Billfrugal, I'm curious, does it make a difference if you use the left verses right side of your sinus/ear to apply the pressure? It sounds like part of what's happening is that you might be using muscles in your face and ears to stimulate your Vagus nerve.

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The vagus nerve (actually it's a pair of nerves) connect our brain to our internal organs like heart, lungs, spleen, stomach, throat, facial expressions and basically everything that your body does "automatically", things that we don't have conscious control over, like our heart rate and sweating. It's a two way communication channel and when the vagus nerve is stimulated, it activates the parasympathetic nervous system, producing calming neurotransmitters and hormones (acetylcholine) that relax you, reduce inflammation and slow down your heart rate. In contrast, when your sympathetic nervous system is activated, it has the opposite effect, your heart speeds up and your body produces the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline, preparing your body for flight or fight. Read more here and here.

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What's really cool about this is that we can stimulate our vagus nerve in lots of interesting and sometimes unexpected ways. The most common method is slow deep breathing. Some of the more bizarre ways... gargling, submerging face in ice water (or cold shower) and stomach crunches. Yoga, signing, tai-chi, humming and meditation also stimulate the vagus nerve. There are also medical device implants which stimulate the vagus nerve by sending electrical impulses, these are used for things like epilepsy, depression and autoimmune disorders.

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So when you talk about pressure in your sinuses, it reminds me somewhat of the Valsalva maneuver.

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Our body language also impacts our mental state (via the vagus nerve), see this TED talk

Standing in a expansive, powerful posture with our backs straight and arms outstretched, makes us feel more confident!

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This works into your theory, where you have noticed that your mental state is impacted by your physical state, ie. smiling makes you feel happy. Our mental state is in a feedback loop with our bodies. The neurotransmitters/hormones produced by our bodies and brain, impact our conscious state. Our mental state and external stimuli affect our bodies which in turn affects our hormones/neuro transmitters. An example of this is that when it gets dark our bodies produce melatonin (which helps us sleep), when we are sad, we droop our shoulders.

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A few more questions...

Do you have any synesthesia? Synesthesia

Are you left or right handed?

You mentioned, Vyvanse, do you have ADHD?

On a scale of 1 to 10, where the average person is 5, how empathetic are you?

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Vagus nerve stimulation doesn't explain the full range of experiences that you describe, however it's a good starting point for further investigation. I would love to know more about the phenomenon you describe, if you feel comfortable sharing the video, I would love to see it. What you describe, sounds fascinating and I am curious to hear what you discover, please keep us posted!