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I love to walk. It’s my favorite form of exercise and my favorite way to commute. Whether I’m walking around downtown Chicago or walking in the suburban forest preserves, walking helps me to feel grounded, and it helps me manage my stress and anxiety. 

Anxiety has been a real challenge for me. After surviving a traumatic experience, I was diagnosed with PTSD and am very familiar with the concept of triggers. I know there are things around me, whether it’s the smell of a certain soap, the sound of anger in a voice, or even a surprise knock on the door, that can trigger an anxiety attack and send my entire day off the rails. In addition to working with doctors and therapists, I’ve also found the ability to care for myself through activities like walking. However, I wasn’t always aware of all the benefits that I would be able to find in these walks. 

A few months after moving into my neighborhood, I was out for a walk when I caught the smell of sweet fern in the air. It felt like the scent was washing over and through my entire body, and I felt a very real sense of comfort, safety, and calm. I felt like I was home! I felt like I belonged and was exactly where I was supposed to be.

The smell swept my memories back to my grandparent’s home in Maine. It reminded me of the smell in the woods around their house, of my grandpa teaching me how to identify birds, and of the warm feelings of baking cookies on a stool next to my grandma in their small, homey kitchen. It was hard for me to express exactly the effect this scent had on me, but I knew it went beyond the recall of a childhood memory. It seemed like it affected my body and mind in a way that I simply didn’t understand. 

I started noticing a few similar experiences before I came across an article by Vanesa Pizzuto called “Embracing Glimmers.” Pizzuto (2024) writes that “Glimmers are micro-experiences and sensations that soothe our souls – the opposite of triggers. Whether found in a scent, taste, sight, or memory, these fleeting moments whisper safety and calm to our nervous system” (p. 23). This was a lightbulb moment as I realized I finally had a name for those happy little experiences I had first noticed when I smelled sweet fern in my neighborhood. 

The idea of glimmers and triggers is founded in Stephen Porges’s Polyvagal Theory. According to Polyvagal Theory, our nervous system is constantly scanning for signs of safety and danger, and it is a process that has evolved to enable mammals to work together for survival. Porges (2022) writes that “humans, as social mammals, are on an enduring lifelong quest to feel safe” (p. 2). In short, we need these feelings of safety for our bodies to function at their best, and I learned that my walks were like tiny quests to find cues of safety and security as a direct response to a world that so often triggered my anxiety and left me feeling exhausted from scanning for danger at every turn. 

Polyvagal Theory gives us the science behind neuroception and the ability our bodies have to distinguish “environmental and visceral features that are safe, dangerous, or life-threatening” (Porges, 2021, p. 5). From there, we have two central categories for these environmental prompts: triggers and glimmers. Triggers are the types of cues that many of us are already familiar with. Triggers are danger cues. They activate our fight-or-flight response. When we encounter a trigger, our heart rate rises, our blood pressure goes up, and we have increased adrenaline pumping through our systems. These bodily responses all prepare us to confront danger. 

On the flip side of that, we have glimmers. Glimmers are safety cues. They activate our social engagement mode and support homeostatic functions needed for health, growth, and restoration. In addition, glimmers enable access to the higher brain structures we use for learning and creativity. Glimmers are an important part of our well-being, and they can have increased importance for students who are working hard to learn new concepts and information or to write their ideas in creative and unique ways. 

I presented a session on this topic as part of our Mental Health Awareness Month webinar series at the Learning for Success Center, and students who are interested in learning more about glimmers and how to be open to their own glimmer experiences can watch the recording using the link in our Purdue Global Student Webinar Calendar.  

I encourage you to start a practice of inviting glimmers into your life. Trust that there are safety cues in the world around you, and start to be aware of them. When you notice a glimmer, pause. Stay for a moment to appreciate it and let it soak in. The more we practice this form of mindfulness, the more we will start to see these cues and feel safe in our world and connected with those around us. I’ll be out there walking and inviting glimmers to join me on those walks. I hope you’ll be out there, too.

Until next time, this is Dr. Linscott with another Learning for Success podcast. Happy learning!

References: 

Pizzuto, V. (2024). Embracing glimmers. Vibrant Life. 22-25.

Polyvagal Institute. (2023). What is polyvagal theory? https://www.polyvagalinstitute.org/whatispolyvagaltheory

Porges, S. (2021). Polyvagal theory: a biobehavioral journey to sociality. Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology 7, 100069. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpnec.2021.100069

Porges, S. (2022). Polyvagal theory: a science of safety. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience 16, 871227. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2022.871227