Two Sylvias' Weekly Muse: July 16, 2023

Issue 64

Hello Poets, Writers, and Artists!

We hope your July is overflowing with creativity and inspiration!

We recently came across an interesting concept that is being explored by psychologists and social workers—a term known as glimmer. Most of us are familiar with the word trigger, which refers to content or experiences that evoke a strong psychological or emotional response in individuals who have experienced a traumatic event. A trigger can be anything that reminds a person of their traumatic experience and causes them to relive or re-experience distressing emotions, thoughts, or physical sensations associated with that event. Triggers are highly individualized and vary from person to person. Something that triggers you may not affect a friend or family member in the same way.

A glimmer is the opposite of a trigger. Glimmer was coined by Deb Dana, a licensed clinical social worker specializing in complex trauma. In her book The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy, glimmer refers to those small mom…