(#115) Presence, Mindfulness, & Glimmers to Regulate Your Nervous System

In this episode of Somatic Healing for Wellness-Focused Women, Rae explores the powerful practice of romanticizing your life and why noticing simple joys, also known as glimmers, can be deeply regulating for your nervous system.

Romanticizing your life isn’t about ignoring hard things or forcing positivity. It’s about slowing down, becoming present, and training your nervous system to recognize safety, warmth, and pleasure in everyday moments 🌿

✨ In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What it really means to romanticize your life
• What glimmers are and how they support nervous system regulation
• How glimmers help expand your window of tolerance and reduce anxiety
• Simple somatic and mindfulness practices to notice more joy and presence

Rae shares personal stories, nervous-system education, and gentle practices you can immediately integrate into your daily life whether you’re feeling anxious, disconnected, or simply craving more presence and ease.

This episode is a reminder that healing doesn’t always come from doing more, it often comes from noticing more.

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Disclaimer: Please remember that the information shared on this podcast is intended to inspire, educate, and support you on your personal journey. It does not substitute for professional mental health advice. I am not a psychologist or medical professional. If you are experiencing distress, mental health challenges, or medical conditions, please seek help from a qualified professional.

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Theme: Simple Joys
• 1:09 Defining Romanticizing And Glimmers
• 3:16 Beautiful Chaos And Everyday Magic
• 4:15 Glimmers That Regulate The Nervous System
• 5:16 Window Of Tolerance Explained
• 6:22 Five Practices To Notice Glimmers
• 9:35 The Meat Cleaver Donut Story
• 11:08 Deepening Presence In Relationships
• 12:01 Wrap-Up And How To Stay Connected

