Tappouni explores the grieving process and helps the reader discover new ways to heal from the death of a loved one, the end of a marriage or financial catastrophe. When we experience a loss, writes Tappopouri, we are faced with a set of choices. We can allow ourselves to be defined by our loss. We can function as a survivor-basically exist as a victim of PTSD. Or, we can choose to have a life. We can use our loss as an opportunity to live an intentional life. This is a book that teaches the reader how to survive grief and, most importantly, how to adapt and grow from the experience of loss. Tappouni, like a close and nurturing friend, walks the reader through the grief process. Her guided meditations are designed to take into account the fact that each one of us experiences the grieving process in different ways. Finally, this is a book that grows out of the author's experience of traumatic loss. Her 11-year-old son was tragically killed in an automobile accident. That experience is what motivated her to help herself and to help others "e;.a luminous, loving book. .evocative of who we really are and what we may really be."e; Jeane Houston, PhD, author of The Wizard of Us and Farewell to Manzanar