As I consider my own gratitudes, exhaustion, and seeking ways to soften my own life, I find this concept has been a recurring theme.
The general idea is that a glimmer is something small that sparks joy in your life. We are tallkjng about the truly small things like that first sip of hot chocolate on a fall evening, catching sight of the full moon, or hearing laughter from afar.
Glimmers usually aren’t typically planned although I suppose they could be. They are incredibly good for our mental health because they are small reminders that life isn’t so bad and they help us build emotional resilience.
When you see the good in the world, you assume there is more good beyond what you see. There’s something positive around the next corner.
A glimmer is the opposite of a trigger. While triggers are the small things that irritate us and fire up lots of negativity, sadness and anger, glimmers will calm and soothe. They make us happy. They make us smile. They spark creativity and joy.
This week has not been the best but I have been enjoying some glimmers here and there. One day this week I was waiting my turn at a busy intersection and happened to look over to see a little bird splashing in a mud puddle at the side of the road. That little guy was experiencing pure bliss, splashing, ducking under the water, and spinning around before splashing some more!
That same day, I saw a beautiful rabbit in a neighbor’s yard.
I was on the road for work yesterday and experienced construction and traffic delays in multiple locations. As I headed home, I impulsively drove right past my turn to come home and headed to the Dollar General down the road. Whoever owns the field next to that store has planted it with sunflowers. It’s a glorious display of sunflowers right there along a busy state route.
My pictures are terrible because I didn’t want to trespass and had to aim my phone camera through some brush and the iPhone camera isn’t great. Still, isn’t it lovely to think that someone would plant such a beautiful display of flowers just to give me a glimmer one August day?
Look around you, friends. There are glimmers everywhere. You just have to know how to spot them!
I try to share something most days as this is a daily writing/thinking exercise for me. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been possible lately.
We have reached my busy season at work. I’m also in the throes of a busy volunteer life. At home, I’m trying to decorate for Easter, organize my messy craft room, reorganize my books, overcome some health issues and reinvent my life so I can be the best that I can be – all while hobbling along with a bum leg.
It’s going about as well as you might imagine.
I’m physically and mentally tired. I’m overwhelmed by possibility and underwhelmed by my own management of anything more than my bedtime routine.
If only there were a few more hours in the day. The good news is the really bad part will last only another month. The bad news is there’s another month to go.
So back on track, I half heartedly try to go. But honestly, friends, if the choice is between writing and sleeping, I’m probably going to choose the sleep.
I’m sure y’all will overcome the disappointment somehow! Ha!
In case I drop off the map again and I’m not around to remind you to think positive, here’s your assignment. In this ever darkening world, what’s one small thing you can do to make it a brighter place?
It doesn’t have to be expensive or taxing in any way. Chat up your cashier at Aldi, pay a compliment to a stranger, or grab a loose cart so it doesn’t bang into someone’s car. Take donuts to a friend. Offer to babysit your sister’s kids so she can get a haircut in peace.
Maybe you want to take this assignment to the next level and help with a letter writing campaign to your member of Congress, plant a field with sunflowers (those are some happy flowers), or join your town’s beautification effort. Those pretty flowers on Main Street don’t plant and water themselves and could benefit from your green thumb. Tutor a child in a subject you know well or become their Big Brother or Big Sister if you have that program in your area.
My philosophy has long been that when I go to bed at night I should be leaving the world in the same or better condition than I found it in that morning. I’m failing miserably so I need everyone else to try a little harder while I get it together.
Think of the people of your youth who inspired you. What would Woody Guthrie, Steve Irwin, John Lennon or our beloved Mr Rogers have to say?
Woody spent a lifetime standing up against fascists, advocating for workers’ rights, and reminding us that “this land was made for you and me.”
“The Crocodile Hunter” told us that “if we save our wild places, we will ultimately save ourselves.” What would we do without the amazing wild places across the is nation of ours?
The kind and gentle soul we all knew as Mr. Roger’s taught children on television for 33 years to look for the helpers, that we are all special, and that our differences make us better. “It’s the people who feel strong and good about themselves who are best able to accept outside difference—their own and others,” he said.
Maybe we all just need better self esteem and more self respect and we would treat our planet and the people who inhabit it more kindly.
I can tell you that volunteering is a great way to put things into perspective and to understand who your true community leaders are. After a lifetime of being an active community volunteer I can tell you the politicians are rarely the real leaders. In fact, it’s usually what the state and national politicians muck up that the rest of us are trying to fix.
The true leaders are the young professionals, the retirees, and the individuals who have an interest in seeing something be better. Never underestimate the grandmotherly church lady with a freezer full of homemade pies. Those ladies will be in charge if the world ever ends.
