#release dem serotonins

[allsystemsblue]

This makes my heart so happy. 🥺

[mocweepe]

neway not 2 have a psych spin but ie dat last post, serotonin iz Not da only happy chemical. serotonin iz a happy chemical das released w a sense of accomplishment or positive recognition. it releases when some1 might recognize how much work u do, or when u win an award.

other happy chemicals include:

dopamine, a fleeting happy chemical dat works like a rewards system, and iz an important part of habit forming, both good and bad

oxytocin, a happy chemical associated w (ne form) of love. often known 4 iz release during physical contact, it iz also released when giving ne form of love language, and provided da reciever understands ur acting out of love, dey also release oxytocin!

endorphins as a happy chemical due to its nature as a natural painkiller. its da reason u feel happy after exercise or a too-cold shower (maybe also a too-hot one?)

when it comes 2 da joy a fictional character might bring u, das likely dopamine and/or oxytocin at play -- da same chemicals released when seeing crushes, babies, and puppies. on a neurochemical level, ur brain doesnt differentiate between fictional and real, all it knows iz dat das smtn u love!!! and "zomg iz dem deyre right dere💚💚💚💚💚‼‼‼‼"

only tangentially related, but all dis overuse of da word serotonin began w depression memes, so i do want 2 point out dat da chemical imbalance hypothesis has been widely debunked.

dis article uses a lot of big words, but explains indepth how exactly da evidence doesn line up. as long as u can handle da vocab, iz Rlly good imo

dis article explains da history of da "theory" (in its relation w all mental illness, not jus depression) n what da actual model of mental illness iz, and uses significantly less big words.

[bazzpop]

The more intensely the Julian kitty purrs, the stronger the vibrations on your tum-tum, filling your whole body with an overwhelming sensation of The Happies And Feel Goodies (TM). Dr. Julian kitty's engine purring intensifies as much as need be to release dem serotonin molecules to cheer up his beloved. :3

I could really use kitty Julian rn I’ve got a killer headache

[underthewingsofthblackeagle]

The Murderess from the Grunewald (17): “Secret Whitsun Holidays on Rügen (7): Sharing Joy and Sorrow (5)”

(”Trauer” by Free-Photos)

Previously

3:00 am Sunday morning of Whitsun weekend 2020, two days after Claire's release from prison

        Jamie found it hard to fall asleep. He missed Claire next to him. But at some point exhaustion and sleep overwhelmed him. He slept peacefully, dreaming of wooded cliffs and white beaches until a blood-curdling scream tore him from his dreams.

"Claire!"

        His cry of her name - a seemingly automatic response to her cry of fear - rang through the dark cottage. The moment he switched on the bedside lamp with one hand, he threw off the coverlet with the other one. Then he hurried on in the direction of Claire's room. He almost stumbled over the sleepy and utterly surprised Bismarck lying on the small rug in front of his bed.

        In the light of the bedside lamp, he saw Claire sitting on the edge of her bed. She held onto the frame of it with both hands. Her face was pale. Drops of sweat beaded from her forehead and she looked exhausted, even scared.

        "Claire! What happened?"

        Carefully he sat down beside her and put an arm around her trembling body. She slipped into his embrace and put her head against his chest, utterly exhausted.

        "Nothing, Jamie. Nothing ... really bad. It was ...," she breathed in slowly and deeply," ... it was ... nothing but a bad dream."

        They sat side by side for several minutes, and Jamie felt herself settling down. When her breathing returned to nearly normal, he asked:

        "What did you dream of, Claire? What scared you so much? "

        She was silent for a moment. Then answered softly:

        "Since the death of Frank ... I dream ... every night of it ... how I ... found him. His pale face ... all the blood ... Oh, Jamie, all the blood! ... And then it's like ... as if it happens all over again ... how I try to keep him alive ... but all I do is ... pointless, ... meaningless. As I rush to the phone and call the ambulance. The policemen are coming ... I see my bloodied hands and the thought hits me what a failure I am. I couldn’t save him. I wasn’t a good wife for him .... all these years … I couldn’t give him the children he longed for ... and when he needed me the most ... when he was fighting for his life  ... I wasn’t able to save him. My whole life with him was ... one big failure. I let him down, I failed him so much."

        "Since his death? Every night?" Jamie asked horrified.

        "Yes, ... every night," she answered wearily.

