Wellbeing | Eye Spy Glimmers

If winter is wintering a little too long for your liking, start spotting glimmers to get you
through until spring.

We went on a Glimmer Hunt in our February issue, noticing the small things that make us feel safe and calm. One of the things we loved most was the idea of compiling a Glimmer Library; a list in a notebook, on your phone or just in your head of the glimmers you have seen to refer back to when you need a boost. To help get you started with your Glimmer Library, we’ve collated a few glimmers here that you might like to spot this month…

• Snowdrops in full bloom

• Sticky buds on trees

• The smell of fresh lemons on pancakes

• The sound of rain on your roof when you’re cosy inside

• A perfectly formed spider web

• Sinking into a bed with new sheets on

• Tea in your favourite mug

• The crackle of logs on a fire

• Suddenly noticing how light the evenings are

• Winter birdsong

See how many of our Eye Spy Glimmers you can spot this month and add more of your own as you notice them to create your Glimmer Library. 

You can read more about seeking out glimmers in our feature by Lottie Storey in our February issues, which is in shops now. Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

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More from our February issue…

Playlist | A nice bit of brass

In our February GLIMMER issue of The Simple Things, we get to meet all female brass band, She’s Got Brass. And, to blow our own trumpet, we’ve put together a rather fine accompanying playlist.

You can have a listen here.

Not quite hitting the musical spot today? We make a playlist for each issue of The Simple Things. Have a browse of them all here.

February GLIMMER is on sale from 29 January.

Wellbeing | Glimmer Hunting

This is a wonderful exercise for tuning in and noticing the good stuff happening around us – the joy, the beauty, and the sparks. It builds curiosity and helps us to slow down.

• Practise this anywhere, but it’s best done outside if you can.

• Take time to look around you and then look a little longer and deeper. Notice what you see, hear, and how you feel. Look left, right, up, down and all around. Then linger and just watch what is happening. If you see something that catches your eye, pause and notice. It can take several minutes for something to reveal itself but there will be a small glimmer waiting to be harvested.

• Write down what you found in a notebook. Over time, if you practise this, you’ll build a list of glimmers that you can return to when you need them. Or just enjoy your glimmer and move on, knowing that such moments can be fleeting.

Finding Glimmers is just one of the exercises in using creativity to soothe mind and body taken from the book Creative First Aid by Caitlin Marshall and Lizzie Rose (Murdoch Books), which we have an extract from in our June issue.

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

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