Transcript

Setting The Theme: Simple Joys

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to the podcast. If you are new here, I'm Ray. I'm a somatic coach and breath work facilitator. And if you aren't new here, welcome back. I'm so glad that you are tuning in for today's episode. For today's episode, I chose this topic because it's something that I've been really intentional about for the past year. And I feel like it has somehow reframed so much of how I see things, my perspective, and really the amount of presence that I'm bringing into my day-to-day life. And so today's topic is all about romanticizing your life, soaking up those simple joys. And in the nervous system world, this could also be known as glimmers. So these are like little sparkles that you see throughout your day. So in today's episode, I'm going to share with you all of the benefits of how this helps the nervous system and a few ways that you can start to notice those glimmers, those simple joys of life through practices that I enjoy and I personally use as well. So, what does romanticizing your life really mean? What does soaking up the simple joys of life look like? And what are glimmers? To me, when I think of a romantic life, I think of a few different things. The first is when something feels super slow, super present. It's like la di-da. So here we are. And because of that presence, it helps to make everything else feel exciting or really beautiful. It's like things are so slow because you're so present that in it increases the awareness and it make things makes things feel more romantic. There's another version too that it makes me think of, which is when there is so much chaos happening that it's like beautiful. This is when things go so wrong that they actually are going so right. It's like finding the magic in the mess. Like, well, here we are. This is happening. And it makes me think for some reason, when I was like gathering all of my thoughts, it made me think of the scene in It Takes Two, where one of the twins trips one of the other kids in the cafeteria, and he's holding like a container of eggs, and when he falls, the eggs go flying and they land on the dad's head, and he turns to the woman, the camp counselor woman, and he flings some of the butter at her, and it turns into this huge food fight, and it's oh it's so good. But for some reason, that was the scene that I thought of when I thought of beautiful chaos. But this can look like it's just like things are just so crazy that it it's like the romance of it. So those are the two things that came to mind, and then when it comes to glimmers, these are small, tiny joys throughout the day that help with you with feeling warm, feeling safe, maybe even feeling that uplifted feeling of joy. So, some examples of glimmers is seeing a rainbow, hearing your favorite song in the grocery store. Maybe it's cold outside and you're driving and you feel the sun and the warmth of the sun on your skin. Maybe it is hearing the birds chirp. We definitely experience this in Costa Rica. The birds chirp all day, they sing songs all day. Maybe it is getting a compliment about your outfit or your hair or something that you're doing. Maybe it's looking at a sunrise or a sunset or the stars at night. So these are all kind of small things that come to mind, but there are so many other little things that might feel really good for your nervous system. And when it comes to slowing things down, romanticizing your life, embracing those small, simple joys, noticing the glimmers, what it's doing from a nervous system perspective is it's really allowing your mind and body to feel a sense of presence and safety. And once you start this practice and you keep doing it, you'll begin to notice things more and more. And when you're doing that, what you're doing is shifting your nervous system into a place that feels really aligned and grounded. And that is within your window of tolerance. So it's the core of your nervous system. So you're not feeling anxious like hyperarousal or fight or flight, and you're not shutting down either, like hypoarousal or freezer fawn. So you are training your mind and your body to associate with things that are safe and are warm and are positive. So just like how sometimes there are triggers that make us feel the opposite, like something that happens or upsets us from our external environment and it affects our inside world. Glimmers are here to help us make those associations in a way that feels safe and warm and positive. And by doing that, it's going to increase our feelings of groundedness, presence, regulation, ability to self-regulate, and a sense of calm. So I put together a few ways that I find could be supportive if this is a practice that you want to start integrating into your toolkit, or uh you just find it interesting and you want to try out a few different tools and techniques. So the first is setting your intention. And setting your intention that you want to play this game. It means that you are open to shifting your perspective, you're open to receiving more insight and notice and you're open to slowing things down. So I talk about intention a lot. I find it extremely powerful. And I like to use the analogy when I'm explaining why it's important of driving a car. So if we are driving our car and we're gonna go check out this coffee shop, but we're in a new place and we don't know where we're going, we go into Apple Maps or Google Maps or whatever you use, and on the GPS, you put in the directions of where you want to go. You've never been to this place before, but Apple Maps knows how to get there. And that is the same thing that we're doing when we set an intention. So we're saying, this is the pinpoint on the map, and this is where I want to go. And then that is exactly where we will end up. How we'll get there might not be a straight path, it might be a windy road, but we will get there because we've set the intention. All right, and number two would be to bring your senses online. So begin to notice what you see, what you hear, what you taste, feel, smell. And this is a mindfulness practice at its core. You are using your awareness to deepen your experience for safety. And this is the mind-body connection, right? Like this is using our awareness, connecting with the present moment, feeling a sense of safety in the body. This is going to help you to self-regulate so much and really strengthen that mind-body connection. And number three, go to the places where you feel that the romance can happen. So, an example of this would be if you are, if you really love sunsets and sunrises, or you really love the beach, or you really love the mountains, or whatever it might be, go to the beach, go to the park, go to the store. Like be in the space where you can be in an experience to receive a message or a spark or a glimmer. Number four, this is something that I'm also trying out for the first time, which is write them down when these moments happen. Create a note section in your phone, and for the whole year, you can just add to it throughout the year. This is something that I'm doing, and at the end of the year, I don't know what the experience will be like, but I think I'm gonna look back and see what happened. And it could be really fun and really cool. So this is also a practice that could be good to do at the end of the day if you have an evening routine or an evening practice, if you already have a gratitude practice. This can go along with that really well. Because at the end of the day, you can look back and be like, oh, like, what were my tiny joys today? What were my tiny glimmers? What was something that was like so silly and funny that happened that's like so random? One is coming to mind for me right now, actually. Um, when I was in Costa Rica, my husband and I walked to this coffee shop and we got there pretty early in the morning, and we just sat outside, like relaxed for a little bit, and then when they were ready, they opened and we ordered, they made these um homemade donuts, and they made a strawberry matcha, and the strawberry matcha was so good. Oh, it was like it was amazing, but anyway, that's not the point of the story. The point of the story is about the donut. So we ordered this donut, and we were and it was um, it had like chocolate frosting on the top, so it was pretty messy. So I asked for a knife, and instead of giving me a knife or cutting the donut, she handed me this humongous meat cleaver. I swear this thing was huge, and it was so funny, and so we said thank you so much, and we cut our donut with a meat cleaver, and it was oh my god, it was like the funniest thing ever. And just so random, like so random, such a tiny joy. So things like that, just random things that happen that are so small, but make you feel something on the inside, make you feel safe or present or giggle, you know, whatever it might be. And then number five is do what you can to deepen your experience of presence in your day-to-day interactions. So this could be with your friends, your coworker, your family, your partner. Be truly present with them. And that might might look like putting away your phone, using a notepad instead of a laptop. If you want a deeper connection with someone, your presence and awareness is the first place to start. So are you being intentionally present with the people that are in your life? Are you being intentionally present with them? This will absolutely increase the amount of moments that you have to romanticize your experience, to be present, to notice those little glimmers and those tiny joys. And so that is what I have for you for today's episode. I hope that you enjoyed today's episode. I hope that you are seeing all of the tiny glimmers and joys in your day-to-day life. And yeah, if you would like to stay connected, you can sign up for access to the breathwork meditation library, which is in the show notes. When you sign up for the somatic healing newsletter, it goes out on the 1st and 15th of every month. You also receive access to the breathwork library, which I add to you throughout the year. So I hope that you have an incredible rest of your day. I hope you have an incredible rest of your week, and I will talk to you soon. Thank you for being here and tuning in to Somatic Healing for Wellness Focused Women Podcast. If you were moved or inspired by today's episode, please take a moment to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. It truly helps the podcast grow and helps more people find me on their healing journey. Make sure to check out the show notes to sign up for the monthly newsletter, links to more resources, opportunities to work with me, and ways that we can stay connected. If we aren't already connected on social media, head over to Instagram to follow me at Ray theSematic Coach. Send me a DM. I'd love to connect with you, and I answer each note that comes in. I am so happy you're here, and I cannot wait to talk with you on our next episode of the podcast.