July 2026 letter - Oxytocin
Oxytocin is another neurotransmitter hormone, known in particular as the love hormone. The hypothalamus produces oxytocin and it is secreted by the nearby pituitary gland.
It is a very important hormone for well-being and has a strong influence on emotions.
Oxytocin levels are high when a person falls in love, has just given birth or is breastfeeding, and also during sexual intercourse. Oxytocin brings with it very positive feelings, such as trust, security, empathy and a sense of belonging. I always like to remind everyone how very important it is to understand the holistic impact of these different hormones on us. Thoughts and feelings are not just thoughts and feelings, but everything has an impact on us right down to the cellular level. When we understand this, we also learn that we can influence all of this ourselves. We can control our thoughts and feelings on a daily basis and thus make our day the way we really want it to be. Too often, you see people who just complain and complain, but they don't understand that they are causing themselves to feel bad - not anyone or anything outside. And they themselves could also fix the problem.
How to increase oxytocin in the body
Oxytocin increases through touch, so it is important to hug and kiss family members, pets or your spouse every day. Speaking nicely to others, praising them is important, as is helping others and giving time to yourself. Laughter increases oxytocin significantly, and thus prolongs life, as they say. Some creative activity, painting, playing music, writing, crafts or other meaningful activities also increase feelings of well-being.
Losing connection with yourself can cause problems with oxytocin levels. In connection with restoring balance, we talk about being present with yourself. Getting to know your own feelings and yourself. Self-acceptance helps to improve self-confidence and then makes it easier to connect with other people in a healthy way.
By this I mean that we often think that other people will bring the happiness, love or joy that we want into our lives. But this is difficult, especially if we are looking in the wrong places or in the wrong way, and then, for example, a break-up can be quite a disaster.
An easy way to manage oxytocin and learn to know yourself is to focus on yourself and this moment. As we have talked about so much before, we often operate on autopilot and are always focused on future problems or past worries. This causes stress for obvious reasons.
Be present in the moment. Become aware of your environment, everything around you at that moment. For example, if you are eating a meal, it is good to learn to be present with the food or drink. Focus on the taste with each bite, instead of automatically munching on the food. If you feel bad or if something has happened that has caused a reaction, sit down with it and be present. Observe the feeling and notice it. Often when you do this, things don't feel so bad anymore, and the solution will come automatically.
To return to that personal responsibility, think about how much better this world would be if everyone did this; faced themselves instead of always looking for reasons in others.
Gratitude
The feeling of gratitude and its practice is important. When you feel grateful for different things, the effect of all these feel-good hormones is enhanced. The more we think positive, grateful thoughts, the healthier and happier we feel. It is a real health boost for our bodies that we can produce ourselves, just with our thoughts! No external pills are needed.
Gratitude may sound silly, but there have actually been studies done on it. It is truly a feeling that helps change automatic negative reactions and balances the parasympathetic nervous system (which in turn has an impact on the microbiome and, through it, our entire body and health). So it effectively reduces stress and improves the body's immune system. So we effectively strengthen our immune system with just thoughts. Practicing gratitude is easy. Start your day by thinking about what makes you grateful today. You can also think about a situation/event or person in your life that you are grateful for. Relive these situations in your mind or think about these events or people in your mind. How do these feelings make you feel?
Focus on how your body feels when you feel gratitude? Find that feeling of joy and happiness, even for a small moment. It is good to practice this every day. Maybe you want to start practicing in the morning. Decide to create this feeling of gratitude even when you wake up, every morning, and notice the difference in how your morning starts. You can then decide that your day is going well and that is how it usually goes.
Trust the process, your day and life, everything is going exactly as it should. Trust yourself, trust love, trust the universe. What goes, goes. What comes, comes. Think that you are exactly where you are supposed to be, and the things that are meant to happen, will happen.
