Notice Glimmers

Noticing Glimmers is bringing your full attention to things that make you feel safe, happy, or calm.

Community Tips

Me learning about triggers was a big step for me in working on over exercising. Then, finding out about Glimmers, was like turning everything upside down. In a good way.

I’m probably not going to go around talking about Glimmers with my guy friends, but I get it. My daughter’s laugh gets me all the time.

I’m not really into journaling, but I decorated these little glimmer boxes out of the sturdy boxes my best friend and my phone came in. They have post‑it notes and a pen. When I walk by and have a glimmer, I add it to the box.

When I can, I take a photo when I see a glimmer. My Mom passed away, but I email her one to say hi.

I am not great at this without trying. So I really have to say to do this intentionally. I started by doing it whenever I fill my gas tank. I’ll look around, then I’ll think back over my day so far and see if I can find some.

My therapist told me to just at least, once a day take two minutes and try to find something that you find enjoyable. It was a schedule for me because I was in that trauma zone and survival mode and I wasn't even giving a second to myself. That schedule looked like: okay after you come out of university or before you go to your classes, just take two minutes, look around and find two things that you like and you think are enjoyable and make a list of that. For me those two seconds made a huge change because in those two seconds I wasn't thinking about my trauma and over time I had a list of things that even thinking about them would put a pause to my negative thoughts and increase my resiliency.

When I have a hard time and nightmares are back, I try to use glimmers before going to bed. I do this by listening to some peaceful music like piano or guitar and then try to visualize things that brought me joy in the past.

Why Use this Skill

The same way that there are things that activate your body’s stress response (AKA, “triggers”), there are things that activate your body’s relaxation response (AKA, “glimmers”). If we do our best to Notice Glimmers when they happen, we can decrease our overall stress levels and improve our emotional health. It can feel nice to focus on feeling the positives, rather than only focusing on getting rid of negatives.

When to Use This Skill

Use Notice Glimmers when:

You want to increase mindfulness, self-care, embodiment, or resilience.
You are trying to make big changes in your life, or you’re using skills like Get Rid of Triggers.
You have a history of trauma, anxiety, or substance abuse that you’re trying to overcome.

How to Use This Skill

Noticing Glimmers has two main forms: (1) trying to create glimmers on purpose and (2) noticing when glimmers happen naturally.

To create glimmers on purpose, use other skills focused on cultivating “positive” emotions like happiness, love, amusement, pride, excitement, or contentment. Try Values, Pleasant Events, Self-Soothing, Caring Messages, Paced Breathing, Mindful Movement, or Contributing.

To notice glimmers when they happen, try to practice mindfulness skills regularly. The more you practice mindfulness in general, the more likely it is that you’ll notice glimmers when they happen!

Other ideas for Noticing Glimmers:

Write a gratitude journal. Every night, write three things that happened that day that made you feel pleasant emotions.
Keep a “glimmer list.” Whenever you notice a glimmer, write it down on a list (on your phone, in your planner, in your journal, on a Google doc, or wherever you can easily access it).
Share glimmers with someone. Ask your friend to be “glimmer buddies” with you. Every time you notice a glimmer, send them a text about it, and ask them to do the same.
Set a “glimmer intention.” Set yourself a goal to find or notice a glimmer right now, or within a given time period. (This is an idea from Deb Dana, the social worker who coined the term “glimmer.”
Notice glimmers within your pleasant events.