Monday, July 24, 2023

Glimmers, Anchors, Triggers, Whatever

When I think of "a glimmer" I think of a faint gleam of light, or understanding, insight. "The first glimmer of dawn appeared in the sky." 

A different idea is the "mood anchor," which does not necessarily mean a trigger for a pleasant mood, although that's usually the idea. A mood anchor is a trigger you intentionally create for yourself, your students, clients, etc. Better results are usually obtained by using anchors to pleasant moods--restful or energetic, family affection or romance, solemnity or laughter, etc.--but battle cries and fear triggers also work.

The literature of popular psychology overflows with unnecessary, often awkward neologisms created by people who hadn't read enough of their colleagues' work to know when the word they wanted already existed. So somebody now wants to use "glimmer" to mean a trigger for a pleasant mood.


This word usage does not work for me, but everybody always likes the idea.


This kitten. This attitude, when she weighed less than two pounds. My big strong Queen Cat Serena was the sole survivor of a litter of kittens who were born prematurely when their mother was reacting to glyphosate poisoning. It was such a pleasant surprise, so many days in her early life, just to see that she was still breathing. The face became a mood anchor for me. Still is. Her purrsonality is still too spicy for most people, but I love this cat.

Like one of the poets who accepted the challenge to write a poem about "glimmers," I live in a place full of pleasant mood anchors. Every flower in the not-a-lawn links to pleasant memories. I grew up mostly in the house where I now live, and mine was a mostly happy childhood. 

If you recognize a friend's mood anchors (or set up a new one) you can give the person a little mood boost on a bad day. The more of these tiny acts of friendship a person can keep track of, and use without embarrassing the friends person wants to cheer and comfort, the more person is likely to be remembered as having "a well educated heart."

One might even indulge a friend in this strange new use of “glimmer.”

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