What is a Glimmer?
Glimmers are micro-moments of regulation that foster feelings of well-being. A glimmer could be as simple as seeing a friendly face, hearing a soothing sound, or noticing something in the environment that brings a smile. They are personal to each of us and one person’s glimmer may be another person’s trigger. Glimmers are a cue in the day, either internal or external, that sparks a sense of wellbeing. These tiny moments gently yet significantly shape your system toward well-being. They help you become regulated and ready for connection.
Glimmers routinely appear in everyday life, yet frequently go unnoticed. They are easily overlooked because, to help you survive, the human brain is wired to pay more attention to negative events than positive ones. It’s important to understand that glimmers are not a form of toxic positivity. They are not a way to always look on the bright side or count your blessings and discount your suffering. They don’t neutralize triggers. Recognizing glimmers doesn’t minimize your distress or disavow the ways you are suffering. What they are is reminder that the nervous system is exquisitely able to hold both dysregulation and regulation. Your days can be filled with difficulty, and you can also feel a spark of safety, regulation, and connection. This amazing capacity is built into your human biology.
Once you learn to look for glimmers, you find they are all around, you pay more attention to them, and you naturally begin to look for more. Glimmers are a reminder that ventral energy is always there waiting to be noticed and nourish your nervous system.
The power of glimmers is that they are not a one and done experience. They accumulate and move you along the path toward physical and psychological wellbeing. You feel something shift. You feel a tiny change in your body. You notice a thought that holds a hint of hope. Your nervous system gathers glimmers, adding them up one by one until something in your world feels just a bit different.
The Basic Glimmer Practice helps you learn to notice and name glimmer moments – to stop and feel the spark of joy a glimmer brings.
See: What are the cues that you have found a glimmer? What happens in your body that lets you know you are in a glimmer moment? What do you do when you feel that spark of energy? What thoughts arise? What emotions do you feel?
Stop: Now that you know the cues, use them to notice glimmers as you move through your day. Glimmers happen regularly, but because they are micro-moments you need to be on the lookout for them. Look for predictable glimmer moments in specific places, with particular people, at certain times. Find the ways glimmers routinely appear. Be open to the unpredictable glimmers that may also appear. When you recognize one of the cues you identified, stop and find the glimmer.
Appreciate: Create an easy way to acknowledge a glimmer as it happens. You might repeat a simple phrase or make a small movement (perhaps your hand on your heart or a finger pointing toward the glimmer) each time you find a glimmer. Notice all the different feelings your glimmers bring. Spend several seconds in appreciation letting the glimmer land in your system.
Remember: Find ways to keep track of your glimmers. Experiment with ways to build your collection and create a personal glimmer library.
Share: When you share your glimmers with someone else, they come alive again in the remembering and retelling. You might text your glimmers to a friend or make talking about daily glimmers a family ritual. You could find a glimmer buddy or create a glimmer group.
