Flourish Anyway® Today: Move Toward More Goodness While Acknowledging the Current Reality
I read a study on flourishing from 2025 and it mentioned how researchers hadn’t really considered suffering and hardship while measuring flourishing in different areas of life in multiple countries.
My internal record scratch was like hold up…
Why are researchers studying what it looks like to flourish without taking into account suffering and hardship and difficult circumstances personally and corporately?
Now this was just one study, but still? They mention the gap in their reporting and study discussion but they didn’t think about it on the front end?
I’m not an academic and I’m sure none of this is as straightforward as it seems to me. I’m just reading a study and using my critical thinking skills, as one does.
But I’ve always coupled the idea of flourishing with the obstacles to flourishing. It’s hard for me to think about one without the other.
I’ve always thought about what it could look like to flourish anyway even though I’m suffering from depression or dealing with chronic pain or exhausted from caregiving or disappointed because of another book proposal rejection or realizing I still haven’t fully healed from past spiritual abuse or refusing to let this president make me hopeless
or or or
Being more intentional about flourishing anyway in my writing, in my spiritual direction work, in my relationships, and more has transformed my life.
It’s a way to think about moving toward more goodness while acknowledging the current reality, “the gravity of the situation” as Hootie and Nanci Griffith sang all those years ago.
It’s also a way to hold all of my work and writing and interests and passions together in one container.
Spiritual Direction for Writers® exists because I want writers to flourish anyway.
Parenting with Art® exists because I want families to flourish anyway.
Belonging Through Art™ exists because I want every damn body to flourish anyway.
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Thanks so much for being here. Thanks for thinking a bit about what it means for you to flourish anyway. Feel free to email me if you’re up for sharing your thoughts.
And much love to the creative souls. May we flourish anyway today and all days.
💚Charlotte
P.S.
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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.