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Night Bloomers: 12 Principles for Thriving in Adversity
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. In "Night Bloomers," Pearce teaches us how to adopt the perspective of a Night Bloomer and to use the soil of adversity to grow something beautiful in our lives.
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.
Drawing upon the research on post-traumatic growth, we are given a dozen practical approaches for transforming loss, pain, and suffering into positive growth and transformation. Each chapter explains an empirically based principle for handling adversity, followed by insightful writing prompts designed to help us experience the principle personally.
"Night Bloomers" guides us through the dark times in life, making them a fertile place to grow and become in ways we couldn’t have done so in the light.
If you or someone you love is ready to bloom in the dark, this book is for you.
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. In "Night Bloomers," Pearce teaches us how to adopt the perspective of a Night Bloomer and to use the soil of adversity to grow something beautiful in our lives.
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.
Drawing upon the research on post-traumatic growth, we are given a dozen practical approaches for transforming loss, pain, and suffering into positive growth and transformation. Each chapter explains an empirically based principle for handling adversity, followed by insightful writing prompts designed to help us experience the principle personally.
"Night Bloomers" guides us through the dark times in life, making them a fertile place to grow and become in ways we couldn’t have done so in the light.
If you or someone you love is ready to bloom in the dark, this book is for you.
- GenresNonfiction
224 pages, Paperback
Published September 16, 2020
6 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
About the author
Michelle Pearce
3 books2 followersDr. Michelle Pearce is a clinical psychologist and Professor in the Graduate School at the University of Maryland, Baltimore and an adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavior Sciences at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Pearce is also a board-certified health and wellness coach, author, researcher, writing for wellness facilitator, and spiritual seeker.
After obtaining her PhD from Yale University, she completed two post-doctoral fellowships at Duke University Medical Center. She is licensed to practice psychotherapy in Maryland.
Dr. Pearce is the author of "Night Bloomers: 12 Principles for Thriving in Adversity" and "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Christians with Depression: A Tool-Based Primer." She is also co-author of "Religion and Recovery from PTSD."
She lives in Maryland, and when she's not writing, you can find her salsa dancing or hiking in the woods.
After obtaining her PhD from Yale University, she completed two post-doctoral fellowships at Duke University Medical Center. She is licensed to practice psychotherapy in Maryland.
Dr. Pearce is the author of "Night Bloomers: 12 Principles for Thriving in Adversity" and "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Christians with Depression: A Tool-Based Primer." She is also co-author of "Religion and Recovery from PTSD."
She lives in Maryland, and when she's not writing, you can find her salsa dancing or hiking in the woods.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 27, 2020
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*All of my reviews are as spoiler-free as possible unless states otherwise*
— overall thoughts: 3.5 —
This was honestly a pleasant read.
As any self-help book, it’s goal is to make you see things in a different light and I’m glad to say that it helped do that for me. I really like the overall metaphor of the flower blooming in the dark which branched out into the other messages.
I would definitely recommend this self-help book to people (especially writers!!) who are finding themself in a dark place or to people that are looking to try to understand what this means to people who experience it. Reading Michelle Pearce’s story (as well as the featured people) did that for me. She was able to convey her life and experiences in the book really well. Which helped me somewhat see a new perspective when it comes to people who experience these kinds of hardships. While making me look towards myself at the same time.
Even though the introduction was a little too long for my taste but perhaps that’s just my short attention span :3
Personally, I prefer self-help books that focus on somewhat different topics and as a current pre-med college student (and where I am in life right now) I just don’t think this was the perfect specific help-book for me but there was still a lot of helpful messages that was conveyed to me as I am a reviewer.
There are SOOO many tips and details that it was kind of impossible for me to not get anything out of it HAHA ♡
Each chapter is basically a guide to one of the 12 principles and even has a “blooming tip” and “blooming check-in” at the ends which personally was one of my favourite parts. The format was a little different to what I'm used to but it did make it easier to pull messages.
There are also “night bloomers” featured in every chapter which was really cool. Even “writing prompts” sections which I think would be especially helpful for writers reading. So much thought was put into this and definitely worth my read.
*Thank you to the author and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
“The best decision I ever made was to bloom in the dark.”
*All of my reviews are as spoiler-free as possible unless states otherwise*
— overall thoughts: 3.5 —
This was honestly a pleasant read.
As any self-help book, it’s goal is to make you see things in a different light and I’m glad to say that it helped do that for me. I really like the overall metaphor of the flower blooming in the dark which branched out into the other messages.
