A time of hot chocolatey mornings, toasty marshmallow evenings, and, best of all, leaping into leaves!
Autumn has arrived and with it the days become shorter, mornings and evenings are cooler and cuddle time is spent under warm blankets.
Now is the time to let anything in your life fall away that is no longer useful or needed for the emerging expression of who you are. Allow yourself to gradually shed what has become burdensome and no longer congruent with your soul’s purpose. With release comes a sense of being much lighter, just like the trees that openly bear their nakedness once their leaves have departed and give room for whatever new Life is ready to birth following a period of quiet and gestation. So let go of whatever has outlived its purposefulness, making space for more of what enlightens our souls during the colder months.
With longer loadshedding times on our doorstep, we will need to find different ways of keeping warm and brightening our moods so that we don’t allow ourselves to fall into a dark hole of depression. We will give you a few ideas on how to elicit and enhance those happy chemicals in our bodies that are known as neurotransmitters and are the main cause of us feeling great.
There are 4 main happy chemicals/neurotransmitters in the brain:
- Dopamine
- Oxytocin
- Serotonin
- Endorphins
So, what do we have to do to elicit and enhance these chemicals that will assist us in feeling great and eliminate our stress levels?
Dopamine
Dopamine is known as the reward chemical. This is the chemical that gives you the feeling of reward and accomplishment when released. This is the chemical most associated with motivation.
The quickest and easiest way to enhance this chemical is by expressing gratitude. Gratitude practices have been shown to release significant amounts of Dopamine in the body.
A quick way to do this is to find three things in your life that you’re grateful for right now.
Oxytocin
Oxytocin is known as the cuddle hormone. This is associated with connection, bonding and love.
This hormone gives us the warm fuzzy feelings we get when playing with a kitten or hugging someone we care about.
A great way to access this chemical is to wrap your arms around yourself tightly and tell yourself you love yourself.
As a bonus, you can always watch adorable kitten videos and you’ll get a similar effect.
Serotonin
Serotonin is known as the happiness chemical. This chemical is the one that really determines your mood.
Have you ever had to jump out of bed in a panic because your alarm didn’t go off and now you’re late? How did this determine the rest of your day?
The easiest way to release Serotonin is to make yourself laugh. The coolest thing is your brain can’t distinguish between a real and a fake laugh. So, if you mimic laughter in the body, it will turn really quickly and release a whole bunch of serotonins.
One way of doing this is to count up to 10 with a fake laugh
1 – ha
2 – haha
3 – hahaha
4 – hahahaha
5 – hahahahaha
You’ll see it won’t take too long before you laugh for real and now you will have a rush of serotonin flowing through your body.
You could also just watch funny TikTok videos.
Endorphins
Endorphins are the body’s natural pain reliever. This is the chemical that is most involved in reducing the symptoms of depression and stress.
The easiest way of releasing endorphins (ladies this one is for you) is to eat dark chocolate. This is why chocolate is associated with being a happy food.
However, a more common and effective way to release endorphins is through movement and exercise.
Any kind of movement will do, it doesn’t have to be a full workout. You can even turn on your favourite music and dance around the house.
If you’re going to the gym or anywhere to work out then try spraying some vanilla essence around your space and place some fresh lavender under your pillow at night when you go to sleep. These fragrances have a great impact on the brain in inducing endorphins.
There are two further steps we work with and go more in-depth with these four chemicals in our one-day Stress management workshop, which we will be hosting in the month of May.
So, if you are keen to know more about our workshop and would like to book your spot contact Claudia or Cassandra today and we will provide you with all the details.
Our contact details are as follows:
Claudia: 082 465 5727
Cassandra: 083 326 5987
Email: info@azurabodymindsoul.com
So, take the time this month to embrace this beautiful gold-filled season by releasing what no longer serves you and gathering what will fill your soul.
Autumn leaves shower like gold, like rainbows, as the winds of change begin to blow.
