What does it mean to demand the shimmer?
The Origin Story
Do you remember those magnetic poetry kits? I think they may still be around here and there, but for a while – back in the 90s – they were all the rage. I received one as a gift for the holidays during my first year as a young professor. They came in different themes; mine was the ‘artist’ theme, which was kind of funny because at the time I didn’t think I had an artistic bone in my body. I decided to bring it to the office and put it up on a file cabinet. It was within reach of my desk and every now and then while I took a break from worrying whether I knew how the hell to be a professor, I would make some poems. One day, I made this short poem:
Demand the shimmer.
And as I put those words together, something happened. At first I just thought, hey that sounds kinda cool. But then I realized there was some meaning behind that. Demand the shimmer. Don’t settle for the dull and matte. Look for the spark in everything.
Over the years, I would sometimes find myself stuck in a rut of one kind or another, or thinking that a job was “good enough.” That my boring turkey sandwich was “okay.” That I felt “fine.” And once in a while, that poem would pop in my head. Demand the shimmer. Good enough, okay, and fine were no ways to live.
It took a little while for this to marinate, but eventually I realized that this was my philosophy for a joyful life. Demand the shimmer every day. And I began to find more and more ways to do this.
As I approached the final days of my 40s, I I found I really wanted to help other people learn to demand the shimmer as well. And so I started demandtheshimmer.com, where you will find lots of ways to not settle for fine. Please check out the blog and the products page.
Cheers,
Lisa
Founder, Demandtheshimmer.com
