Reiki, Glimmers and the Small Moments That Can Change Your Day
Little joys is a concept that has been around for quite some time. Finding joy in small moments can really help turn our days around and show us that even in the darkest of times, there is hope and beauty around us.
There is a newer term similar to little joys, created by clinician and trauma expert Deb Dana. I came across it in an article in Woman & Home magazine and the concept is called glimmers. Glimmers are the small moments in everyday life that carry a sense of peace, joy, or magic.
As Deb Dana describes them, "Glimmers are tiny moments of feeling the okayness in the world, moments of peace or magic we can find in the everyday things that we don't stop and take in." She goes on to say that these micro-moments help regulate our nervous system and build feelings of wellbeing.
What struck me when I read this was how closely it connects to what I have observed in my Reiki practice for years.
On days when we are struggling, it can be genuinely hard to see the good things around us. There is actually a scientific reason for this. In his book The Brain: The Story of You, neuroscientist David Eagleman writes about an effect called priming, where one thing influences the perception of something else. He explains that our brains constantly steer our behaviour, often without us recognising the influences around us. His research shows that something as simple as holding a warm drink versus a cold drink can change how favourably we describe our relationships with the people we love, because the brain mechanisms for judging emotional warmth overlap with those for judging physical warmth. One directly influences the other.
This tells us that the things around us matter far more than we realise. Our environment, our mood, and where we place our attention all shape what we are capable of noticing. When we are low, we filter out the good almost automatically. When we are open and present, the same world looks completely different.
This is exactly where Reiki comes in. One of the things I notice most consistently after a session, both in myself and in the clients I work with, is a change in perception. Colours look brighter. Sounds feel clearer. It is as if the world feels more present and more vivid. These are glimmers, and Reiki helps us to see them more easily by clearing the noise that usually gets in the way.
The more you practice noticing glimmers after Reiki, the more that noticing becomes a habit. Over time, you begin to spot them without needing a session to reset you first. They can be anything from admiring a beautiful tree, noticing a rainbow, laughing with friends, or even just a really good cup of tea.
The article also makes the point that writing glimmers down helps. Keeping a daily record and looking back through it shows you just how many of these moments exist in a single day, even on hard days. We are often so focused on what is going wrong that the good things drift past unnoticed. Writing them down interrupts that pattern. I would encourage anyone who has experienced that post-Reiki clarity to start a glimmers journal. Just one or two things a day. You will quickly see that magic and beauty are always around us.
© 2026 Laura Noonan Reiki. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes without prior written permission. Attribution is required for all shared insights.
