Glimmers and Triggers

We all know what triggers are, right?

They are the feelings, situations, smells, people, and words that send your body into the flight or fight response. Your body starts producing higher levels of cortisol and adrenaline. You go into a zone of protection - either hyper vigilant or frozen. And neither one is a great place to be for an extended period of time.

But what are glimmers? Simply put… they are the opposite of triggers. They are your comfort zone. Deb Dana, a clinician, consultant, and lecturer specializing in complex trauma established the concept of triggers and glimmers as an expert in Polyvagal theory. She explains “Trauma reshapes our system so that we are more prone to pathways of protection than pathways of connection.” Bringing our focus back to our glimmers releases the fight or flight response allowing us to regulate.

Healing means we need to understand how to ward off those triggers. Here are some easy ways to do so: