We all know we have it within us to be as happy as we want, or can be. We also have it within ourselves to activate and stimulate more of the natural “pleasure” chemicals which are in our brains, with no side effects whatsoever. This is how to get a free high.
All you need is to realize and understand what the roles these various chemicals play, what their effect is on the body and mind, and how they’ve evolved over time.
There are also ways how we’re able to naturally discharge these chemicals, resulting in a natural “high,” while simultaneously avoiding the unpleasant ones in the brain.
It’s Like Deja-Vu
What the brain is capable of is rewiring itself, from it’s past experiences.
Every time these neurochemicals happen to surge, what the neurons will do is they’ll begin building new connections with one other.
Depending if a past experience in your life was good or bad, the brain is capable of switching certain chemicals in the brain “on-or-off,” based on that experience.
When we were younger and our brains were still developing, the neurons were able to build these new connections quickly and easily.
But beyond our teenage years and into adulthood, it becomes more difficult to build these new circuits to turn on or off at will.
What it requires is continuous repetition for it to become a habit.
So what you need is to develop a new habit you like, and begin repeating it over and over again as often as possible.
1.) – Getting Giddy With Endorphin
What any type of physical pain in the body does is it releases endorphins. This is what’s referred to as an endorphin high.
Long distance runners for instance, won’t get the mythical “runners high,” unless they’ve pushed themselves far past their limits, usually to the point of painful distress.
What endorphins does once it kicks in, is it causes a sense of brief euphoria which masks the pain.
In nature, the release of endorphins will give animals that are injured, the energy to escape from a predator.
Endorphins also helped our ancestors to run long distances for help once they got hurt.
So the mystical history of endorphin discharge is based more on survival, and not partying.
If you happen to be “high” on endorphin at all times, you’d be able to touch a hot stove element with your bare hands, or be able to walk around with broken limbs, without feeling pain.
Endorphin is meant for coping with emergencies. So if you inflict harm on yourself to stimulate the endorphin chemical, doing so isn’t a great strategy.
Endorphins The Mask of Pain
Endorphins mask your body’s emergency brake on pain. They evolved as a survival mechanism, allowing injured ancestors to ignore trauma long enough to escape a predator.
Most of us aren’t outrunning lions, but we are dealing with the “pain” of modern life, exhaustion, physical discomfort, and stress.
If you rely on endorphins for a “high,” you might be tempted to push your body to extremes. But remember: Endorphins are for survival, not partying.
Case Study: Finding the Balance
Think of Sarah, a corporate accountant who started training for a marathon. In the beginning, she struggled to run even one mile.
However, she found that by consistently engaging in “active recovery” (gentle yoga and light jogging), she triggered a mild, sustainable endorphin flow.
She stopped viewing exercise as a punishment to “get skinny” and started viewing it as a gentle, laughter-filled habit. She learned that a genuine laugh at a comedy special with friends releases a similar, safer cocktail of endorphins than over-training ever could.
How to Activate
- The “Micro-Laugh”: Don’t wait for a grand comedy routine. Watch a short, funny clip when you feel overwhelmed.
- The Stretch Break: Physical tension inhibits joy. Even five minutes of intentional, deep-breathing stretching can signal your brain to release the “cushion” of endorphins you need to get through the day.
2.) – Setting Goals With Dopamine
In nature, a predator such as a lion will stalk it’s prey. The chemical dopamine will surge through the body, which provides the energy that’s needed to capture their quest.
Our ancestors would release dopamine, when they were out in a hot desert, and will survive just long enough to find a watering hole.
This feeling would surge directly before the actual event, such as before they sipped the water. Just seeing the water would activate dopamine in the brain.
For the lion, just smelling their prey would turn on the dopamine.
The expectation of getting a reward triggers a good feeling in the brain, and will then release the additional energy that’s needed to get the reward.
Drugged By Dopamine
What dopamine does is it alerts your attention to things which meets your needs. The definition of this “need” will depend on your personal life experiences.
Every time dopamine was activated when we were young, it connected the neurons in our brains. What that did was it wired the brain to meet our needs, while making it feel better.
Dopamine can motivate you to seek something out.
