Light in life's shadows.

Firewood

Just when you think something is dead

No longer bearing fruit nor flower,

Watch what happens when it’s given a spark of opportunity.

Photo by Ben Lambert on Unsplash

In times of immense struggle, recognising opportunity can be the spark that can ignite change. As the lead weight of life increasingly feels like a dead weight; as the energy surrounding us can feel thick with apprehensive dread.

So, how can we dare to feel joy?

I was thinking about this the other day.

Feeling defeated again as I listened to the news I felt a familiar weight of the inadequacy of my efforts.

But that insistent flame inside of me, God love her, reminded me that sometimes all we can do is burn our light brighter.

Actively looking out for moments of joy and appreciation may be the absolutely necessary thing that we need to do right now.

"In a world of destruction, the act of appreciation becomes an act of resistance." - bell hooks

When we feel under threat, what do we do?

The ol’ fight and flight kick in.

When they are not successful, we freeze, known as the ‘dorsal vagal state’, or hyposarousal.

Today that may look like apathy or procrastination. 

It’s not possible to create from this space; not possible to come up with innovative ways to deal with the multitude of life’s challenges.

For successful and sustainable creation, which is what we need in order to define and develop a successful and sustainable world, we need to be in a ventral vagal state.

But how do we go from freeze to formulating new ideas and sparking the curiosity needed for creativity?

You may have heard of glimmers, a tiny spark of feeling safe enough in the world. You can watch Deb Dana, who coined the meaning  behind the word describe what is meant by glimmers here.

She suggests that there are various categories of glimmers:

🌱 Glimmers in nature

🐶 Glimmers with pets and people

🎭 Glimmers in arts and science

💃🏻 Embodied glimmers

🍒 Flavoursome glimmers

Part of me accuses myself of being love and light:

(if you like this poem it is on my book recording on Audible which you can now buy!)

As Deb says in the video, this isn’t about toxic positivity, it’s about appreciating our humanity which shows up in the way we notice these things so that we may be reminded of the humanity of others.

It’s an act of resistance.

One day this week I set about noticing the glimmers in my day. I share to hopefully inspire you to do the same. 

1. ✨Our old dog, who has got increasingly languid in his antiquated age had NOT left a deposit of any kind for me to clear up at the back door. 

2. ✨I got the last parking space at the railway station.

3. ✨I had a laugh with a woman as I nearly got on the wrong train.

4. ✨I had a ‘women are amazing’ chat with another woman as she pulled out a freshly filled breast pump from beneath her baggy coat and rearranged her clothing on the tube - Holly is 6 months old, she’ll be dressed a lot in red for Christmas and her mum was going to a back-to-work-day for the first time without Holly, which felt pretty liberating for mum, in case you are wondering.

5. ✨A walk through a graveyard revealed a whole year of graduates heading to their graduation ceremony in the cathedral.

And that was all before 11am. 

Moments of joy can be as subtle as these moments.

Joy came to visit me today

It tapped at the window

As I sat inside with my friends

Sharing stories, drinking coffee.

I didn’t notice it land at my shoulder

And creep in, settling in my tummy.

A warm heavy hum of delight

If this has piqued your interest and you’d like some more ideas to stir your embers, why not sign up for a paid subscription to access the writing prompts below.

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That’s if for now,

‘Til next time!