The Joy in the Extraordinary Ordinary
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Last year, during a time that was particularly stressful for a friend and me, we were both dealing with triggers, more recently referred to as activators. Triggers are defined as a person, place, thing or situation that elicits an intense or unexpected negative emotional response or causes someone to relive a past trauma. We’ve all heard of them and likely experienced them.
Back to the story of my friends and me, we decided to experiment with something called glimmers. They are unexpected moments that catch you off guard causing the spontaneous catch of a breath or a partial smile that result in feeling of happiness, peace, gratitude and always a moment of joy. They are a random kindness, a thoughtful gesture, the warmth of the sunshine on your face, a song that reminds you of a special friend or memory, the white clouds against the Colorado blue sky, the call of the first bird in spring, the dog that stops to let you love on it or simply the beauty of a ray of light peeking through the leaves of a tree. A glimmer is whatever sparks peace and joy within you in the moment. I could go on forever.
We promised that one time for each of 30 days we would text each other when we experienced a glimmer. We wouldn’t explain it but only indicate that we had experienced it. For example, a text might have said “blue sky, clouds” or “the smell of hot apple pie.” When my friend and I set the challenge to be open and waiting for glimmers to appear, we began to look forward to the surprise of the unexpected moment and learned that joy was not dependent on our circumstances but was instead a choice that can be found in the “extraordinary ordinary” … in glimmers.
The brain is hard wired with a negativity bias, meaning that the brain looks for negative events which was a survival necessity back in the days of saber tooth tigers. It makes us naturally more susceptible to triggers. Intentionally noticing glimmers is important to not only offset that but also change what the brain looks for. And at the end of the 30 days, not only was experiencing glimmers natural, we both felt better … we felt joy.
Life presents us with challenges and at the same time offers us glimmers, find them and let them show you that you can experience joy independent to of your circumstances. Find joy in the extraordinary ordinary … glimmers.
