Glimmers as flourishing

Moodling through a Feel Good List

My list of "glimmers" will look different to yours depending on what brings you joy and makes you feel safe.

The items have become more specific as time has passed, as I've been reshuffling it for years - it changes depending on my current needs - it's a living list! For example, I had a specific list that I put together during the Pandemic, which included things that brought me joy in my home - plants, taking time to cook from scratch, colour, comfy clothes, and just sitting in my lounge armchair in the sun.

Recently though, I've realised that I haven't been doing many things from the list. Yet reading about glimmers made me stop and wonder why I've let this fall to the wayside.

The whole point of the list is that they are things that naturally make me feel good, it's easy to do them when I need a boost in energy or to find some balance in the hecticness of life. That, in turn, makes me feel grateful that I can have these moments.

Hmmm… time for me to take a moodle through my list!

So what's on this list then?

Here’s the current version. If you want to see how it’s changed over time, scroll to the end of this post.

As I refine the list to suit my current circumstances, I hope to tap into my need to be intentionally and consciously creative and to not only search for but find joy in Everyday Delights and live my life as fully and richly as I can. Noticing myself (feelings, reactions/responses, moods, energy levels etc), my environment and myself in my environment.

Finding peace, a sense of safety and small pockets of joy in the everyday is not easy to do in reality. In any given 24-hour cycle I find that periods of anxiety, frustration, peevishness, loneliness and tears are interspersed with smatterings of small moments of lightness, joy I suppose (such as the birth of spring, the sunshine, the birds singing). Micro-moments when I feel the weight of all the world’s problems lift temporarily and I can breathe freely.

"Upward spirals of flourishing"

One of the biggest lessons I'm learning at this moment in time is to give myself permission to feel the positives and the negatives and go with the flow, and ride the waves. I'm also reminded (in this post by Joyful author Ingrid Fetell-Lee) that joy is an emotion in and of itself - it's immediate, momentary, visceral, instinctive - and surprisingly accessible. And as if that's not enough, loads of these small, micro-moments can lead to "upward spirals of flourishing". I like that phrase, it evokes a positive energy.

Well, that’s all for now, until next time, take care of yourself and indulge in a moodle to find your glimmers. I wish you many upward spirals of flourishing!

Debs

Previous versions of the list