By Cindy Walker Burton

Today I read about a term called glimmers. According to Pinterest, glimmers are those moments in your day that make you feel peace, happiness, or gratitude. Glimmers spark joy and evoke inner calm. Deb Dana, a psychotherapist who coined the term glimmers, posits they are micro-moments of safety, connection, and joy.

Glimmers vs. Triggers. Glimmers are the opposite of triggers. In psychology, triggers are an internal or external stimulus (a sight, sound, smell, or situation) that unconsciously remind you of a traumatic event. Triggers are traumatic while glimmers are acrobatic. Glimmers cartwheel your mind from negative to positive and somersault sadness into gladness. Glimmers propel you and tell you all is well with you.

Got Glimmers? Glimmers involve finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. Noticing the magnificent in the mundane. Recognizing the exceptional in the unexceptional. Observing the uncommon in the common.

Glimpsing Glimmers. Here’s a glimpse into some of my recent glimmers. While on my daily walk, I encountered a snapping turtle crawling with a jagged chunk of its shell torn off. The injury did not impair its mobility. Later, I saw a gray speckled chicken hobbling along because part of its foot was missing. It still foraged and pecked. The GLIMMERS were (1) joy in unexpected meetings with precious animals and (2) admiration of their ability to function despite injuries. Insight: There is beauty in imperfection and perseverance.

At church last Sunday during the children’s message, our recent severe thunderstorms and flooding was mentioned. A young boy excitedly stood up and exclaimed that there had been “tomatoes in the sky!” He obviously meant tornadoes. (You say tornado, I say tomato). The genuine excitement in his voice was priceless. The GLIMMER was the happiness I felt. Insight: Children are gifts from God.

Your glimmers may not always shimmer. But they’ll make you shine. They may not be newsworthy but they are worthy. They may not change the world but they can change you. Glimmers do not occur by circumstance or happenstance. There is no magic or mystery in glimmers. God is in the glimmers.