Remember, there are plenty of ways to brighten someone else’s day and yours as well. Visit a neighbor or buy yourself a little gift from a small business. That business owner will do a happy dance at your purchase. Visiting a national park is almost a revolutionary act these days. Go take a long hike and do not skip the gift shop!
Find a way, enormous or minuscule every day to make the world just a little better. If we all did one small thing, imagine the difference we could make. I may sound a little hippie dippie but that’s fine by me.
I wrote something for today but it was fueled by exhaustion. I’m long overdue for a vacation or maybe just a good night’s sleep. While I ruminate over whether or not I want to publish a piece that’s kind of personal but that would likely resonate with many of you, I give you this one very small suggestion.
Do yourself a favor.
Step away from all the screens in your life. Turn off the tv. Put down your phone. Step away from your computer.
Now read something. Anything that is printed on a tangible piece of paper. A novel for escapism, a non-fiction book for education or a printed newspaper for the sake of understanding something that is happening in the world around you.
Ask questions. Be curious. Seek to understand what doesn’t meet the eye. Do something that will make you smarter or happier or just better informed than you’ll be with the garbage fed to you by social media and televised opinions that are masqueraded as news.
If you don’t want to do this, walk outside. Go for a hike, hit the swings at the park, wave to your neighbors from your front porch.
I honestly don’t care what you do. Just find a way to either better your mind or to ground yourself in the outdoors.
It may not make sense to you at this moment but it may after you have done it.
To wake up and find a bee frolicking in flowers, covered in pollen and joyfully buzzing from one flower to the next is pure and utter happiness. When it happens on a cool Ohio summer morning against the backdrop of a pastel blue sky, it feels like a miracle.
When the breeze gently rustles the leaves of a nearby tree where a woodpecker feeds its young, all the world feels fresh. The small bunny hopping past, happily munching on grass lends optimism to an otherwise dark and confusing world.
Life abounds when you’re in nature but when you live in the country and are surrounded by it all the time, it’s easy to take for granted. It’s easy to forget how lucky you are to step outside your door and see trees so thick they block the sunrise and how special it is to have fresh air to breathe and little toads hopping through the flower beds. It’s easy to take for granted the tawny brown deer that wander through the yard and the colorful butterflies that flutter by. The buzz of a hummingbird, the chatter of squirrels, the sounds of a summer morning can quickly become backdrop rather than the incredible, beautiful, inspiring life giving force that they really are.
What a shame it would be to never stop and appreciate these things. Today, let’s learn from the bee. The bee that’s so covered in pollen and so joyously moving through this world that there’s no time for trouble and no time for anything but the flowers.
One of my favorite things about many western states is that you see these sunflowers growing along highways in abundance. Many regions of Colorado are dotted with these lovelies.
These two appear to be admiring each other.
They are such happy flowers. They brighten the landscape and never fail to make me smile so I couldn’t resist grabbing a picture from this parking lot at a waterfall called Treasure Falls.
Helen Keller once said “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It’s what sunflowers do.”
The local library here hosted a Pysanky workshop this weekend. This is a Ukrainian egg decorating technique that uses dye and wax. They tend to use traditional folk designs that are intricate and colorful.
Our instructor has 39 years of experience with this mind boggling art form because her Ukrainian grandmothers taught her beginning at a young age. Her skills and patience are admirable.
We were first given egg shapes on paper to sketch our designs in pencil. Crayons were used to experiment with the palette and inspiration came from books and an assortment of eggs she had on display. Once we had our ideas together, we chose an egg and were armed with a lit candle, block of wax and a little tool used to draw on the egg with the wax.
Given my obsession with sunflowers last summer, it was logical to do something with a sunflower pattern. Not only is the sunflower the national flower of Ukraine, it’s a captivating example of how imperfections can be beautiful. I strolled through three sunflower fields last summer and my favorite flowers were the ones that were flawed.
Here’s my egg.
It is incredibly flawed and the sunflower imperfect but I’m still quite proud of how it turned out. I love the palette I chose and the design too. The execution leaves a lot to be desired as working with wax on a real egg shell is one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done.
All the same, I managed to get it done and had fun in the process. It now is in a place of honor on my bookshelf, a pretty reminder that enjoying the creative process can be as rewarding as the outcome. Also a reminder that perfection is overrated and that imperfections can be beautiful.
I suspect and hope that this was not my last attempt. I will count on trying it again someday.
Here’s one more view of her gorgeous eggs.
Here’s something about imperfections from last year. I wrote about sunflower fields here, here and here. I would recommend finding one near you this summer! If you get a chance to try a new kind of art, I recommend you do that too!
