The Benefits of Glimmers

Over the last 15 years or so, the word “trigger” gained in popularity. We’ve become used to seeing trigger warnings or hearing about someone who was triggered by something. While the word trigger doesn’t automatically imply something negative, it is now generally associated with something negative. But there are ‘positive’ triggers that people now refer to as glimmers.

What are Glimmers?

The Newport Institute offers this helpful explanation:

The term “glimmers” was coined by Deb Dana, a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in complex trauma. In her 2018 book, The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy, Dana notes that glimmers aren’t grand experiences. On the contrary, she says, “They’re micro moments that begin to shape our system in very gentle ways.”

Glimmers have been further popularized on TikTok with people sharing their experiences. Glimmers are everywhere. We just need to pay attention. While triggers can cause anxiety and should be avoided, glimmers can help us relax or remain calm and should be sought out. My purpose for bringing up this topic is to say that, at their core, most (if not all) glimmers are aesthetic in nature or have an aesthetic aspect.

In his book Art as Experience, philosopher John Dewey notes that human beings are constantly in a state of experience. As long as we are conscious, we are experiencing. But we know that when a particular series of moments has a beginning and an end, then we have had “an experience.” Dewey further explains that every experience has an aesthetic element, even if it is mild. The reason is because “aesthetics” in its broadest sense involves sense perception.

Glimmers tend to have a direct connection with your bodily experience. As examples of glimmers, people refer to seeing a rainbow, hearing a good song, feeling the warmth of the sun, smelling a pleasing candle, and tasting an exquisite glass of wine. Without these “micro” experiences throughout our day, we would feel a significant decrease in our well-being. While the absence of any one of these experiences would not deprive us of anything too significant, the collective experience of these glimmers is vital for a flourishing life.

Why are Glimmers Important?

It’s easy to overlook smaller things in life or things that are important but occur regularly. For example, it is very important to breathe in order to stay alive, yet we don’t think about every breath we take at every moment. However, sometimes when we are focusing on relaxing, we may become more aware of our breathing. Or if we are choking or have remained under water too long, that first breath of air may feel amazing. Similarly, we may not always be overly conscious of every glimmer we experience in a day. If we had a particularly difficult day, we may feel the impact of a glimmer more acutely. As stated above, they are necessary for our well-being.

While it is good to have these positive moments each day, they can also help shape us in developing our aesthetic futures. It’s true that our aesthetic taste can change through accidental encounters. For example, if a song playing in a movie happens to move you, then you might become a fan of that song, musician, or even genre. This is similar to the physical sense of taste where putting food in your mouth causes you to taste it. Sometimes this results in a pleasant surprise. But our aesthetic taste and experiences are too important to leave solely to chance. We can develop habits of awareness. Learning to identify how our bodies respond to objects and our environment can help point us toward better aesthetic appreciation.

There are different ways to approach aesthetics, and one of those is through our experience of glimmers. As we attend to these experiences, we can look deeper as to why they provide these positive moments in our lives. What about this experience is particularly pleasant? These milder experiences help point us in new or better directions to develop and expand our aesthetic sensibilities. This is similar to discovering that you really like the paintings of an artist, say Mary Cassatt. So you begin to seek out more of her paintings, and then you look for artists and artworks that are similar. And then, you begin to look for those earlier artists and works that influenced her style and those later artists who were influenced by her. Likewise, glimmers can lead us toward new experiences in nature, cities, or our homes.

Conclusion

People develop plans or habits to achieve different goals in life, for example, career, family, location, and so on. Few seem to consider that our aesthetic taste could also be a worthy goal. We can reorient our thinking to realize the value that aesthetics has for our flourishing. We might make specific decisions to expand our aesthetic experiences in a particular way for a variety of reasons, such as recommendations from a friend. But we should also gain better awareness about how our bodies and minds respond to different stimuli. As the article linked above notes, glimmers can be very good for your mental health.

Relevant ARL Articles

Aesthetic Experience: A Basic Reason for Action

Performative Beauty and Knowledge by Connaturality

Attention to Beauty

ARL News

This fall has been productive! I’ve been interviewed on several podcasts which will air, starting in January. I gave talks about aesthetics to a wide array of audiences in business, architecture, and art. I’ve led workshops at businesses. Lastly, with my colleague Bella Zhang, I co-created and led a course called, “Aesthetic Paths to Flourishing.”

I have some availability for the spring, if you’re interested in having me speak or deliver a workshop. Email at michaelrspicher@gmail.com

Digital Fashion: Theory, Practice, Implications, edited by Michael R. Spicher, Sara Emilia Bernat, and Doris Domoszlai-Lantner, is available for purchase!