Are you experiencing enough glimmers in your life?

Listen to this blog post:

Stephen Lesavich, PhD · Are You Experiencing Enough Glimmers In Your Own Life?

Psychological “glimmers” are small, fleeting, micro-moments of positivity and positive experiences that can significantly impact your emotional well-being.

Glimmers, as introduced by social worker Deb Dana, are specific examples of micro-moments that elicit feelings of happiness, hope, and safety.

Glimmers foster a sense of calm, connection, empathy, happiness and joy and effectively counter daily fear and stress in your own life.

In an article on Psychology Today, Dr. Marianna Pogosyan, explains why Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, who is an expert on temporary positive emotions, feels glimmers, despite their fleeting and subtle nature, echo long after their momentary pleasures fade.

Dr. Fredrickson highlights the importance of these glimmers in your daily life, suggesting that your well-being is significantly influenced by your ability to experience glimmers from ordinary activities such as social interactions, learning, and helping others.

Dr. Fredrickson also emphasizes that your day-to-day glimmers act as psychological “nutrients” for your overall well-being, fostering not only your current happiness but also contributing to future increases in your long-term happiness.

Why are glimmers so important?

According to other psychologists, you actually have an inherent bias towards negativity in your own life. That is, you have propensity to learn from and use negative emotions, negative experiences and negative information far more than positive emotions, positive experiences and positive information in your own life.

Glimmers help you overcome the negative bias and bring a sense of connection and regulation to your nervous system to move you into a new emotional state which allows you to temporarily feel calm and content.

What are some examples of glimmers?

The first few moments of:

Petting a puppy.
Snuggling under a warm blanket to watch a movie.
Sinking into a warm bath.
Watching a sunset over a body of water.
Seeing your children being silly and laughing with other children.

How do you generate glimmers in your own life?

Experience life in the present moment. Glimmers are very fleeting and occur quickly in the present moment. To fully experience glimmers as they occur in your own life, focus your thoughts on the present moment, movement-by-moment, during each day. Focus is a state of directed attention. The present moment is the exact “attention point” and the zero-point energy field that is the source of all creation. Focusing your thoughts on the present moment allows you to create and experience glimmers on a regular basis in your own life.
Acknowledge the presence of all glimmers. When you live in the moment and focus your thoughts to create and experience a glimmer in your life, immediately stop and acknowledge it with all six of your senses. Experience the glimmer first with your intuition, your first sense, then with your other five senses. Every glimmer you experience has an intuitive part with Divine intelligence. First, acknowledge the intuition part of your glimmer that emanates from the energy of a Higher Power and provides you with Divine guidance and Divine intelligence. Then acknowledge what you are seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling with your other five senses when you experience the glimmer.
Embrace the positive aftermath of all glimmers. Glimmers generate significant positive emotions and increases your oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin levels. These three hormones are often referred to as your “happy hormones.” When you experience a glimmer, your brain releases dopamine, your serotonin levels increase, and oxytocin is produced. Oxytocin helps you generate feelings of love, generosity and trust. The release of these three hormones allows you to truly embrace the glimmers you experience and leave you in a positive, empowered state that will “echo” back positive emotions and positive feelings throughout your day.