Glimmers, Gratitude, and the Nervous System: Building Mental Health Habits During the Holidays

The holiday season often brings mixed emotions. While it can be filled with connection, warmth, and meaning, it can also activate stress, grief, pressure, and overwhelm. From a nervous system perspective, this makes sense—holidays disrupt routines, increase social demands, and can activate old emotional patterns. Rather than striving for constant joy, this season offers an opportunity to practice regulated presence through gratitude, glimmers, and small somatic habits that support mental well-being.

Gratitude Through the Lens of Positive Psychology

Positive psychology research consistently shows that gratitude is not just a feel-good concept—it is a skill that shapes how our brain and nervous system respond to the world. Studies suggest that intentional gratitude practices can increase positive emotions, improve sleep, reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and strengthen resilience.

From a neurobiological standpoint, gratitude activates areas of the brain associated with reward and emotional regulation, including the prefrontal cortex. This helps counteract the brain’s natural negativity bias—the tendency to scan for threat and stress—by gently shifting attention toward safety, connection, and meaning.

However, gratitude is most effective when it is embodied rather than forced. This is where nervous system regulation and somatic therapy intersect with positive psychology.

What Are Glimmers?

In somatic and nervous system–informed therapy, glimmers are the opposite of triggers. Coined by trauma therapist Deb Dana, glimmers are small, fleeting moments that signal safety to the nervous system. They might be a warm mug in your hands, soft holiday lights, shared laughter, a familiar song, or a deep breath that feels grounding.

Unlike gratitude lists that can feel cognitive or performative, glimmers are sensory and embodied. They help your nervous system shift out of survival mode and into a state of regulation—even briefly.

During the holidays, glimmers are often already present. The practice is learning how to notice and receive them.

Why This Matters for Mental Health

When the nervous system is chronically dysregulated, it becomes harder to access gratitude, joy, or calm. That’s why mental health habits need to meet the body first, not just the mind.

Somatic approaches emphasize that safety is felt, not thought. When you build habits that support nervous system regulation, gratitude becomes more accessible and sustainable—especially during emotionally charged seasons.

Building Holiday Habits That Support Regulation

Here are a few gentle, evidence-informed ways to integrate gratitude and glimmers into your holiday routine:

1. Practice “Felt Gratitude”
Instead of listing things you’re grateful for, choose one moment and slow down. Notice where you feel it in your body—warmth in your chest, softness in your shoulders, a steady breath. Stay with the sensation for 10–20 seconds to allow your nervous system to register safety.

2. Create a Daily Glimmer Pause
Once or twice a day, pause and ask: What feels okay or supportive right now? Let it be small. Pair this with a grounding action like placing your feet on the floor, taking a longer exhale, or gently pressing your hands together.

3. Use Breath as an Anchor
Slow, extended exhales activate the parasympathetic nervous system. Try inhaling through your nose for four counts and exhaling for six. You can do this while standing in line, wrapping gifts, or before social gatherings.

4. Regulate Before You Reflect
If gratitude feels inaccessible, that’s information—not failure. Begin with movement, warmth, or rest. Regulation first, reflection second.

5. Let Go of “Perfect” Holidays
A regulated nervous system thrives on realism and self-compassion. You don’t need to feel joyful all the time for gratitude to be meaningful. Both can coexist.

Carrying This Beyond the Holidays

The most effective mental health habits are the ones that are simple, embodied, and repeatable. By weaving gratitude and glimmers into nervous system–supportive practices, you build resilience that lasts beyond the season.

At Birch Grove Wellness, therapy is about helping you reconnect with safety, strength, and awareness within your body—not pushing positivity, but cultivating what genuinely supports your nervous system.

This holiday season, may you find moments of steadiness, warmth, and gentle presence—one glimmer at a time.