Don't wait for the glimmers to find you
An afternoon among shimmering birds and their caretakers serves as antidote to triggering moments.
For trauma survivors, triggers are a concept we’re all familiar with: Those seemingly minor moments or experiences that take us right back to the painful or scary memories.
Triggers can be so random — and so plentiful. Recently, when I heard glass clink in our kitchen recycling bin, I was suddenly thrown back to the memory of being in the parking lot of my loved one’s old apartment, tossing bag after bag of empty wine and beer bottles into the smelly dumpster.
I didn’t want to experience that sad memory, but my nervous system could have cared less. It operates on a different level of awareness than my conscious thinking, a level more primitive and primed for threat.
Triggers versus glimmers
Scroll TikTok long enough and you’ll eventually learn there’s an opposing yin-yang to triggers, known as “glimmers.” (For the record, I didn’t pick that word; I find it a little cheesy and eye-rolling-inducing, but here we are. Also for the record, the science of “glimmers” is shaky at best, falling somewhere under the broad category of “positive psychology concepts that need more research.”)
Anyway, bearing that in mind, if triggers are the jarring moments in your day, glimmers are the moments of joy. But because our nervous systems aren’t primed to hold space for happy moments compared to threatening moments, glimmers are easy to ignore, overlook, or dismiss.
This means just like we have to learn to handle triggers, we must learn to emphasize glimmers. How you do this is up to you — I tend to take photos of my glimmers, which basically means a camera roll full of Texas wildflowers. (I tried to keep a “morning gratitude journal” that focused on small moments, but I am not a morning person. Every entry became “I’m glad coffee exists.” I’m not kidding.)
Perhaps most importantly, don’t wait for the glimmers to find you. While yes the serendipitous moments are lovely and can feel the most moving (especially if they’re turtle or tortoise related, or maybe that’s just me), it’s also OK to deliberately nurture the glimmer. (Note: Another word I find eye-rolling is “nurture.” Is my trauma showing yet?)
And now for the purple martins, which literally shimmer
Speaking of getting more glimmers, when your husband asks if you’d like to attend an event held by Travis Audubon in which you’ll visit a “Purple Martin Sanctuary” that’s just two miles from your house, but you’re on the fence because the heat index is 100 degrees, ignore your fear of heat stroke and GO.
You’ll discover not just a giant flock of beautiful shimmering birds flying all around you like your on the set of Snow White, you’ll discover there’s a whole subculture of (human) “landlords” who meticulously maintain colonies all across the Eastern U.S.
You’ll feel not just in awe, but comforted that there are still humans like this out there, helping give mother nature a helping hand. (Especially local “landlord” Laura Joseph, who has her own documentary.)
GLIMMER 1:
I mean, these folks do things like serve lemonade along with purple martin cookies. For free!
GLIMMER 2:
They will also hand-crank the colony down to eye level, so you can peer inside. (Fun fact: Purple martin colonies operate like flagpoles, with a pulley system.)
GLIMMER 3:
They’ll also place out an assortment of comfortable chairs so you can just sit and watch and listen while you eat cookies and drink lemonade.
GLIMMER 4:
You’ll marvel at this old-timey “purple martin prognosticator” and become a little obsessed with it.
What’s a recent glimmer for you? Please share in the comments! ✍️
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What a fun outing! Thanks for sharing.
Yes! And sharing glimmers is wonderful, thank you for this. I have been moseying every day, smelling flowers and touching them too. Soft petals and leaves. And also talking pics which then become wallpaper on my phone. I have discovered many flowers have a scent that I never thought did!