Glimmers = feel good list

Enjoying the little things

Sparkles, twinkles, flickers, sprinklings - lots of synonyms for the noun "glimmers"

What am I on about?

If you are on social media, you may have seen a rash of posts about the benefits of "glimmers" as a counter-balance to triggers for our well-being and mental health.

A term conceived by Deb Dana (author of the book "The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy", glimmers are:

"small moments when our biology is in a place of connection or regulation, which cues our nervous system to feel safe or calm ... We're not talking great, big, expansive experiences of joy or safety or connection, these are micro moments that begin to shape our system in very gentle ways"

Dana's work is based on the biology of the nervous system, and she says that “our nervous system has this beautiful capacity to hold all the trauma experiences and find micro-moments of safety and connection⁠ - those glimmers.” 

Why did this catch my attention?

For years, I've called my photography practice "practising everyday delights" and I am a self-confessed delight detective! But more than that, I have a well-being tool that I call my "Feel Good List" which I put together back in 2015. It grew out of the 10 Happiness Resolutions (sparked by reading Gretchen Rubin's "The Happiness Project") I put together when I started my first blog as a way to search for Everyday Delights.

It's a list of things that make me feel good, help me boost my energies and mood, and find peace in the hecticness of life. I’ll share more in my next post, but here’s some examples:

• The excitement of new books from the library

• Fresh sea breezes

• Standing barefoot on the grass

Glimmers are my Feel Good List

I actively dislike "toxic positivity" (i.e. rejecting all difficult emotions in favour of a cheerful and often falsely-positive façade), so I just want to say that my Feel Good List is NOT this!

It's an acknowledgement that each day, as a whole, is neither good nor bad - there are moments where we feel great, moments when we feel shitty and then there are moments when we are neutral. My Feel Good List helps to bring about more of those small, delightful moments.

As Deb Dana writes “well-being is not simply the absence of problems, but also the presence of strengths”.

Tell me, do you have a list of glimmers? What’s on it?

I'll be back tomorrow to share a pic of my list and more about how it has grown over time. In the meantime, here’s a little about the art on the card that inspired this post.

This is card 15 from my collection of 50 and is a collage. The roses are loosely based on a Zentangle pattern and were originally drawn in an old book that I was using as an art journal. At that time (early 2020 pandemic days!), I used a basic set of watercolour markers to add colour. I photocopied the page, glued it to this card and added some further marks with a white Posca pen.

If you want to find out a bit more about the project and a little bit of backstory, head to the About page.

Until next time. I’d love to hear your thoughts, so leave a comment below.

Debs