Glimmers: what they are, why they matter, and 5 ways to find them
Clinically reviewed by Dr. Chris Mosunic, PhD, RD, CDCES, MBA
Glimmers are micro-moments of joy that help calm the nervous system. We explore how glimmers can support your mental health, and 5 tips to help you find them.
Most of us are familiar with a “trigger”, which is a cue from your environment that activates your body, via the nervous system. Based on your knowledge and past experiences, your nervous system moves into a stress response when it senses danger to help you fight, run away from, or freeze in the face of a threat. Things like increased heart rate and breathing, and muscle tension and trembling help you jump into whatever action is needed in the moment.
These responses are helpful if we are facing real danger, but less so when the threats are based on memories, future worries, or day-to-day life stress. Unfortunately, living in this chronically stressed state in our bodies is a one-way ticket to burnout.
But did you know there’s a different kind of cue that can move your body out of the fight/flight/freeze state, aka your sympathetic nervous system, and into a rest/digest state, or your parasympathetic nervous system? It’s called a “glimmer”.
Glimmers can be a huge support to recovering from the daily stresses that lead to burnout, and luckily, you have the power to invite them into your life anytime, anywhere. It just takes a little bit of focus.
Looking for the positive
We spend so much time analyzing and even obsessing over what's going wrong in our lives, but it’s not our fault. We actually have an inherent bias towards negativity. So one of the paths to health and happiness lies in our choice to override that bias and look for the good in our lives. This is where glimmers come in.
Glimmers, first introduced by social worker Deb Dana¹ as a part of Polyvagal Theory, are micro-moments of joy that make us feel happy, hopeful, and safe. They bring a sense of connection and regulation to the body, cue-ing the nervous system to move into the parasympathetic state which allows us to feel calm and open.
In a constantly overstimulated (and negative) world, these glimmers can become a huge support to your physical and mental health. If we spend our energy looking for what’s good around us, we can release stress, settle our nervous systems, and slowly rewire our brains.
Where do we find glimmers?
It can be easier to feel joy in big life moments like marriage, job promotions, children, etc. Or in the exciting events like celebrations, concerts and vacations. But there are a whole lot of moments in between where we also deserve (and can choose) to feel the goodness around us.
The word glimmer is defined as a “faint or wavering light”, which points to the difficulty we may have seeing these moments if we aren’t paying attention. But with a little focus, we’ll see they are all around us, all the time.
What creates these small moments of joy will be different for every person given their past experiences, but they all share the small glow, or burst of extra energy, we feel when we come across them.
Some examples of a glimmer could be:
Seeing a beautiful nature scene or an animal playing
Smelling a relaxing or nostalgic scent
Hearing a child laugh or you favorite song in a store
Tasting a comforting or delicious meal
Feeling cozy under a warm blanket or in a bath
These moments may be fleeting, but taking time to acknowledge the glimmers starts to gently string together a larger sense of happiness, joy, and calm in your body which will help you develop a less overactive nervous system, and even reprogram your brain towards ease and rest over time.
Looking for glimmers is never about covering or stuffing your emotions. But on a bad day, they can offer a reset to your nervous system and provide extra support to help you get through. And on a good day, they can heighten the positive emotions you feel, contributing to an even better day. This will help nourish you when you hit your next inevitable hard day.
5 ways to find glimmers in your day
Discovering what micro moments light you up is the fun part. Here are 5 steps to help you become a glimmer seeker.
1. Set an intention
Every new habit starts with a clear intention, but also a reasonable goal. Decide how you will seek out glimmers in your day, and keep it small to start. Maybe you will try to find one glimmer on your daily walk, or on your lunch break. Give yourself a small goal you can accomplish and then build from there.
You can also set an intention to keep the process light and easy. You don’t need to strain while looking for glimmers, trust you will know them when they appear without effort.
💙 Explore Intentionality and Habit Stacking with the Daily Jay to make this habit stick.
2. Practice mindfulness
Glimmers live in the present. If you’re spending most of your days focusing on the past or future you won’t be able to spot all the good around you.
Start your day with mindfulness and then take time to reset throughout the day with deep breathing or any other grounding activity that helps you be present to the glimmers around you.
💙 Try the Daily Calm or Daily Trip for your morning moment of mindfulness, and something from the Quick and Easy section on your lunch break or after work.
3. Let the glimmers land
When you do come across a glimmer in your day, allow yourself to stop and really take it in. Tune into your 5 senses to explore all that you are experiencing in the moment. Acknowledge why it feels good to you and what’s happening in your body.
Ironically, many of us have a hard time staying inside the good feelings, because we know they will pass or maybe we feel guilty if it’s happening during a hard time for others or in the world. Trust that it’s okay, and even necessary, for you to soak up all the goodness you can from each small experience.
💙 If you’re struggling to soak up the glimmers, give the Let the Good Land meditation a listen.
4. Start a glimmer journal
Keep a log of all the glimmers you discover throughout the day and reflect on how they made you feel. Also explore how the practice of noticing them affects your mood or day in general.
When you purposefully notice glimmers, and how you feel when you do, you will naturally begin to see more. This will help you make a long term habit that will boost your mental health and wellbeing.
5. Share your glimmers
Taking your experience off the page, share your daily glimmers with someone else, or better yet, ask them to join you on your journey to be a glimmer seeker. Make a plan to check-in and share your daily glimmers, and enjoy hearing what moments of goodness they found in their day. We are wired for connection, and habits can be easier to stick to (and more fun!) with a buddy.
¹ Dana D. The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation. First edition. W.W. Norton & Company; 2018.
Images: Getty
