Simply Sunday - Glimmers, Sea Glass, and Gratitude
Glimmers, sketchnotes, sea glass, and an eyes-open gratitude mindset. Plus, a sketchnote of Keep Going by Austin Kleon.
(Audio above is Episode 488 of the Creativity Matters Podcast. This is not a voice-over, but this episode builds upon this post.)
I debated for most of the week about whether or not to take Friday off. I needed to take a day off, but I just couldn’t decide. I thought maybe Monday would be better. Or maybe neither. I really wanted the day off, but I found myself stopping at various points and thinking, what will I do if I take the day off? What will make it worth it? There were plenty of tasks in the wings, but, really, the day just didn’t sound compelling. It sounded like a lot of work. I didn’t want to take a day off and just work, even on projects I love. But taking a day off and doing nothing, not maximizing the time, would be depressing. I would feel bad about not taking advantage of the day.
I did take Friday off. I spent the morning sitting and writing, traipsing through words and images of gratitude, glimmer, and sea glass. The hours always go too fast.
As has often been the case with podcasts, I sometimes don’t know what a post is about until I’m three quarters of the way through, and I hit on the phrase that suddenly rings clear and brings everything together. I took out more than I left in today, but in the end, the glimmers felt important. The glimmers came through as if I had finally opened a treasure box and peered inside. That’s where I wanted to hover.
I hope by the end of this, you are all set to look for glimmers this week.
Thank you to all of you who read the Sunday post each week and to those who are supporting the substack with a paid subscription. Because of you, I show up to put a message in a bottle each week. The feedback some of you have shared has been really helpful and much appreciated. Thank you for welcoming me into your day.
Glimmers
When I ran into the idea of glimmers, I tucked the word away to talk about sometime when I could wrap my arms wide to fully embrace the wonder and, at the same time, wrap my hands close to cup the warmth.
While our power was out one day this week, water was boiled (a gas burner) to make a cup of tea. Apparently boiled water is much hotter than the hot water dispenser. I instinctively tried to wrap my hands around the cup, but it was too hot to touch. I kept trying, gingerly flattening my palms against the smooth surface, lightly pressing, waiting for the cup to cool just enough. The moment of wrapping hands around a cup that is just hot enough…. it is such a simple thing. For me, it is a glimmer and also a good metaphor for how I sometimes hold onto ideas that are enticing, enchanting, whimsical, magical. I like the holding. I like the process of getting close, of circling the edges before shining a bright light, before naming, before ruining the aura of mystery and the fascination with not quite knowing.
Glimmers struck me that way. For a word that doesn’t make a sound, it seems so very much like an onomatopoeia, a word encompassing its meaning.1 Glimmers. The word captures the fleeting nature, the bit of sparkle, the diamond in the rough. It is a perfect word.
How did I miss the world of glimmers? I first noticed the word in a poem circulated on Instagram. At least I think it was a poem. I can’t find it now. Maybe I didn’t see a poem at all. Maybe I just saw a few posts being shared and reshared, posts like this one and this one. A bit more checking turned up articles on glimmers from the last several years. I’ve been missing out!
🎯 Glimmers are tiny moments, simple things.
“The concept of glimmers was coined by Deb Dana, a psychotherapist specialising in complex trauma. She explains that glimmers are the micro moments in your day that spark a sense [of] joy and wellbeing. Glimmers are the opposite of triggers. Glimmers tell your nervous system that you are safe and well in the world.”2
“When I drive home from work, just before I turn onto my street, I see a big, towering mountain. It always looks different, depending on the weather and seasons. This mountain signals to me: you’re home. It’s a glimmer moment.” (Lauren Baird, ”Glimmers: what are they, how to spot them and how can they make us happier?”)
Appreciating Small Moments
Running into the concept of glimmers gave a new name to the way I think, to the way I gather details, to the way I stretch out the smallest of moments, to the way I look at daily, simple, quotidian things with gratitude. Sometimes, it seems that appreciation of small moments is what it’s all about, and when we relax into accepting that, things feel easier and more mindful. Watching the movement of the trees out the window right now, for example, and the way they sway and bend and layer, matters. This moment, the colors, the light coming from the west, the varied textures and greens, all seen through a vertical gap in the loosely drawn curtains…. it is enough.
The sketchnote I finished of Episode 294: View-Master (see below), ironically, is about story and the juxtaposition of small moments, a celebration of the mundane. It is a show about lining up moments side by side to see the meaning, insight, and, ultimately, story that emerges, the moment where everything suddenly connects.
