How Do Blooming Day Lilies and Nourishing Rhythms Make Everything Better?
Last week I discovered a new construction house a few blocks away from us with a day lily garden in their front yard full of multiple varieties of blooms, which was a fantastic turn of events because I’m low-key obsessed with day lilies.
When my parents brought me home from the hospital after my birth a really long time ago, my mom noticed that the day lilies by the front door to our house were blooming. The flowers had been divided and shared with my mom by her maternal grandfather, and I love that the 1975 blooms welcomed me to my home—and to this world—in the first few days of my life.
I don’t know a whole lot about day lilies but I keep putting myself in the way of them.
Early this morning, during a rush of panic and overwhelm because I was thinking about too many things and too many coming days, weeks, and months all at once instead of one or two at a time, I knew it was time to shift gears and do my nourishing rhythms to help my mind and soul return to where I prefer them to be.
My primary nourishing rhythms are read, write, walk, pray, and put myself in the way of art. I do these things most days for varying amounts of time depending on other obligations and commitments because I’m more of the human, writer, mother, partner, and friend I prefer to be when I do these things.
So, I laced up my walking shoes and took off down Midland Road, along my regular route for a decent 20-minute walk. On my way, I hoped the day lilies in the front yard garden were still blooming because the basic yellow ones in my yard (which I also love) have finished their cycle, and I wasn’t sure if that meant all of the day lilies in our area were done for the year.
Thankfully, as I approached the stranger’s house, I could see the pink and lavender and orange and yellow petals from several yards away.
The day lilies were still blooming.
So I lingered for a few minutes and looked at the day’s lilies and wondered if it was appropriate to knock on the door and introduce myself. (I decided it is appropriate, but it was kind of early on a Saturday morning so I thought it would be best to do it another day, another time.)
After taking in plenty of the beauty before me, I resumed my walk and thought about day lilies. I thought about the day lily farm I visited a few years ago. I thought about the yellow and orange day lilies that bloom near interstate exits in North Carolina every summer. I thought about the book about day lilies that I bought at one of my favorite used bookstores during my visit to Asheville.
And I felt better. The walk, the day lilies, and the associated ponderings helped me Flourish Anyway® today.
Other things have helped me Flourish Anyway today, too. Here are a few:
Catching up on some work and tasks for the Spiritual Direction for Writers® Summer Intensive Cohort
Today’s Spiritual Direction for Writers® Daily Nourishment offering on D-Day, monuments, and remembering.
A quick phone conversation with my son to hear about how his DJ set went last night.
Listening to The Beatles while running errands and on my way to my co-working space.
Thank God for my nourishing rhythms and my ability to pivot away from what I’m pretty sure was the beginning of a mental and emotional spiral that sort of snuck up on me like a dentist appointment I completely forgot about. (I hate going to the dentist when I have not flossed enough beforehand!)
The sense of overwhelm and anxiety are gone. I still need to read and do some intentional prayer, so I’ll stop here and finish up my practices for the day.
Reading good words and doing some list prayers will help me flourish anyway even more on this beautiful June Saturday when it would be so easy to be convinced by certain things in my life and larger things in the world around me that my day is doomed or that only one narrative can be true or that the spiral into the bad place is the only path available before me.
But more than one narrative can be true and real at the same time. And sometimes the spiral downward transforms into a spiral of flourishing anyway with generous invitations from blooming day lilies and nourishing rhythms that return me to my center and a more expansive and hopeful view of my present reality.
Much love to the creative souls. May we flourish anyway today and all days.
💚Charlotte
P.S.
See the latest FREE Spiritual Direction for Writers® Daily Nourishment offerings here.
See my most recent doses of art at A Daily Dose of Art.
Check out my All of This & More podcast here. (New episodes coming soon!)
Charlotte Donlon is a writer, spiritual director, and gatherer whose work centers on helping people explore themes of belonging, artful encoutners, spiritual growth, and how to Flourish Anyway®, even when life is full, busy, or chaotic. Her work has woven together themes of belonging, art, and soul exploration for more than 25 years. With a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing (2015-2018) and a certificate in spiritual direction (2018-2020), Charlotte guides writers and other creative souls in developing sanctuaries of acceptance and connection.
A Christian in the Episcopal church who believes the tenets of the Nicene Creed, Charlotte employs a universal framework of belonging and connection in her spiritual direction work. She fosters meaningful, soulful conversations and gatherings that are welcoming to all—regardless of faith tradition or spiritual inclinations.
In 2020, Broadleaf Books published Charlotte's first book, The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other.Spiritual Direction for Writers: Everyday Rituals for Your Writing Life is slated for release by Here Below Books in September 2026. Three volumes of Charlotte's "Guidebooks for the Soul"—Take More Retreats, The Great Belonging Project, and Belonging Through Art—will also be published in 2026.
As the founder of several initiatives, Charlotte has established herself as a thought leader and an authentic presence at the intersection of creativity and spirituality. Her essays have been featured in publications such as The Washington Post, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, and The Millions, among others. A new essay about art conservation, Joan Mitchell, and mystery is forthcoming with Image journal.
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Flourish Anyway® is Charlotte’s online hub for all of her writing, spiritual direction, small press, gatherings, and other offerings.