I would definitely recommend this self-help book to people (especially writers!!) who are finding themself in a dark place or to people that are looking to try to understand what this means to people who experience it. Reading Michelle Pearce’s story (as well as the featured people) did that for me. She was able to convey her life and experiences in the book really well. Which helped me somewhat see a new perspective when it comes to people who experience these kinds of hardships. While making me look towards myself at the same time.
Even though the introduction was a little too long for my taste but perhaps that’s just my short attention span :3
“I was both fascinated and disturbed by how easy it was for me to miss something right before my eyes simply because my brain didn’t know it was there, didn’t know it was an option. “
Personally, I prefer self-help books that focus on somewhat different topics and as a current pre-med college student (and where I am in life right now) I just don’t think this was the perfect specific help-book for me but there was still a lot of helpful messages that was conveyed to me as I am a reviewer.
There are SOOO many tips and details that it was kind of impossible for me to not get anything out of it HAHA ♡
Each chapter is basically a guide to one of the 12 principles and even has a “blooming tip” and “blooming check-in” at the ends which personally was one of my favourite parts. The format was a little different to what I'm used to but it did make it easier to pull messages.
There are also “night bloomers” featured in every chapter which was really cool. Even “writing prompts” sections which I think would be especially helpful for writers reading. So much thought was put into this and definitely worth my read.
*Thank you to the author and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
August 9, 2020
A wonderful book dealing with finding strength in yourself. The author delves into her own personal experiences of loss to help the reader see how to grow and even thrive after a personal loss.
Like the name implies, sometimes we bloom in the darkest hour and find ourselves where we least expected.
I have experienced personal loss with the death of a spouse over 11 years ago, and this book helped me see how much I actually grew as an individual during that dark time of my life. I became more true to myself and this book helped me see that I should be proud of the things I have experienced and embrace the growth and bloom.
Like the name implies, sometimes we bloom in the darkest hour and find ourselves where we least expected.
I have experienced personal loss with the death of a spouse over 11 years ago, and this book helped me see how much I actually grew as an individual during that dark time of my life. I became more true to myself and this book helped me see that I should be proud of the things I have experienced and embrace the growth and bloom.
September 29, 2020
Unlike any other self-help books, Dr. Pearce “Night Bloomers” is a vital resource and tool for anyone who is in a dark time in life.
She gently guides us how to cope and transform our thinking process through our expressive writing exercises. The purpose of each guideline is crystal clear and easy to follow.
She lays out each chapter by using her inner most personal life adversities and her professional experiences.
The bright light came through me when she said that “emotional pain needs our attention just like physical pain” and “give voice to your suffering and grief”.
I’m so glad this book gave me courage to re-examine my own losses in my life and challenged the way I dealt with those hidden griefs.
The “Night Bloomers” inspires me to look for the stars in a pitch darkness.
She gently guides us how to cope and transform our thinking process through our expressive writing exercises. The purpose of each guideline is crystal clear and easy to follow.
She lays out each chapter by using her inner most personal life adversities and her professional experiences.
The bright light came through me when she said that “emotional pain needs our attention just like physical pain” and “give voice to your suffering and grief”.
I’m so glad this book gave me courage to re-examine my own losses in my life and challenged the way I dealt with those hidden griefs.
The “Night Bloomers” inspires me to look for the stars in a pitch darkness.
July 6, 2020
This is a great self-help book to read and get a better understanding of one's self. And you get to learn about the journey of the writer that brought her to write this book and help herself and others. She isn't just some quack trying to write a book, she's lived it and understands it.
This book interacts with the reader by giving prompt write-ups which is something I look for personally when I am reading a self-help book.
I highly recommend this book
This book interacts with the reader by giving prompt write-ups which is something I look for personally when I am reading a self-help book.
I highly recommend this book
July 28, 2020
Dr. Pearce has been through a great deal of adversity and came out stronger and more joyful and is sharing her insights with others going through tough times. Michelle gives a salute to Oprah Winfrey in her book which I think also could be a salute to Michelle's book, authentic and relatable. I believe anyone that is experiencing loss, heartache, disappointment, or adversity of any type could benefit from this read.
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October 31, 2021An interesting book, part self help, part memoir, that takes the reader through some thought provoking prose and makes one think, what if for some people, they need adversity to grow? I liked there comparison to flowers, the different tips and writing prompts throughout and reading about the author’s story of dealing with grief as a way to transform, as well as the stories of others who dealt with adversity and were able to grow from it. This is research based, and a different perspective than I had read about in my trauma research. Would recommend to those interested in learning about post traumatic growth research or those looking for a way out of a difficult time.
Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy.
Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews