Michelle Pearce - Night Bloomers: 12 Principles for Thriving in Adversity

Reading Night Bloomers is like having a dear friend right alongside you for support when most needed. Through stories, strategies, and writing prompts, Pearce provides powerful tools for building resilience, confidence, and joy. She reminds us that like plants, we dont bloom just once, as she gently, masterfully paves a path for us to enjoy a lifetime of growing and blossoming. A must-read for anyone seeking some light in the darkness.

Caroline Welch, CEO and co-founder of the Mindsight Institute and author of The Gift of Presence: A Mindfulness Guide for Women

A gem of a book! Michelle Pearce has written an enlightening guide for anyone trying to find the path through a dark time in life. Through the wisdom gleaned from psychological research and practice and the lessons learned from her own personal encounter with pain and loss, Pearce points the way to growth and transformation when hope is in short supply. Down-to-earth, compassionate, and inspirational, Night Bloomers should be on everyones bookshelf.

Kenneth I. Pargament, PhD,

author of Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy

Dr. Pearces 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

Michelle Pearce, PhD, is uniquely qualified to teach readers how to thrive in the face of grief in a way that captivates and illuminates. Night Bloomers is a therapeutic tool for healing based upon the transformative power of rewriting our stories of loss. Night Bloomers inspires readers to use sorrow as the soil in which to grow something beautiful.

Laura J. Oliver, author of The Story Within:

New Insights and Inspirations for Writers

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; Codirector,

Cornell Center for Research on End-of-Life Care, Weill Cornell Medicine

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, PhD, 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 adversityor loves people who haveneeds to read this book.

Harold G. Koenig, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences,

Duke University Medical Center

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 purposely celebrating failures 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 Questions for Couples Journal: 400 Questions to Enjoy,

Reflect, and Connect with Your Partner

A masterful guide for those wrestling with difficult situations. Not only does Dr. Pearce talk the talk, she has walked the walk. Her sincerity and deep knowledge of the topic are evident in every chapter. Her techniques allow you to change the lens when viewing your situation and give you tools so you can bloom.

Mary Lynn McPherson, PharmD, MA, MDE,

Professor, Executive Director, Advanced Post-Graduate Education

in Palliative Care, Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science,

University of Maryland School of Pharmacy

Copyright

Copyright 2020 by Michelle Pearce

All rights reserved.

Bibliographical Note

Night Bloomers: 12 Principles for Thriving in Adversity is a new work,

first published by Ixia Press in 2020.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Pearce, Michelle, 1977 author.

Title: Night bloomers : 12 principles for thriving in adversity / Michelle Pearce, PhD.

Description: Mineola, New York : Ixia Press, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: Loss, pain, and suffering are an inevitable part of the human experience. However, these circumstances can offer people opportunities for growth. Just as some flowers only bloom in the dark, so, too, some people require the darkness to bloom and become their best selves. Michelle Pearce, PhD, offers twelve practical tools for transforming loss and pain into positive growth and hope. In each chapter, she explains one of twelve empirically based principles of blooming in the dark, followed by writing prompts designed to help readers experience the principles in their own lives. In this hope-inspiring and compassionate guide, Dr. Pearce shares her clinical expertise 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.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019056137 | ISBN 9780486842370 (trade paperback) Subjects: LCSH: Resilience (Personality trait) | Adjustment (Psychology) | Change (Psychology)

Classification: LCC BF698.35.R47 .P426 2020 | DDC 155.2dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019056137

Ixia Press

An imprint of Dover Publications, Inc.

Manufactured in the United States by LSC Communications

84237101

www.doverpublications.com/ixiapress

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2020

On a warm North Carolina October afternoon, I married the love of my life in a rose garden. Surrounded on all sides by thousands of roses in every color, it was one of the most amazing, love-filled, and picturesque moments of my life. How could I have known then that these gorgeous blooms were harbingers of the pain and despairand later the beautythat was to come?

I spent my second wedding anniversary alone, not knowing where my husband had gone for the day. It seemed that his work had become more important to him than me, and that had caused a lot of tension between us. When he finally came home that night, he told me that I was not his soulmate and that he didnt think we should have married. After many tears and a long conversation where we tried to sort things out, he surprised me by driving us to the rose garden where we had married. Perhaps this was a sort of apology gesture on his part.

It was nighttime by then, and I walked slowly, alone, between the rows of roses in the dark. The lattices were several feet taller than me, forming a maze of colorful blooms. The fragrance seemed richer than on the day we were married. Later I would read somewhere that the fragrance of roses is 40 percent more intense at night. I remember the deliciously magical feel of the garden in the moonlight and the buttery softness of the petals I couldnt help touching as I walked by. I noticed that many of the roses were curled up tight in a bud for the night, but some of the roses were still wide open, in full bloom. It made me think about how much beautyhow much lifecan exist even under a veil of darkness.