Night Bloomers

12 Principles for Thriving in Adversity

Michelle Pearce

• Publisher: Ixia Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9780486842370
• eBook ISBN:
  9780486848181
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Personal Success

What if there are people, just like some flowers, who require the dark to bloom?
When we are plunged into the dark and difficult times in life, one of three things can happen next: the darkness can destroy us; it can leave us relatively unchanged; or it can help to transform us. In this hope-inspiring guide, clinical psychologist, Michelle Pearce, PhD, provides practical tools and wisdom for transforming and thriving in adversity and loss. Just as some flowers require the dark to bloom, there are some people who do their best growing and becoming during dark and challenging times. With a compassionate voice, Pearce shares her clinical expertise, her own journey through the dark, and inspiring stories of other Night Bloomers to help individuals learn how to heal and transform their lives not in spite of their difficult times, but because of them.

“Dr. Pearce’s Night Bloomers is an essential guide on how to shift your perspective to find meaning in the mess that accompanies the crises in our lives. Filled with practical wisdom and easy to follow exercises, this book is sure to serve as a roadmap through and out of the darkness for all who find themselves on the journey of transformation.”
--Michelle Bailey, MD, author of Parenting Your Stressed Child

“In Night Bloomers, Dr. Pearce offers a very practical, evidence based, journaling approach to productively cope with the challenges of adversity.  She uses her own personal adversity story and professional experiences as a psychologist to clearly outline steps and strategies to transform difficulties into transformation towards healing and resilience. A must read for many trying to find a way out of the dark night of the soul and into some much needed light.”
--Thomas G. Plante, Ph.D., ABPP, Professor and Director, Applied Spirituality Institute, Santa Clara University 

“Deeply insightful, heartfelt, practical, and wise. Night Bloomers is an indispensable resource for anyone who needs healing. Pearce does an eloquent and powerful job shifting our perspective on adversity and equipping us with the necessary tools to bloom in the dark.  Anyone who has been through loss, grief, or times of adversity—or loves people who have—needs to read this book.”
--Harold G. Koenig, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina

“Night Bloomers shows how an intentional change in perspective and use of expressive writing exercises can bring hope and light, not at the end, but right in the middle of a dark tunnel. Night Bloomers is a sorely needed bright spot showing us the way to a happier, more hopeful life ahead.
--Holly G. Prigerson, PhD, Professor of Sociology in Medicine and Director, Cornell Center for Research on End-of-Life Care, Weill Cornell Medicine

“Reading Night Bloomers is like having tea with your wisest, most loving friend who asks you tough questions with love and makes you think more deeply about every difficult experience. From celebrating failures on purpose to knowing when to stop looking for more growth and just move on, this book is the perfect companion to shed wisdom and light on those dark nights of the soul.” 
--Maggie Reyes, host of The Marriage Life Coach Podcast and author of The Questions for Couples Journal

Table of contents

• Cover
• Praise for Night Bloomers
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction:Writing Yourself through the Dark and into a New Perspective
• Chapter 1:Setting an Intention to Bloom
• Chapter 2:Grieving before Growing
• Chapter 3:Supporting Your Bloom
• Chapter 4:Being in the Dark
• Chapter 5:Expanding Courageously
• Chapter 6:Keeping Your Mind on Blooming
• Chapter 7:Wrestling with the Divine Gardener
• Chapter 8:Fertilizing with Love and Gratitude
• Chapter 9:Mining the Mess
• Chapter 10:Accepting and Letting Go
• Chapter 11:Waiting and Watering
• Chapter 12:Celebrating and Sharing the Harvest
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix:How to Start Your Own Blooming Group
• Notes
• Bibliography