Map your triggers and glimmers
What makes you feel content? What makes you feel antsy? What makes you feel withdrawn? Every experience you have in the course of your day has an impact on your physiology, and, consequently, on your mood and mental state. Deb Dana in her book “The Polygal Theory in Therapy” uses the term “triggers” to describe experiences that make you feel antsy and withdrawn, and “glimmers” to describe experiences that make you feel safe and connected. It is very important to be able to recognize both triggers and glimmers in your daily life to answer the essential question about your reactions: “What brought me here?” So this week try figure out what triggers you and what gives you glimmers of peace and safety.
HOW TO: Every time you feel your mood or mental state change, ask yourself – what caused it? Some things might be obvious, and some things might be more obscure. Did you hear, see, smell, sense or think something that made you feel unsafe, insecure, excluded, not valued (trigger)? What was your physiological reaction to that? Or did you receive a message that you are safe, secure, needed and valued (glimmer)? What was your physiological reaction to that?
You can record your findings on the map below, or simply make a mental note about specific triggers and glimmers. This type of mapping helps you better understand your experience in each of the three autonomic states.
Truly amazing to notice the myriad shifts in state throughout the day! Just the intention to notice allows me to slow down my reactive self. As a therapist I have been so taken by the relevance of Dana’s work to the traumatized population I work with. I’ve introduced the notion of triggers and glimmers (the latter being the less familiar state) into my work on an inpatient psychiatric unit. Patients have been receptive. I’ll report back as the work continues.
I completely agree! Those constant shifts are so subtle, and they seem to be driven by physiology, which is also fascinating to observe. For me, it was so profound to realize how our life experiences actually shape our fundamental physiological responses to perceived safety and non-safety, and how distorted those responses can become. And yes, please, keep me posted on how you integrate those ideas into your work.