Glimmers are some kind of internal or external cues — small, positive moments or experiences — that spark feelings of joy, safety, or peace for you. These pleasant instances can ease and relax your nervous system with a feeling of contentment or a sense that everything is OK — even if just for a brief moment.
It’s the opposite of a trigger, which activates your nervous system and heightens anxiety or negative emotions.
A glimmer can be anything from feeling the sunshine warming your face to cuddling with a furry friend to smelling the aroma of coffee brewing. It’s whatever evokes a good feeling for you.
It almost seems too simple.
But it’s true and scientifically proven.
Noticing little positive moments could be one way to help calm and regulate your anxious, overwhelmed nervous system.
What is a Glimmer?
The concept of glimmers is rooted in the Polyvagal Theory developed by Dr. Stephen Porges. The theory centers on the crucial role your body’s autonomic nervous system plays in emotional regulation and social connection. The term glimmer was first introduced in 2018 in the book The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation by licensed clinical social worker Deb Dana who specializes in trauma. It was then popularized in a viral TikTok video by psychologist Dr. Justine Grosso.
Characteristics of Glimmers
- Brief and Fleeting: Glimmers are often short-lived, but their impact can be significant.
- Positive and Uplifting: The experiences evoke positive emotions and sensations for that person.
- Subtle: Glimmers can be subtle and can easily go unnoticed if you’re not paying attention.
- Personal: What constitutes a glimmer can vary greatly from one person to the next. For example, it could be the sight of a beautiful sunset, the laughter of a loved one, the feeling of a gentle breeze, or the taste of your favorite food.
Here’s How Glimmers Can Improve Your Mental Health
While noticing and relishing glimmers isn’t a substitute for therapy or other mental health practices, the method can be a valuable addition to a mentally healthy lifestyle and have positive cumulative effects on mental and brain health. Research indicates that even fleeting positive emotions can have long-lasting, supportive impacts on personal growth, social connection, and mental health.
Here are some ways glimmers can help:
Promoting Positive Emotions:
Recognizing and savoring glimmers can enhance feelings of happiness and contentment. Research tells us that even though they are fleeting, positive emotions have long-lasting consequences. They can counterbalance negative emotions, eenhance social connections, and improve your overall mood.
Building Resilience:
By focusing on and amplifying small positive experiences, you can begin to build emotional awareness and resilience, equipping you to manage adversity better when it arises. A resilient brain is even physically different and handles stress better.
Enhancing Mindfulness:
Paying attention to glimmers requires being mindful and present, which are key components of many therapeutic mental health practices taught today. Becoming aware of experiences that can qualify as glimmers helps you to become more aware of your thoughts, emotions, and experiences. This can translate into greater emotional intelligence and provide the mental health and brain benefits of mindfulness.
Rewiring the Brain:
Just as mindfulness is proven to physically change the brain in beneficial ways because of neuroplasticity, consistently noticing and appreciating glimmers can rewire your brain too. You will become more attuned to look for and notice positive experiences, while simultaneously shifting your focus away from thinking patterns and things that make you anxious and depressed. Over time, your brain functions to achieve a more balanced perspective and even strengthens positive default networks.
Supporting Nervous System Regulation:
According to Polyvagal Theory, glimmers can help activate the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The PNS is your calming “rest and digest” system and promotes relaxation and reduces anxiety and stress. Deliberately taking steps to make you feel safer helps calm your baseline nervous system and control its hardwired tendency to look for and be hypersensitive to threats.
Improving Relationships:
Recognizing glimmers in social interactions can improve relationships by fostering gratitude, empathy, and connection, which are essential for well-being. Nourishing connections with others improves both mental and physical health. When you’re in the presence of people you enjoy, you’re much more likely to notice glimmers.
How to Find Glimmers in Your Daily Life
Glimmers are literally everywhere. You can spot them when you’re out for a walk, talking to a stranger, grocery shopping, or spending time with friends or family. You don’t have to chase them, but you do have to remember to look for them. Looking for and savoring little moments of joy and pleasure is all there is to it.
To increase your chances of finding glimmers in everyday life, however, try these strategies:
- Set an Intention: Start small by setting a goal to spot one a day. Then increase the goal as you get the hang of it and better at it.
- Go Where the Glimmers Are: Think about where you consistently feel relaxed, happy, or at ease.
- Engage Your Senses: To notice glimmers, bring your attention to your vision, hearing, taste, and senses of smell and touch. This is a form of mindfulness called grounding.
- Journaling: Keep a journal where you write down glimmers you experience throughout the day. Doing this can help reinforce positive experiences and create a habit of looking for them.
- Gratitude Practice: Incorporate glimmers into a daily gratitude practice. You can make it a point to acknowledge and appreciate the positive moments you encountered during your day.
- Mindfulness and Meditation: Noticing glimmers, focusing on their good feelings, and letting them resonate can become part of a mindfulness or meditation practice and vice versa.
- Limit Screen Time: You can’t notice the good around you if your face is buried in a screen.
- Share with Others: Share your glimmers with friends or family. This can reinforce your positive experience and share it with others. Emotions are contagious, both good and bad ones.
Conclusion
By intentionally seeking out and focusing on the tiny micro-moments of joy inherently built into your life, you can cultivate a more positive and balanced outlook, cue your nervous system to relax, and have a beneficial effect on your mental health and well-being.
Further Reading to Encourage Glimmers:
How to Use the Good Already in Your Life to Give Your Brain a More Positive Outlook
Look For The Good and You’ll Find It
Pulling Weeds and Planting Flowers in Your Mind
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