Why YSK: There is a lot of cortisol going on right now. A lot of people are stressed, angry, and afraid. Those emotions all deserve to be felt, but over time, cortisol becomes neurotoxic (inflicting permanent damage on the hippocampus).
Oxytocin (responsible for feelings of love, attraction, affection, etc) is a perfect foil to cortisol. If you notice yourself feeling angry or afraid for an amount of time that bothers you, adding some oxytocin to the situation might be helpful.
Luckily for us, our biology makes oxytocin pretty easy to come across. Different activities work better for different people, but cuddling with a pet or loved one, watching cute cat videos, or having sex work for a lot of people.
Here are a few interesting sources for further reading, if you are curious.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33632072/ https://www.nature.com/articles/srep30187 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5619133/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33632072/
It’s not an oversimplification to suggest countering negative and hostile thoughts/feelings by doing something that makes you happy. In fact, that’s one of the first things my therapist asked me about: what do you enjoy doing for fun?
It is a wild oversimplification to suggest that oxytocin is love/happiness and cortisol is stress/anger/fear.
I’m not saying picking yourself up emotionally when you’re down is bad, it’s like, the most obvious advice that almost anyone would give.
I’m saying the science here is shit. It’s woo-woo masquerading as brain chemistry knowledge by co-opting a few key words and phrases.
If you’re gonna give cliche advice, just own it instead of dressing it up as science when it isn’t. It’s insulting to the audience’s intelligence.