Glimmers of Goodness

“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.”
–Thich Nhat Hanh

Despite the many challenges in today’s world—particularly practicing law during the pandemic—there are likely at least a few moments in your day when something good happens. Life-affirming moments that spark joy, bring a smile to your face, or make you laugh are what nervous system expert and author Deb Dana calls a “glimmer.”

A glimmer doesn’t have to be a mind-blowing experience; glimmers can simply be enjoyable moments that lift your mood or give you hope. At work, a glimmer may be the moment when you find the right case to back your argument, or when you craft a satisfying sentence in a brief, or when you have a meaningful conversation with a colleague. Outside of work, a glimmer might be something funny that your pet or child does or something in nature that catches your eye.

It’s easy to let glimmers go by unnoticed. However, when you forgo the little moments of joy that life offers, you risk coming to the end of a day, week, month, year, or lifetime feeling dissatisfied and like you missed out. Conversely, paying attention to daily glimmers can improve feelings of happiness, well-being, and optimism. Optimism lowers stress and raises resilience; studies show that optimistic people bounce back, succeed, and live longer than pessimistic people.

As lawyers, we are taught that it is prudent to pay attention to what could go wrong. This may help us do our job well, but it can be detrimental to optimism. Paying attention to glimmers is a mindfulness practice that helps us become more optimistic in moments when we don’t need to use our “lawyer lens.”

If you’d like to grow your optimism and joy by noticing your daily glimmers, try this:

  1. The next time you notice something good happening, pause.
  2. Take it in with your five senses. Ask yourself:
    1. What is the best thing about this glimmer?
    2. What enjoyable emotional state does this glimmer evoke?
  3. Extra credit: When you experience a glimmer, share it with someone else. If your glimmer is photo-worthy, take a picture and share it: seeinghappy.org. Keep a glimmer journal and notice glimmer themes over time.

Laura Mahr is a North Carolina and Oregon lawyer and the founder of Conscious Legal Minds LLC, providing mindfulness-based well-being coaching, training, and consulting for attorneys and law offices nationwide. Her work is informed by 13 years of practice as a civil sexual assault attorney, 25 years as a student and teacher of mindfulness and yoga, a love of neuroscience, and a passion for resilience. If you’d like to learn more about building resilience in the practice of law, contact Laura: consciouslegalminds.com; info@consciouslegalminds; tel: 828-484-2004.

As an additional resource for building resilience to workplace-related stress, check out: “Mindfulness for Lawyers: Building Resilience to Stress Using Mindfulness, Meditation, and Neuroscience” (online and on demand mental health CLE approved by the NC State Bar): consciouslegalminds.com/register.

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