Nurture Your Body, Mind & Spirit

Why do some people blossom through adversity while others fall apart?

Author Mark Matousek examines this phenomenon by seeking advice from well-known survivors like Joan Didion and Isabel Allende and experts like Jon Kabat-Zinn to show how disasters can be used to awaken and transform us.

From a Sudanese boy slave kidnapped at age seven to a Tibetan nun imprisoned by Chinese militia, Matousek sifts through extraordinary testimonies and recent breakthroughs in neuroscience to demonstrate how we are hardwired to evolve and adapt when faced with the impossible.

Do survivors of life's greatest trials possess a secret knowledge? Is there an art to survival―a map for crossing the wilderness―or daily life? Why do some people blossom through adversity while others stop growing? Drawing on twenty years' experience in this field, using stories, parable, and scientific data, acclaimed memoirist Mark Matousek gives the first-ever comprehensive look at this mysterious phenomenon of viriditas, the power of drawing passion, beauty, and wisdom from the unlikeliest places. Matousek interviews hundreds of well-known survivors―including Joan Didion, Elie Wiesel, and Isabel Allende―and experts such as Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jonathan Kozol, and Sogyal Rimpoche. He includes extraordinary testimonials, from a Tibetan nun imprisoned by the Chinese at age eleven and the women of Calama, Chile, digging for their "disappeared," among countless others. Drawing insight and advice from these many heroic individuals, Matousek presents a chorus of wisdom for how to survive our own lives―the vicissitudes of being human―and prevail.