Hearing the word “Glimmer” immediately makes me think about the sparkle you see in someone’s eyes. The Glimmer of the holiday lights and the Glimmer that comes off a sequined dress. Miriam-Websters definition of Glimmer is, “to shine faintly or unsteadily: to give off a subdued unsteady reflection: to appear indistinctly with a faintly luminous quality: a dim perception or faint idea” Example, I see a Glimmer of hope. I recently came across a post by an Unknown Author on social media that read:
TODAY I LEARNED ABOUT A TERM CALLED A “GLIMMER”
Which is the opposite of a trigger.
Glimmers are those moments in your day
that make you feel joy, happiness, peace, or
gratitude. Once you train your brain to
be on the lookout for glimmers,
these tiny moment will appear
more and more
UNKNOWN
I sat with this thought for a few moments as I hope you will do as well. This is such a novel idea, looking for the Glimmer all around you. We don’t have to wait for the sparkle in someone’s eye, from a sequined dress or holiday lights to experience the beauty of Glimmer. First we must dissect a Trigger in mental health. A trigger is an emotional response when something reminds you of a trauma, grief or sadness. The most personal Trigger that I have originates from Valentines Day February 14, 2018. This was the day of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. I live in the town where the shooting occurred and my daughter is an Alumni from the school. My Trigger is helicopters. Immediately, whenever I hear a helicopter above it takes me right back to that day. This is a great example of a Trigger. Triggers usually cause a negative response. Hence, why a Glimmer is the complete opposite of a Trigger. Glimmers related to your mental health are looking for the things that are beautiful, positive and uplifting.
Let’s put all of our focus now on looking for the Glimmer in our lives. I want you to read the Unknown poem one more time before you read on. Our brain is a complete muscle and like any other muscle we can train our brain to focus first on the negative or the positive. We are going to turn that frown upside down and we are going to train our brains to look for the positive throughout your day. We are going to learn how to look for the Glimmer. I want you to put your phone down, computer, take your earbuds out. I want you to eliminate all stimuli that might distract you, Try this exercise with me.
GLIMMER EXERCISE:
Sit up straight
Close your eyes
Take a deep breath in and out for a series of three
Open your eyes and look around
Start to focus on the detaIls around you
Don’t just glance at these things, take a deep look at them
What is the first beautiful thing you see? (This is the Glimmer)
Analyze the beauty of what you see, what makes it so beautiful
Now look around again do you see anymore that Glimmers?
Focus and look at the Glimmer and what makes it Glimmer
The colors, the shapes, the sounds, the smells or maybe it’s just something that catches your eyes.
This is The Glimmer Effect, the beauty of the object, thing, place that has it’s own sparkle
The advantage of this exercise is that it can be done no matter where you are or what situation you are in. Imagine for a moment you are in a stressful big conference room at work and a big project is being discussed. In this arena you are thinking about all of the work this will be for you. It might even be causing your anxiety level to elevate. Stop and complete the Glimmer Exercise. Yes, even in this tense conference room there will be Glimmer. It’s about training our brain in the most tense of situations to find the beauty that can lift our mood and decrease our anxiety. I honestly believe this is your own personal magic trick. No matter what is going on there is Glimmer.
This leads me to the challenge that I have for you on a daily basis. At first finding the Glimmers will be a conscious effort each day. This thought process does not come easy. I believe mainly it’s because we are a society that is always on the go and we don’t stop often to look for the beauty in things. We walk with intention to get to a destination. Often, we sit in front of a computer, smartphone or television and all of our focus is placed on these objects for hours. Ugh, I get anxiety just thinking about this because it is monotonous. There is no Glimmer here. In these moments this is where you stop and complete the Glimmer Exercise. Believe it or not, your brain craves The Glimmer.
Let’s take the Glimmer Exercise to the next level with a challenge that I have for you. I want you to slow down and look for the Glimmer around you every hour of the day. I know it’s a lot right? It takes just a minute or two to stop what you are doing and find the Glimmer in your surroundings. In this exercise you are training your brain to focus on the positive in your environment. Set your phone or your smartwatch each hour to remind you to stop and “smell the roses.” The focus of this repetitive exercise is to train your brain.
Training your brain means it’s a tool for you in the most trying situations. After time, when you are in the middle of an anxious environment your brain will automatically look for the Glimmer. This breaks your thought process and helps you to refocus. It is your own secret weapon to help you create a healthy mindset and coping mechanisms. You might even be amazed about the lasting effect the Glimmer Exercise will happen for you. I believe you will notice that you naturally will see your surroundings in a different light. You will find yourself even when you are daydreaming looking for the Glimmer all around you. It will almost be an automatic response. Imagine you look up from your computer and immediately you see the smile on your co-workers face instead of the hustle and bustle of everyone working.
My friends, I know how smart my readers are and I know that you want to incorporate the Glimmer Effect into your life daily. I like to envision it as if it’s Tinker Bell waiving her wand and sprinkling pixie dust all around you “The Glimmer Effect” You are Tinker Bell and you have the power to sprinkle some Pixie Dust all around you no matter what situation you are in. It’s that glass half full or half empty frame of mind. We are training our brains to look at the Glass Half Full. Looking for the Glimmer all around us.I am so excited for you to experience the Glimmer Effect each day in your lives. Instead of having daily Triggers you will begin to have a day full of Glimmer to counterbalance the unsettling world around you. I am realistic, Triggers will still be there because they are part of your make up but so are Glimmers. The Glimmers are your power to combat the Triggers as well.
Ok, what are you waiting for? In this moment look up from your phone or computer, breathe and look for the Glimmer that surrounds you. I am so excited about the Glimmer Effect you will experience. I even bet, I could guess that you might even have a Glimmer in your eye at this very moment. MAGIC
POSITIVE THOUGHTS CREATE POSITIVE ENERGY
GO OUT AND EXPLORE ALL OF THE WIDE OPEN SPACES IN YOUR WORLD
LISTEN TO MY PODCAST AND EVOLVE WITH ME
CIAO
ILISE
