Love Vs. Fear: A Scientific Look
All you need is love. The Beatles made this statement famous back in the 1960s and it is still fitting today. Living in a state of love is the key to living a healthy, successful life and I discuss this in detail in my book,The Love Code, and it is the foundational belief for my methods. Of course, this is all easier said than done. We get caught in traffic, caught up in drama and catch whatever bug is going around. Love is the furthest thing from our mind when we are stressed and our minds and bodies begin to suffer from the effects.
The body’s physical reaction to stress versus love is remarkably different. Stress causes your healing systems not to work correctly. Your immunity is compromised, your blood pressure rises and your body goes into fight or flight mode.
Let’s take a quick refresher in biology and review what happens to your body in a state of love as well as a state of fear.
Oxytocin is often called the “love hormone.” In addition to being released in our brains when we feel “in love,” it is released when we have sex, eat ice cream or engage in any enjoyable activity. Love is quite literally, both physically and nonpyshically, the opposite of the fear/stress response. Our bodies were designed to live in love, not fear. Living in fear, quite frankly, is a malfunction..
Fear triggers your stress response and a fear frequency is sent from your memory banks to the hypothalamus in the brain, which turns the stress switch on. This stress response, or fight or flight mode, is only supposed to happen if our life is in imminent mortal danger. Many of us, however, go into fight or flight mode ten, fifteen, or twenty times a day, to the point that stress becomes the normal state of being for us.
As you can see from this chart below, the clinical effects of cortisol and oxytocin are markedly different. These lists illustrate the very definition of failure and success, and the ultimate source of both are our fear-based and love-based memories. A fear-based memory turns on the stress response, which releases cortisol in the brain, which results in all the symptoms on the left. A love-based memory can release oxytocin in the brain, which results in all the positive symptoms on the right, from lowered blood pressure to increased immune function.
| Clinical Effects of Cortisol (Released by Fear/Stress) | Clinical Effects of Oxytocin (Released by Love) |
|---|---|
| Dumbs us down | Enhances relationships |
| Makes us sick | Increases parental bonding |
| Drains energy | Results in love, joy, and peace |
| Suppresses the immune system | Increase immune function |
| Increases pain | Reduces stress |
| Raises blood pressure | Lowers blood pressure |
| Closes cells | Opens cells |
| Destroys relationship | Counteracts addiction & withdrawal |
| Causes fear, anger, depression, confusion, shame, and worth & identity issues | Stimulates human growth hormone |
| Causes us to approach everything from a negative perspective (even if we put on a happy face) | Increases trust and wise judgment |
| Modulates appetite, healthy digestion, and metabolism | |
| Promotes healing | |
| Stimulates relaxation | |
| Stimulates non-stress energy | |
| Stimulates higher neurological activity |
Do you remember that euphoric feeling when you fell in love? Didn’t you feel more energetic, less stressed, more vibrant and healthier? That’s what happens when oxytocin is released in your brain. Of course none of us are in a constant state of being in love. It waxes and wanes. By using the methods and codes that I share through my books and all-access platform you will learn how to deprogram and reprogram your spiritual heart, mind and body to focus on love in the present moment. You will learn how to live in a euphoric state of love and optimum health. You will learn how to live with minimal stress and fear.
You can take proactive steps to heal your heart and live from the heart starting today. Say goodbye to fear and say hello to love. Your body and mind will thank you!