        Claire began to cry quietly and inside of Jamie’s soul rose a wave of enormous anger, which he could only hold back with difficulty. Even beyond his death, this monster managed to provoke guilt in the woman he loved. Even now and after she was cleared of all charges, this narcissist was overshadowing her soul. Jamie knew that these feelings would not change overnight. But he also knew that he would not leave her alone that night. He gently started stroking her arm with his right hand.

        "Can we go?"

        "Go? Where?"        

        "Over there, in my room."

        "But …?"

        "I will not leave you alone in this state, Claire."

        The tone of his voice was serious and allowed no argument. She nodded and before she could get up, he had taken her in his arms and carried her to the opposite room. There he carefully placed her on the unused side of the bed.

        "Come, cover yourself so you don’t get cold. I'm going to pick you something to drink. Water or tea?"

        "Do we have chamomile tea?" Claire asked as she slipped under the covers.

        "For sure. I'll be right back."

”Über dem Bett” by Arcaion

        Jamie disappeared with Bismarck in tow. Claire sat with her back against the wall of the bed and pulled her knees up to her chest. Suddenly Adso appeared in the room. He had jumped out of bed when Claire started screaming and had taken refuge under a dresser. Now he looked around carefully and when everything seemed safe, he jumped onto the bed.

        "Come on, honey," Claire said, tapping with her hand on the seat to her right. Adso followed, sat down and let himself be cuddled. A few minutes later, Jamie appeared with a tray holding a large cup of tea and a small plate of biscuits.

        "Here, have a drink and take a biscuit. A little bit of sugar will boost your serotonin level," he said smiling as he placed the cup and plate on the bedside table by her side.

        "Thank you."

        "Gladly. I go and turn off the light in your room."

        Claire nodded. Then she realized that her biscuits were in danger.

        "Don’t, Adso! Sugar isn’t good for your health!"

        When Adso made no effort to give her words a hearing, let alone obedience, she unceremoniously took the cat and put him on the other side. Then she took a few gulps of the still hot tea.

        "This cat is a nuisance, at least when it comes to something edible," she said as Jamie returned to the room.

        "That's right," he answered with a serious expression, adding:

        "Adso is as effective as the biblical locust plague that devoured Egypt. Only that he doesn’t ruin any wheat fields, but the balance of your bank account. We should call him the fur locust."

        Claire, who had finished her tea, had to pull herself together so as not to cough up the liquid she had just taken. Then she put the cup on the bedside table.

         Jamie took her free hand and kissed it.

         "It's good to see you smiling again."

         She moved her hand to his cheek and tenderly stroked it with her thumb.

         "Yesterday night ... I even slept through."

         "I know," he replied, kissing her hand again.

         "It was the first time ... in ... many ... months."

         "I know and that's why I do not want you to sleep alone in the future," he whispered.

         She looked at him in astonishment.

         "But ... but will that not ...."

         "Become difficult? I admit it will not be easy. But I can stand that. What I can not stand is seeing you suffer, Claire."        

         Tears welled up in her eyes. With the hand still holding his cheek, she pulled him slowly to her lips until they touched. When they parted, he looked at her for a moment. Then he asked smiling:

         "Was anything easy in the last six months?"        

         "No," she whispered.        

         "And yet we have survived! Not only have we survived all the difficulties, but we’ve also won! Why shouldn’t we succeed now or in the future?"        

         Claire nodded.       

         "We should try to get some sleep. If we want to explore the island during the day, we need our strength. Good night, Claire."        

         Jamie kissed her hand the last time, then turned and switched off the light.        

         "Good night, Jamie."        

         Claire also turned around. She put Adso on the bedside rug and turned off the bedside lamp. She knew that at some point the cat would jump on the bed again and probably make itself comfortable at her feet. But for now, she had only one wish - to stretch again and then fall asleep as soon as possible.

“Mann” by Free-Photos

         For a long time, Jamie paid attention to the sounds coming from Claire's side. Her breathing had been somewhat normalized, but her movements were a testimony to the inner turmoil that had been flushed to the surface in her dreams. When she finally seemed to sleep peacefully, he was able to relax also.

        While he lay awake, he thought about her words. If she had really dreamed of that bloody crime scene night after night in the past fourteen months - and there was no reason not to believe her - were there other things that tormented her soul? Much more important than such details, yet, seemed to him the question of how he could help her. For a few semesters, he had attended lectures in legal and criminal psychology as a guest student. But that was at least a decade ago - years before that subject became a separate course of study. No, this knowledge wouldn’t help him to help Claire. But was she ready to accept professional help? Something told him that it was not the right time to ask her about it. He would have to start small. It had been intuitively clear to him at their first meeting in the State Criminal Police Office that this whole thing was not a 100-meter sprint but a marathon. However, after his talks with Claire in prison, and especially after hearing her detailed account of her life with Randall, he realized that the term marathon was inadequate. If he judged it correctly, then he had to prepare for nothing but an Ironman. But he was ready to go all the way for her.

