WHAT IF YOUR BRAIN COULD LEARN TO EXPECT RELIEF – BEFORE IT EVEN ARRIVES?
That is not wishful thinking.
That’s how your nervous system works.
There is a reason some people wake up a few minutes before their alarm goes off.
It’s not intuition. It’s training.
Your brain learns that the alarm rings at 8 a.m. and after a few days, it starts releasing cortisol a bit earlier – gently waking you up before the alarm ever sounds. That is not motivation. It’s just rhythm. Repetition. Prediction.
(The part of the brain responsible for this is the suprachiasmatic nucleus)
And here is the relevant part:
That same system – your body’s internal rhythm – can be trained to anticipate other things, too.
Like mental clarity.
Better mood.
Less muscle tension.
When you repeat activities that flood the brain with feel-good chemicals, like dopamine, serotonin, endorphins – your brain starts to anticipate them. It begins releasing those chemicals in advance.
And that anticipation can reduce pain, lift mood, and steady you – even on hard days.
These don’t need to be extreme. The key is repetition.
Examples:
👍🏽 stepping outside into bright morning light
👍🏽 cold showers or cold exposure, even for few seconds
👍🏽 20 minutes in nature (green or blue spaces)
👍🏽 forward movement – walking, wheeling, biking
👍🏽 real connection – speaking, being heard, eye contact
👍🏽 touch – with a person or an animal
👍🏽 using your voice and getting feedback (singing, conversation, laughter)
If you do these things more or less at the same time each day –
your brain will begin adjusting your chemistry before the activity even starts.
That means:
Even on a bad day, your body might still give you a bit of that feel-good neurococktail – because that is what it’s been trained to expect.
Or on days when you do much less, your brain might still deliver part of the reward anyway, just from habit 🐳
By repeating certain neurochemically powerful actions, the brain begins to anticipate relief –
and that anticipation itself becomes a source of mood regulation and pain reduction.
Even on days when the action isn’t fully performed.