That could be a law degree, or a perfect 30 foot putt on a green. What dopamine is capable of doing, is motivating persistence when pursuing things which meets what you want.
You’re also able to stimulate the good feeling that’s provided by dopamine, without damaging or hurting your best interests.
Dopamine Is The Engine of Desire
Dopamine isn’t the feeling of happiness; it is the feeling of seeking. It is the thrill of the hunt, the “almost there” sensation, and the rush of anticipation.
In nature, dopamine was the lion spotting the gazelle. Today, it’s you eyeing that promotion or the final piece of a puzzle. It is the fuel for persistence.
Case Study: The Power of Micro-Goals
Consider Mark, who had a dream of writing a novel but felt paralyzed by the massive scale of the project. He felt “stuck” and unmotivated. He realized he was waiting for the “big win” (a book deal) to trigger his dopamine.
By shifting his approach to “micro-goals”, writing just 200 words a day, he began to trick his brain into rewarding the process. Every time he hit “save” on his daily draft, he got a small hit of dopamine. That chemical reward loop is what eventually carried him to the finish line of his first manuscript.
How to Activate
- The Progress Ledger: Break large tasks into tiny, manageable steps. Your brain cannot distinguish between finishing a whole project and finishing a part of it; it rewards the completion of the step.
- Celebrate the “Almost”: Give yourself permission to feel good when you make progress, not just when you reach the summit.
3.) – Building Trust With Oxytocin
What developing trust with yourself does, is triggers the oxytocin chemical in the brain. All mammals develop the herd mentality, once their brain releases oxytocin on cue.
There are the social bonds, which helps mammals protect their young from danger.
Natural selection builds a brain which rewards that good feeling, once these bonds are strengthened.
At times, this trust can be betrayed, as trusting someone who’s not that trustworthy can be bad for your survival.
Your brain will then release unhappy chemicals, once this trust becomes betrayed.
What this does is it paves neural pathways, which will alert you not to trust as much in the future.
If you happen to withhold that trust at all times, what you’re doing is depriving yourself of oxytocin.
Oxytocin Is The Glue Of Connection
Often called the “cuddle hormone,” oxytocin is the biological foundation of trust. It is the chemical that tells your brain, “You are safe here. These people have your back.”
We are wired for the herd. When we trust, we thrive. When we are betrayed, we isolate, which creates a deficit of oxytocin and leaves us feeling vulnerable and suspicious.
Case Study: Building Bridges
Elena felt constant anxiety at work, viewing her colleagues as competitors rather than teammates. She was in a “low-oxytocin” state, always braced for a potential strike. She decided to experiment with vulnerability. She began small: asking a colleague for genuine advice on a project, rather than trying to do it all herself.
By signaling that she trusted them, her colleague reciprocated. Over time, these small acts of collaborative trust turned her workspace from a battlefield into a community, naturally increasing her baseline sense of peace.
How to Activate
- The Trust Audit: Identify one person in your life you can practice small, safe disclosures with.
- Consistent Agreements: Keep your word, and encourage others to do the same. Reliability is a powerful oxytocin trigger.
4.) – Believe In Serotonin
What your confidence or the lack of it does, is it triggers the chemical serotonin in your brain.
Primates such as monkeys will always attempt to “one-up” one other, because it stimulates their serotonin. Humans also do the same.
After all, we did inherit this brain of ours, which rewards social dominance.
Even if you don’t like it, you’ll still enjoy the pleasures of serotonin once you feel respected by others.
What the brain does, is it seeks out more of the same feeling by repeating certain behaviours which triggered it previously.
The respect you received when you were young, paved these neural pathways which tells the brain on how to get the same respect today.
At times, individuals will seek it out in ways which can undermine their well being.
Serotonin Is The Anchor of Confidence
Serotonin is the chemical of status and self-worth. It’s what you feel when you are respected, heard, and valued.
We often try to force this by “one-upping” others, seeking external validation to fill an internal void.
But the healthiest form of serotonin comes from internal validation, believing in your own worth regardless of external opinion.