        One first step could be to balance the heaviness that lay on her soul with lightness and joy. Maybe the trip during the day would distract her and help her to relax. Jamie had planned some things that he thought would give her joy. But he would ask her first. He was eager to give her the opportunity to choose for herself what she wanted to do or to see. Besides, Jamie pursued another idea, with which he hoped to provide a kind of inner relief and relaxation. But it was too early to talk about that too. He would have to wait until the right moment.

“Bett” by Dibjo

        The first rays of the new morning were almost an hour old when Claire awoke. She lay on her stomach and heard a soft purr. Shortly after, she felt Adso lolling under her left arm. She gave him a gentle push and muttered:

        "Out with you, you burdock!"

        The cat landed on all fours on the bedside rug. Claire turned and hoped to find some rest. But at that very moment, she was suddenly catapulted into reality by the raw and wet tongue of a dachshund that left a damp trail all over her face.

         "Ihhhgitt!”

        When she looked up startled, she saw an enthusiastic Bismarck, who had apparently been waiting for one of the two human beings to come back to life. Jamie, his owner, was lying on his back, still deep in the Land of Smiles, his right arm buried under Claire's pillow.

         "Dr. Fraser!" she said in a loud voice that would have honored the commanding tone of every Prussian parade ground.

         Jamie slowly opened his sleepy eyes and looked at her.

         "Good morning, Dr. Beauchamp."

         "Dr. Fraser! Nice to see you have come back to the land of the living."

         Claire's voice was quieter, but still very decisive.

         "Yes, Dr. Beauchamp?"

         "Should we ever share a marriage bed ..."

         Jamie's eyes widened and in an instant, he was completely awake,

         "Yeah, Dr. Beauchamp? I hear?" he asked expectantly, straightening up.

         "If we ever share a marriage bed, then I want a marriage contract ...before we get married!"

         "A marriage contract ..."        

         "Yes! It needs to contain only one paragraph. "        

         "And what kind of paragraph would that be?"        

         "No animals are allowed in the marriage bed!"        

         Jamie grinned all over his face.        

         "With that," he said, "I completely agree, Dr. Beauchamp."        

         Claire looked at him in surprise.        

         "It's not a problem for me," he said with a smile, nodding affirmatively.                  "You agree?" She asked in disbelief.        

         "Sure! I don’t want to have any cats in my marriage bed, Claire."        

         "I said animals, Jamie. Animals. Plural."        

         "Yes, no cats - plural - in the marriage bed."        

         "Not only cats, Dr. Fraser, but all animals."        

         "As I said, no problem, Dr. Beauchamp."        

         "You have no problem damning Bismarck out of bed?" she asked in surprise. Jamie sat cross-legged in front of her and had taken the dog in his arms. Now he began to scratch Bismarck behind the ears.      

         "Bismarck? Oh, there must have been a mistake, Dr. Beauchamp. Bismarck is a dachshund."        

         "An animal! And that does mean he's not allowed in a marriage bed. If there ever is ... "       

         "Dr. Beauchamp, this must be a misunderstanding. Dachshunds are no animals. Dachshunds are little miracles we do not deserve. And if we handle them properly, they will become the second chamber of our heart. How am I supposed to be able to sleep without my heart?"       

         As he said so, he caressed the dog’s head and grinned.       

         "Jamie! You ... you ... damn ... lawyer!"        

         Claire turned on her side and pulled the covers over her head to hide her grin. Jamie sighed. Then he turned to the dog he was still cuddling:        

         "Have you heard, Bismarck? I really tried everything. But this judge is relentless. I have to banish you. But do not worry about my heart, I'm going to apologize every day with a piece of meat. "        

         Before he knew it, Claire's pillow flew towards him and hit him on the head.

         "Uff! Come on, Bismarck, I think we better leave now."        

         He put the dog on the rug and got out of bed. Arriving at Claire's side, he flipped the blanket over her head and quickly gave her a kiss on the forehead.              "I'll take a shower and then I'll make breakfast for us and the fur monsters," he announced.        

         "Coffee! I need a strong coffee!" muttered a voice from under the covers.        

         "Sure," he mumbled back as he left the room, smiling.