With the daily to-do list popping into your mind at the start of the day, it can easily make the days feel overwhelming. Compounded, this leads to seasons becoming hard and wishing them away.

Enter: glimmers. A way for you to find more joy in motherhood without anything needing to change but your mindset.

Here’s a look at what glimmers are and how you can practice them to create more happiness in your life as a mom.

What Is A ‘Glimmer’?

Glimmers are like the opposite of triggers. Instead of micro moments that activate your stress response system, these are micro moments that create joy and happiness.

Your brain has a negativity bias (designed to keep you alive by scanning for danger), so you have to train it to see the good.

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Examples Of Glimmers In Motherhood

Here are some basic and common examples of what it might be like to experience a glimmer:

  • Meeting new mom friends at your kid’s new school.
  • Laughing and playing with your little ones and seeing the joy it brings to them.
  • Watching your baby while she takes a contact nap on you, feeling so safe and secure.
  • Hearing your child say “I love you” to their brother.
  • Practicing self care by journaling.
  • Reading a new parenting book.
  • Talking openly about your emotions with your kids.
  • Baking muffins with your kids and having them help.
  • Finding a new community of moms who support you (like Mom On Purpose Membership)
  • Getting out of the house with your spouse for a date night.
  • Getting a rock as a gift from your child.
  • Family game night where everyone plays well together.
  • Watching the sunset or sunrise.

This list is just a small sample of what a glimmer could look like for you. It’s really less about the circumstance itself and more about what you make the circumstance mean.

You can create positive thoughts about any circumstance you want to, and that can be a glimmer for you. It’s a very personal experience.

Are Glimmers Good For You?

The short answer is: yes! Feeling more moments of joy and happiness on a regular basis not only feels good but it also has an upside and benefit to your health.

When you get triggered, your nervous system goes into the “fight, flight, freeze” response. Being in a chronic stress response state negatively impacts your health (everything from high blood pressure to a weakened immune system, to a shorter life). Conversely, when you feel calm and safe, you enhance your body’s performance and longevity.

In the short term, you’ll also have increased happiness, confidence, and overall satisfaction with your life. Connecting to others will be easier, too.

What you focus on expands, so the more you focus on glimmers the more you experience these benefits.

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How To Notice More Glimmers In Motherhood

All healthy human brains have a lower part of the brain that is wired for survival, which means it’s constantly scanning for danger in the name of keeping you safe.

This is really helpful if you’re walking in a dark alley at night or crossing the street and a car is coming. You want your nervous system activated when there’s real danger. However, it’s not helpful in modern motherhood when you’re in your suburban home and it’s triggering you simply because your kids are fighting.

So, if you find that you’d like to notice glimmers but you typically don’t—you’re in good company! It means you have a healthy human brain.

But, you also can change it! You can rewire your brain to focus more on the positive, intentionally.

This is the skill of managing your mind and directing it to more positive thoughts, so you notice glimmers.

It’s a skill anyone can do—even if it feels hard! It’s actually quite simple.

I teach this exact process inside the Mom On Purpose Membership, my coaching community for moms.

Not only do you learn how to think intentional thoughts to notice glimmers, but you also get a list of seven weekly mantras to help you feel more inspired every single day. This is particularly helpful on your hardest days.

You also have 1:1 access to me (Natalie) as your accountability coach, which is a game changer.

If you’re ready to stop feeling overwhelmed and start feeling the joy of glimmers, join me inside Mom On Purpose Membership today.

Quick Tips To Experience More Glimmers

Here are a few recommendations you can get started with to start experiencing more glimmers.

  • Have “no phone time” where you unplug so you’re forced to pay attention.
  • Tune into your senses by noticing all five senses on a walk or simply when you’re walking around your house.
  • Create a daily intention to look for glimmers.
  • Recall one glimmer from your day every night as part of reflecting.
  • Soak in the feeling and exaggerate how it feels to feel good.

The more you practice experiencing glimmers, the easier it will be to notice them.

A Final Note

Experiencing glimmers in motherhood doesn’t have to be left to your circumstances. Instead, you can experience glimmers by training your brain to look for them. Once you do, you’ll get all the benefits that glimmers have to offer including feeling happier and being healthier. Glimmers quite literally are life changing!