easily it can go walkabout entirely. Suddenly your focus and drive have left the planet entirely and no matter how much you might want to do something, it becomes essentially impossible. But there are ways of naturally giving yourself a dopamine boost that will help.
Exercise is one of the best ways to create dopamine (and several other beneficial chemicals). You can also link emotionally to a “why” (using things like vision boards, for example), read books, watch movies, meditate and have sex.
If you want some serotonin to feel good in yourself at the same time, do your exercise outside, because natural daylight and exercise raise your serotonin! So do mindfulness, meditation, sex, laughing and even smiling…but it has to be a particular type of smile, called a Duchenne smile. It must reach your eyes.
But yes…smiling can actually make you feel more positive!
Now I’m not saying you can cure clinical depression this way. But even if you end up feeling a little bit less pants, that might be worth exploring, right?
For me, the combination of a few of them together is what I call a Love Potion. And I love giving myself a good Love Potion every day! I start by walking the dog first thing. This gets me moving (dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, testosterone and reduces cortisol if it’s high), and in daylight (serotonin). I can pay some extra attention to nature and the birds singing and that increases oxytocin. So does spending time with my dog, and I always make sure to think of things I’m grateful for during that walk too (also oxytocin). This really sets me up for the day, and helps me be much more productive. Otherwise, I can sit for hours staring at my computer, knowing I have things to do but just not getting them done.
If I’m going to be doing something that’s a bit scary, I’ll focus on getting some dopamine for motivation, some serotonin to feel good about myself, and increase my testosterone to feel brave and/or confident. So I might do a workout that focuses on strength, listen to some powerful music, or remember times when I’ve been successful and strong.
It’s a fascinating subject, and I’m only scratching the surface of it, but I’m loving it!