4 minute read
The power of glimmers
Illuminating moments of calm and healing
To be triggered is to have a trauma response provoked. It is the moment where a previous traumatic experience is recalled. It is an involuntary response, and to be triggered is a well-known concept. Its opposite is hardly known, but as something we can choose to do, it holds the potential to improve our wellbeing.
The opposite to a trigger is a glimmer. While a trigger can initiate a trauma response within you, a glimmer is something which can be helpful in soothing your nervous system, reinforcing feelings of safety and calmness.
This is important to know because when the brain is triggered, it associates past traumatic events as if they are happening right now, leading to the brain and body being on high alert. In such a moment, your brain has interpreted a signal around you as a threat similar to the one preceding a traumatic event from your past, and it is not able to tell the difference in contexts.
Triggers cue threats; glimmers cue safety. In today’s overstimulated world, glimmers can be a key to regulation of overwhelmed nervous systems. Glimmers are micro moments which through repetition can begin to shape our system and have a beneficial impact on our mind and health.
In 1995 behavioural neuroscientist Stephen Porges developed the Polyvagal theory, which focuses on what is happening in the body and the nervous system, and explains how our sense of safety, danger or life threat can impact our behaviour. Using this methodology, clinical social worker Deb Dana developed the term “glimmer” in 2018, before psychologist Dr Justine Grosso popularised the term in a TikTok video that went viral in 2022.
According to Dana, “Glimmers refer to small moments when our biology is in a place of connection or regulation, which cues our nervous system to feel safe or calm.” A glimmer activates the parasympathetic nervous system (also known as rest-and-digest system) and puts the body in homeostasis. The parasympathetic nervous system improves the body’s immune response, increases circulation, and generally helps the body to regulate. More time in a parasympathetic nervous system-activated state reduces your risk of disease.
A glimmer is a moment that literally soothes our nervous system and sparks feelings of relaxation and safety, whereas, when we are triggered, we have an elevated heart rate and blood pressure and our adrenaline pumps faster as the flightor-fight response is activated. If this system is activated too often, or for too long, it can lead to health problems like chronic high blood pressure and insomnia.
So how do we use the knowledge of the glimmer to soothe the body and mind? Firstly, we need to start paying attention.
A glimmer can be found in a sunset, in nature, or in the stars at night. It can also be found in a brilliant cup of coffee or the feeling of warm, salty sea air on our skin. The smell of freshly cut grass or sunlight sparkling on water can give us a glimmer. A warm blanket by the fire side on a cold night, a rainbow pouring bright colours over the horizon, the smell of lavender or a taste of our favourite meal – the list is endless.
As Dana explains, “You feel something happen inside. There’s an energy that happens around a glimmer, and then your brain marks it as well.”
Most profoundly, our senses are what trigger a glimmer inside of ourselves – where we taste, touch, smell, see or feel something extraordinary. But even our ability to breath, walk and be alive should be a source for glimmers, as these functions too are extraordinary and beautiful. By noticing these exquisite micro moments, they can begin to shape our system in very gentle ways for the better. Glimmers can spark feelings of ease, relaxation, safety and connection, and it is good for us to have a break from our uncomfortable emotions.
A glimmer is simply a flicker of light, a hint of possibility that can bring hope to the human spirit. While small, a glimmer is a beacon of hope in darkness, and this becomes a catalyst for change and the fuel for our resilience. Wherever you are in this moment, take a breath and notice that you can breathe! Feel through your senses all the beauty in and around you. Pay attention to the beauty. Hug someone you love, close your eyes and feel how wonderful that feels. That is the glimmer.
