The nine women in the circle were scribbling, coloring, and chatting, a mindful art exercise. The discussion strayed to our favorite elementary school memories. Parachute day in gym class. Rectangular pizza and corn Fridays. The Dress Up corner. When some adult entered the classroom pushing the Art Cart. Amy piped up, “Remember the baby pool filled with glitter?”
Um, no. I certainly would have remembered that, were it offered at Providence Elementary. Amy elaborated. “There was a baby pool filled with colored glitter in the corner of the art room. You would scribble on white paper using a clear glue stick and then press it into the glitter pool to reveal your masterpiece.”
I can fully imagine the pure joy of that experience. Adults rarely love anything the way kids love glitter. And a whole pool of it? Absolute magic.
I’ve been in need of more magic in my life recently. An overly filled work schedule and too much adulting has left me feeling pretty drab, or whatever the opposite of a glitter pool is.
In the mental health world, these micro moments of magic are called glimmers. These small, fleeting moments act as powerful cues to our nervous system that, no matter how brutal or grief-filled our current lives, awe and joy and safety exist as a parallel. The more we notice glimmers in our day, the more we reshape our brain and nervous system to notice and embody the glimmers around us.
Once we make it a habit to notice glimmers, then we practice sitting in the moment with connected awareness. This is called savoring. If a micro moment brings cursory joy or peace, then savoring glimmers reshapes a brain into being more open to magic and less prone to numbing out or defaulting to the mundanity in life.
I have, of recent, been imagining a glitter pool in my mind to safely store my glimmers, allowing me to return to them any time. Currently in my glitter pool? The lemon, asparagus, and parmesan pasta my dad made (it tasted like spring come alive). Every song on Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poet’s Department. Cold prosecco with fresh chunks of pineapple floating in it. The smell of my dog’s paws. Yellow irises. Magenta peonies. Baby zinnia sprouts popping through the soil. Rolling my fascia. Reading on my porch in my swinging egg chair. Fluffy clouds and blue skies.
It takes practice and commitment to be awake in a world that leads us toward continual numbing out. But the glitter pool awaits, if we will only open our eyes.
What are your current glimmers? Share below and inspire others.