Case Study: The Win Journal
David was a manager who obsessed over negative feedback. He spent his nights dwelling on one critical email, ignoring the ten glowing ones. This cycle was tanking his serotonin. He began a “Win Journal.” Every evening, he wrote down three things he handled well.
It felt silly at first, but by shifting his focus from “disrespect” to “competence,” he stopped seeking validation from his critics and started anchoring his confidence in his own growth.
How to Activate
- The “Win” Focus: Spend one minute at the end of every day acknowledging a success, no matter how small.
- Focus on the Respect You Have: Acknowledge the people who already respect you. Don’t starve yourself of the respect that is already present in your life by hunting for the approval of those who don’t care.
5.) – Survival Of The Cortisol
Cortisol won’t make you feel that good. What it does is it will alert animals of any species, of any upcoming threats that may be urgent.
Cortisol will also alert our human brains, of any potential upcoming threats.
The bad feeling that’s emitted by cortisol, will always be active since our everyday lives are always dependent on survival, as long as we’re alive.
It will especially grab your attention during the times when it’s not being masked, by the “happy” chemicals.
You might all of a sudden get a bad gut feeling once your happy chemicals begin to wear off, even though there may be no imminent danger.
If you’re not able to get comfortable with that, you might then mask it with a happy chemical stimulant which you’re familiar with. The result is your well being will suffer.
You’ll lose the information the cortisol is attempting to send you, and your happy habit will begin to falter.
More cortisol will then begin to flow, increasing the temptation to stimulate yourself with external chemicals to make you feel better, such as drinking alcohol.
Cortisol Is The Messenger, Not the Enemy
Cortisol is often unfairly demonized. It is not an “evil” chemical; it is an alarm system. It alerts you to threats and keeps you alert.
The danger isn’t the cortisol itself, it’s our tendency to panic because we feel the cortisol.
When the stress spike hits, we often reach for external crutches, alcohol, junk food, or doom-scrolling, to numb the feeling. But when you mask the message, you lose the information.
Case Study: Analytical Curiosity
Sarah (the marathon runner from earlier) used to experience a “Sunday Scaries” slump every week. She interpreted this sinking gut feeling as a personal failure. Once she learned that this was simply a cortisol surge, she changed her reaction.
Instead of reaching for a glass of wine to “numb it out,” she practiced “analytical curiosity.” She asked: “What is this cortisol trying to tell me? Am I worried about Monday? Am I overwhelmed?” By identifying the root cause, she could solve the problem, and the cortisol naturally dissipated as the threat was neutralized.
How to Manage
- Label the Feeling: When you feel the “bad” knot in your stomach, say, “This is cortisol. It is trying to help me survive. What is it alerting me to?”
- Acceptance over Numbing: Don’t fight the feeling. Acknowledge it, analyze it, and move forward. You are the pilot, not the passenger.
It’s Your Brain, Your Rules
Rewiring your brain doesn’t happen overnight. It requires continuous repetition. You are building circuits. In the beginning, these new “happy habits” will feel awkward and forced.
But if you repeat the action, the small goal, the act of trust, the recognition of your own worth, these new pathways will become impulsive. You don’t need external stimuli to change your state.
You have the pharmacy within you. Start small, repeat often, and watch as your brain transforms from a place of reactive stress into a sanctuary of intentional joy.
The Chemistry of You: For Your Internal Happiness Lab
We often imagine happiness as an elusive destination—something we chase through achievements, relationships, or possessions. But what if happiness isn’t something to find, but something to manufacture?
The human brain is a brilliant, self-sustaining chemistry lab. It is equipped with a natural pharmacy, capable of producing powerful “pleasure” chemicals.
Doing so can elevate our mood, drive our ambitions, and soothe our stress—all without a prescription or any dangerous side effects.
The secret to a “free high” lies in understanding the machinery behind the magic. Your brain is a creature of habit, and it is constantly rewiring itself based on the neurochemicals you trigger.
Whether you are building circuits of joy or pathways of anxiety, you are the architect. Here is how to master your internal chemistry.
Over time, all your new “happy” habits will begin feeling natural and impulsive. They’ll start overtaking your old ones without needing exterior stimuli, with no residue such as addiction.