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Faint Glow

Flourishing Systems Research

Synthesizing and translating research across disciplines to shape the foundations of flourishing systems.

Flourishing is More

than Wellbeing

We tend to think of human flourishing as a deep personal experience of wellbeing. And this way of looking at it isn’t wrong, but it is incomplete. Taken alone, this view can conjure the illusion that an individual can design their lifestyle (or an organization can design their operating structure) in a way that will reliably create a feeling of wellbeing, independent of context.

 

What’s missing here is the understanding that flourishing isn't merely psychological, it’s ecological. It’s not a subjective experience, but a relational pattern. A dynamic exchange between an individual and their context.

 

We flourish not in environments, but with them.

 

Our research is focused on this dynamic: what does it mean for an individual, a venture, or a community to be in a relationship with their environment from which flourishing can emerge?

What We're Working On

Defining Systemic Flourishing

Clarifying what flourishing means across scales—individual, communal, ecological—to guide life-aligned systems change.

Flourishing Design Process

A participatory approach to designing systems, organizations, and initiatives that align with the patterns of life.

Flourishing Systems Indicators

Developing qualitative and relational indicators that sense and support flourishing beyond traditional metrics of success.

Generative Funding

Exploring and prototyping funding models that nourish long-term wellbeing, reciprocity, and systemic transformation.

Faint Glow

Research fellowship coming soon!

© 2025 Flourishing Systems Foundation

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