I’ve seen a few posts on Substack listing things that bring you joy. Deb Dana coined the term “glimmers” in her book The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy. Glimmers are tiny, seemingly insignificant moments when you feel a sense of joy, pleasure, peace, and gratitude.
They’re micro moments that begin to shape our system in very gentle ways.
This has made me think about some of the glimmers in my life. Once you start noting them a few times, you notice them all the time. It brings a bit more sparkle to the day-to-day I think.
My Glimmers this week:
- Cold Brew on the drive to work
- Getting through a tough isometric hold in Lagree
- Wedding flowers arriving (I’m doing silk flowers and they look amazing)
- Sharing my garden harvest with my neighbor
- Nugget playing with his best doggie friend
- Running errands with Andrew
- Sunny days on the weekend
- Snuggles with Nugget when he’s sleepy
- Catching up with friends
- Seeing friends happy and in love (I freaking love weddings guys, especially when it’s a friend)
- Visiting a new coffee shop
- Waking up slowly on a Sunday
Some of those are “bigger” things than others, but they were all moments that made me feel happy and at peace with my life. I had a really great week and not for any big reason.
This got me thinking about how I can apply this to writing as well – finding the glimmers of my writing life.
My writing life glimmers:
- Creating/adding to mood boards
- Random scenes popping in my head as I fall asleep or drive home
- Hearing a song that just fits a character or scene so well
- Writing on a sunny weekend afternoon with no time rush
- The click of keyboard keys
- Scrawling notes in a notebook
- Building a physical plot board
In my journey to have more fun in my writing life, I think it will be important to focus on the glimmers.
What are your glimmers?
Happy Writing!
Rachel
P.S. You can now find my blog on Substack! Come follow me 🙂
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