How to regulate your nervous system using glimmers

I want to talk about talk about how we can regulate our nervous system by using something called glimmers. 

Glimmers are the moments and activities that make us feel safe and regulated. 

I have heard this described in the context of managing ADHD traits, which I can relate too, but I think it’s valuable for all of us. 

The opposite of glimmers are triggers. Some triggers from my own list are: too little sleep, too much caffeine, skipping meals so that the blood sugar goes down too much.

Just a side note about food, which is also a whole other topic about how the overly skinny and small body type has been pushed again lately. Pushing the idea to women that we need to be small and frail and not take up space. 

Eating nutritious food regularly grounds us into our bodies, makes us feel strong and regulated and keeps us clear headed and clear thinking. 

Someone who is not eating enough and even starving themselves is so much easier to manipulate and control because they are not regulated and not thinking clearly. 

That is also the case when we are sleep deprived. This is why in cults, it’s a common strategy for the cult leaders to deprive cult members of both sleep and food. 

When the blood sugar in the body is very low and when we are tired, more of the stress hormone cortisol is released, which can make us feel dysregulated. Some people are more sensitive to this than others. And I am one of them. 

I have started writing down my triggers and my glimmers. I’m adding to the list all of the time. The list of glimmers is much longer so far. Here are some of my glimmers:

✨ My morning coffee.
I know that one of my triggers is too much caffeine, but it’s a matter of the amount and the timing here. The perfect amount at the right time of day is a glimmer for me, not a trigger. And it also gives me a moment for reflection in the morning.

✨ Eating regularly.

✨ Meditation.

✨ Reading my books.
I have an evening habit of reading a book for 10-20 minutes just before going to sleep.

✨ Sleeping well and sleeping enough. For me that’s at least 8 hours (sometimes a bit more).

✨ Going to bed at a reasonable time.

✨ Stretching (which I do every morning for just a few minutes).

✨ Exercising, like weightlifting.

✨ Nature or park walks.

✨ Listen to guided meditations. I have some go to’s that I listen to regularly.

✨ Swimming - especially outdoors.
This week I’m going to my ancestral lands up in Dalarna in Sweden and I’m going to swim in the Siljan lake. It’s one of the best things about the Swedish summer. 

✨ Calming music or music that makes me feel good.

✨ Using my Tarot cards and Oracle cards.

✨ Writing and journaling.

✨ And last but not least, a good conversation with a good friend or family member. I love my alone time to reflect on things but sometimes what I need is to connect with the people in my life and get each others perspective and support each other. 

Some of these are such simple things that we might not even think about when we’re doing them, but the idea is to let them build up. 

We will experience some of these glimmers every day, and some of them only occasionally. But once we know what our glimmers are and add to that list, we can consciously choose to do more of them more often. 

We can of course avoid some of the triggers, but I would focus more on building up the glimmers.

Sometimes glimmers can be spontaneous and not planned, like the other day when I was taking a walk in the park close to here where I live and I walked past some especially vibrant flowers that caught my eye (there is a picture of them in this post). 

I truly believe that building a meaningful life that we feel good about is about the small habits and moments that build up and become something bigger over time.