(Aside: the line from last week about the giant connect-the-dots monster has stuck with me.)
I love the idea of glimmers. I don’t, truly, think they are new to me, but now I have a beautiful word for them, a word that makes them something to gather, to hold, to seek.
Apparently sharing glimmers has been popular on TikTok. I can see that glimmers, as a concept, could fall prey to the world of aesthetics, to the world of have and have nots, to carefully crafted stories and constructed moments, to showmanship and competition. The popularity of the concept seems to say something about how far away we are (as a society) from valuing simple moments — and how we want to embrace them. It seems to say something about how we crave something simpler, something less complicated.
I’m appreciating this word as an umbrella concept, as a personal tool.3
Glimmers are not defined as simply gratitudes, but I wonder if we had given gratitude a word that felt so whimsical, if people would be more enchanted by the process.
🎯 I think gratitudes and glimmers, for me, may be the same.
You Have to Look
One thing to keep in mind is that glimmers might be quiet. They might be fleeting. They might be a slow burn. They won’t necessarily show up at the door with a big label announcing themselves as a glimmer. You have to be walking around, eyes and heart open, to catch the bit of sparkle.
I think the illustrated journal is one way I focus on looking for and capturing glimmers. I think that often, my gratitude moments are awareness of glimmers. I have often felt odd about being grateful for such simple things:
The color or warmth of a single coffee cup
The view of light from the top of the hill that I can’t capture
The feeling I get every time I crest a certain hill on the way to the pharmacy and see the city
The feeling I get when I see the stacks of houses on the hillside
The first glimpse of Sutro Tower through the fog when I cross the bridge
The triangular wedge of space looking through the trees
The flow of a favorite purple ink making simple hatched lines and shifting color as it dries
Glimmers and gratitudes may be intertwined in my head, but I like having the new awareness, having different words, and having a challenge and a quest to be on the lookout for them.
Searching for Sea Glass
In the Episode 294 sketchnote, I drew a pile of sea glass. (You might only know if you know.) Sea glass doesn’t really show up in pastel colors like the sketchnote illustration. It has a beautiful palette, and you may run into unexpected colors, but mostly, you’ll find ranges of greens and blues, shades of clear, and, occasionally, rich and warm ambers. (There are a lot of beer bottles out there.) The pile I drew was in pastels, but the idea is there.
I think of glimmers — and of gratitudes — like little chips of sea glass. You walk along, and unless you are looking for them, you might completely overlook them. Sometimes, you walk along specifically looking for them, intent on catching sight of a little flash of green in the piles of rock left by the tide, and you don’t see anything…. Until you do.
That’s part of the wonder of sea glass. It takes walking and looking and patience, and at the end of the day, you might only have a few small pieces of treasure in your pocket. Those few make the looking worthwhile. That there are only a few may make them even more special.
Once you notice a glimmer, you open yourself to the next one.
Record Your Glimmers
I added “glimmers” to the prompt set this week for those keeping an illustrated journal. I hope you will give some thought to glimmers. We often record things we see or things we hear. This week, be on the lookout for glimmers.
I thought about what I might do on my day off, and I made a little list of the things I knew I needed to do and some things I “could” do. I didn’t do everything, and not everything went according to plan. For example, I spent time pulling out yarn to test a granny square project. I thought I would do that sitting by the lake, and then I drove off with the crochet hook in my pocket but without the bag of yarn.
I did go to the lake, and as I drove in, I noticed the dappled light on the one-lane road from the trees overhead. A glimmer. Noticing it as such, I paid attention. Just being there was good, but I made note of glimmers:
Dappled light as I drove in
Older man walking a small cinnamon-colored dog
Purple flowers with light shining through
Golden light on a small tree
The circular patterns of the shifting reflection of water on the underside of a stone bridge
That simple. That easy.
“Unlike a big vacation, birthday party, or mega-fun night out with friends, glimmers are those small, easy-to-miss moments in your daily life that bring about a moment of peace or joy.”
“Being cognizant of glimmers is all about slowing down and feeling a little more present, which is the opposite of being triggered. Like any mindfulness or gratitude practice, it can take some practice and patience, but the results are totally worth it.” ("Glimmers" Can Bring You A Mini Spike Of Joy — Here's How”)
Practice
Make a list of glimmers you notice this week. This isn’t a race or a competition. See if you can notice even one thing that strikes you as a glimmer. (You may find that as you start framing moments this way, you more easily recognize others in your day.)
Draw one glimmer.
Make a grid of 1 to 2 inch squares on a page in your sketchbook and track and record glimmers over the next few weeks.
