{"id":1078,"date":"2025-01-26T16:28:41","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T16:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/?p=1078"},"modified":"2025-01-26T16:28:41","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T16:28:41","slug":"glimmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/2025\/01\/26\/glimmer\/","title":{"rendered":"Glimmer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Many people talk nowadays of their\u00a0triggers.\u00a0<\/em>By this they mean some event that\u00a0 caused them to feel an intense and usually negative emotional reaction to something, or even someone. Our triggers in the present are the result of our\u00a0 past experiences and conditioning, and some triggers often go back to early childhood experiences. Commonly the brain goes into some level of fight-or-flight-freeze, issues stress hormones and switches into seeing others as a problem or threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve also heard talk of glimmers, <\/em>which Webster defines as a subdued spark <\/em>and a faint or wavering light<\/em>. In many ways a glimmer is the opposite of a trigger: one of those fleeting micromoments when you feel joy, happiness, peace or gratitude. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you train your eyes to look for glimmers, you’ll see more and more of them. When you do come across a glimmer in your day, allow yourself to stop and really take it in. And more glimmers can often lead to less triggers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of my favorite glimmers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A passing scent that brings back a moment of childhood.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hearing something new in a piece of music I’ve listened to hundreds of times.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remembering how differently I’ve felt or thought about something in the past.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A moment where I feel both satisfied and stimulated<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the TV series Mad Men, <\/em>set in the 1960s the central character, an advertising executive, pitches Eastman Kodak for the account of their new product, the carousel slide projector. Rather than doing the typical presentation, he loads up a projector with slides of his family, taken over the years. He then states that in Greek,  nostalgia<\/em>  literally means ‘the pain from an old wound. It\u2019s a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone.’ <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps nostalgia is the place and time where triggers and glimmers go to compare notes.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

______<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our nervous system works by virtue of the connections between our nervous tissue. Nerve cells have long projections known as axons<\/em>, that can stretch for inches, or even feet. These act as wires and serve to transmit the impulse from the nerve cell to terminals that conenct (synapse) on other cells, such as your muscles. Interneurons<\/em>, as the name implies, interconnect neurons into circuits that allow for all sorts of reflexes and learned behaviors. The interaction between interneurons allows the brain to perform complex functions such as learning, and decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humans make great numbers of the interneuron connections when we undergo any sort of experiential process. It is the residual network of these connections that become the basis of retained information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of these connections are produced by using the sugar fucose and its corresponding receptor. As many of you know, I’ve always been fascinated by fucose because it plays a critical role in the activity of the ABO blood groups. The body usually does a decent job of making fucose from other sugars in the diet, a process known as fucosylation<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However there is one time in our lives when we can really benefit from some extra fucose. Essentially blank slates at birth, infants must learn and develop at breathtaking speeds. Human milk turns out to be chock full of fucose, in addition to hundreds of other unique sugars. The total array, known as ‘human milk oligosaccharides’ at last count runs to over 200. Second place in the animal kingdom is not even remotely close –around  40 for cow milk and 30 for goat milk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know that breast feeding conveys certain immunologic benefits, but the evidence is there that it allows for the creation of more interconnections between nerve cells. Breastfed babies have shown better performance on IQ tests, language development, and school performance compared to formula-fed babies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the rest of us who were not breastfed, or have been weened, getting some fucose into the diet may not be too difficult. Brown seaweeds  like kelp, wakame, mozuku, and bladderwrack can be incorporated into your diet through salads, soups, or as side dishes in sushi rolls. Mushrooms, such as reishi and shiitake, have been identified as good sources of fucose. Fruits, such as apples and kiwis have been noted to have a relatively high fucose content. Certain bacteria in fermented foods can synthesize or metabolize fucose. Consuming foods like kimchi or kombucha can indirectly support fucose metabolism in the gut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe — just maybe– a bit more fucose in your life could led to a few less triggers and a few more glimmers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many people talk nowadays of their\u00a0triggers.\u00a0By this they mean some event that\u00a0 caused them to feel an intense and usually negative emotional reaction to something, or even someone. Our triggers in the present are the result of our\u00a0 past experiences and conditioning, and some triggers often go back to early childhood experiences. Commonly the brain<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6,38],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/portal.jpeg?fit=275%2C183&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/saaqQX-glimmer","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":962,"url":"https:\/\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/2021\/02\/10\/opus23-certification-training-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":1078,"position":0},"title":"Opus23 Certification Training Update","date":"February 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Starting with the February 28th Training Session, we've implemented several exciting new changes and improvements to the Opus23 Basic Certification Training, the day-long training that certifies the student (upon successful completion of the requirements) and permits them to begin using the Opus23 platform on their own clients.","rel":"","context":"In "Education\/ Teaching"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1083,"url":"https:\/\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/2025\/02\/13\/charm\/","url_meta":{"origin":1078,"position":1},"title":"Charm","date":"February 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Back in my private practice days, I met a well-known visual artist, who had come in for some medical assistance. He was quite elderly by that time and his cognitive condition tended to make him somewhat taciturn (Latin\u00a0taciturnus,\u00a0'disposed to be silent'.) By his second visit, I had researched a bit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reflections"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/pd2.jpeg?fit=1000%2C522&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1078"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1080,"href":"https:\/\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions\/1080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dadamo.com\/dangerous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}