Notice the categories of your glimmers. Are they sights? Sounds? Smells? Tastes?
How are glimmers related to things we dub as comfort foods, comfort reads, comfort shows?
I think my glimmers are pretty routine, certain things I notice again and again, and maybe that’s as it should be. But maybe some glimmers are universal, too.
Consider it a quest this week. Look beyond whatever is going on, whatever is keeping you busy or stressed or anxious or worried and be open to the presence of glimmers.
(Interested in gratitude? Struggle with gratitude? Embarrassed by discussions of gratitude? You might be interested in the daily Spark series from 2017.)
Sketchnotes
Keep Going by Austin Kleon
I’ve planned, for a while, to do a full post related to Austin Kleon and a video interview I watched a few months ago. I’m sure all of you have read at least one if not all of his books, starting with Steal like an Artist. I’ve started a sketchnote of book 2, Show Your Work. But last week, I did a summary sketchnote of the third book in the series, Keep Going.
I like the idea of sketchnoting books (and videos) as a way to distill information, take personal notes, and reinforce concepts. This is also a perfect way for me to continue to practice and build my sketchnoting skills. In this note, I found myself doing some “talk back” or “interpretation” in the margins. I left those in pink.
My notes might not match the core chapter numbers, and that’s okay. There is a lot packed into Kleon’s work. The format is wonderful, accessible, and presented in a way that is easy to take in. I really appreciate his style of writing (as well as the overall art and design), and the wealth of examples, quotes, statistics, and stories used to give shape to concepts. If you don’t already get his popular “10 Things Worth Sharing This Week” newsletter, you can find it here.
Episode 294 of the Creativity Matters Podcast
I talked a bit about this sketchnote above, and I talked last week about getting stalled on this one, a result of both lack of response (to my giddy, “woohoo, I’m doing it” post) and the challenge of making everything fit on whole pages. It was a difficult show to sketchnote because it is, in so many ways, a show about language. This was an interesting (randomly-selected) episode (from 2018) to do, and I laughed when a hillside of pink flamingos showed up (in the listening).
I need to listen back to the show with the sketchnote in front of me to see how I feel — and what I may have missed. The Dr. Seussian moment may need to go. (It made sense with the sound of the show but strikes me as a red herring now.) Overall, I feel good about this sketchnote for the moment. View the notes
I am ready to throw a dart and choose another old show to try.
Books
A bunch of books to mention. Click through for short synopses of these books:
What to Do When I’m Gone: A Mother’s Wisdom to Her Daughter (you really need to see this one)
Notes from the Sickbed (graphic novel)
Notes on a Thesis (graphic novel)
Time Zone J (graphic novel)
Illustrate Your Week — Week 31
The new prompts for Week 31 have been posted.
A Glimpse
In addition to everything else, I want to be sharing notes from the illustrated journal space each week. Here is a partial look at last week’s spread which had unusual amounts of blank space (which the comic characters felt a need to comment on) and the unexpected use of colored pencils.
This week, I am looking forward to drawing a clown.
Video Pick
I keep a lot of videos playing while I work. This one was fascinating in scope and organization. Very well done! I Tested EVERY Colored Pencil in the WORLD!
(See also: the BEST Holbein ALTERNATIVES? Testing PASTEL colored pencils)
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Possibly ideophone, of which onomatopoeia is a type, is the right word.
Deb Dana defined “glimmers” in The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy: Engaging the Rhythm of Regulation.
My enchantment with glimmers is just that, enchantment. My interest isn’t rooted in psychology or neuroscience. I feel free to interpret.
I feel the need to leave a comment here because a frenzy of “cutting” the post yesterday has now left me vaguely uncomfortable. The post was initially a thinking through of two things… glimmers and toxic positivity, both phrases that have really impacted me recently, both phrases that gave a “label” to something important. I removed the “book” I wrote on (what I call) “glossing” and TP and how difficult (and alienating) I find that. I also removed an initial list of three simple gratitudes from the week, following a paragraph about feeling blue, and sinking, and stagnant. There is always the back and forth. I am not a rose-colored glasses person — but gratitudes (and now the idea of glimmers) have been really important for me in developing a (somewhat) calmer approach and more balance. It was a difficult process…. I do try and remember to look for the simple things. I am always amazed by how when I open my eyes and really look…. I see.
You have such a wonderful way of articulating things. In my non-art journal I have a tendency to vent a lot and write about stressful things-- which does help me sort my mind out to an extent-- but I like the idea of incorporating more of the good, giving it more of my attention and mental energy. I will be looking for glimmers this week. :-)