Lily Dulan - Giving Grief Meaning

Praise for Giving Grief Meaning

Lily Dulan had to bear the unbearable, a loss that is every parents nightmare. This book relays her journey from the valley of excruciating pain to a peaceful life on the other side of it. She began the journey not knowing if peace would ever be hers again. She was rewarded for each step she took in trying to find it, discovering keys that indeed unlocked the way for her and which now she can share with others. For those still in earlier phases of grief, this book illuminates some mysterious ways a broken heart can heal.

Marianne Williamson, author, teacher, and activist

Death and loss are potent experiences that can overwhelm a person for life. This could have been the fate of Lily Dulan after her beloved newborn daughter Kara unexpectedly died. Her moving account of how her daughters memory eventually led her to a lifes vocation of helping others is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

Sharon Salzberg, author of Real Happiness and Real Love

Lily Dulan has written a courageous book filled with depth and vulnerability. Through the devastating loss of her beloved daughter Kara, Lily was inspired to create the process of The Name Work. Im sure that it will prove to be an accessible and useful tool for many people to give meaning to their grief. This book is filled with real-world examples of love overcoming despair. Lily encourages the reader to feel their own truth and develop empowering thoughts in sync with that truth. For all who are grieving, this book fulfills its promise to bring readers a sense of renewal, love, and ultimate peace of mind.

Judith Orloff, MD, author of The Empaths Survival Guide

Insurmountable pain strikes deep and transforms lives; the effects last a lifetime. How we engage that pain truly determines our path forward. Through Giving Grief Meaning , the reader journeys with Lily Dulan as she blossoms into the unique, stunning, beautiful, and giving person that she is today. To take pain and truly transform it toward enlightened joy and giving for others is a gift. We at the Unatti Foundation are truly grateful for the wisdom that Lily has imparted to our girls in Nepal. The dedication of the Kara Love Project Community Room is a true testament to the care that Lily provides to raise the human spirit. Lily is now sharing all the possibilities to turn pain into growth with the world. Brava!

Stephanie Waisler Rubin and Michelle Armoni, Unatti Foundation

Grief hits us all at some point in our livesit knows no boundaries. How we respond to it can determine whether it stops us from living or deepens our connection to ourselves and those around us. Lilys personal experience with grief has left her with profound wisdom about how to cope with this most painfulbut most humanaspect of life. Giving Grief Meaning shares guidance and practical advice for living with loss or any kind of trauma. She shares incredible yet tangible healing modalities in this book, which offers insight into the complicated journey of grieving in an authentic and honest way. Im so grateful Lily found a way to give her experience a voice and to create this gift for the rest of us. Highly recommended!

Maggie Lin, founder of Foster Nation

Lily Dulan has emerged from the pain of an unimaginable loss with a desire to contribute to the good of others. She transforms her grief, daily, into acts of love through support of organizations that are in service to young people. Through them, and through her other good works, the memory of Kara is honored.

Lynn Warshafsky, founding director of Venice Arts

Lilys book, Giving Grief Meaning , takes the reader on an intimate personal journey of Lilys experience of what it is like to have a much loved and wanted baby in the NICU, and then for her sweet baby Kara to die of SIDS eight weeks after birth at home. Lily and her husband were shattered by unfathomable grief and trauma. Lilys assumptive world was blown up and she shares her authentic, messy, and dark despair of grief. With the help of community and a strong spiritual practice, she was able to transform her pain and suffering into helping herself and others. She chose to live and thrive through her love for Kara. Grief is LOVE. Lily created The Name Work, and a foundation in Karas memory, called the Kara Love Project. The Name Work is a beautiful deck of cards with an initial on it. It is a heart-centered tool or process to create affirmations, positive attributes and describe a loved one by using the letters of their name. Brilliant! Theres a quote I like to share, Death ends life, not a relationship. We continue to create bonds, rituals, and connection with the deceasedbecause we love them so deeply. I cannot recommend this healing book enough to anyone suffering through the wide range and turbulent human emotions of grief, no matter the type of loss. This book will help validate and normalize the lifelong ups and downs of the grieving process. Thank you, Lily, for your gift of this book and choosing lifeyou are helping so many by shining your light, grace and love with us all.

Ivy Love Margulies, PsyD, clinical psychologist specializing in grief and infant loss

Lily Dulan has experienced a parents worst nightmare, the loss of her beloved daughter Kara. In her book Giving Grief Meaning she has so tenderly yet courageously given a voice to the grief and sorrow we all experience in this human journey. Through the sharing of her personal experience with her touch love kindness, she helps us to navigate through grief and come out the other side as a more full and awake human being. This should be a required reading for all humans.

Govind Das, director of Bhakti Yoga Shala

Thank you for sharing your story of grief and loss. In a world where so many people are hurting, we need honest, authentic voices speaking their truth and sharing their stories of overcoming with others. The Name Work provides us with a valuable tool to help heal, grow, transform, and reach our highest potential. I look forward to sharing this tool with others in the mental wellness community.

Metta World Peace, NBA Champion and mental wellness advocate

Lily has transformed heart-wrenching grief into a method of healing which she calls The Name Work. In many ways, her permutations of names are reminiscent of the deepest mystical name meditations of the Kabbalistsand intuitively picks up on those transformative traditions. And yet her work is very practical: she offers concrete tools for facing the hardships which inevitably confront us. For those looking to shift their grief toward growth, while continuing to acknowledge it, this book offers a clear path.

Rabbi Andrew Hahn, PhD (The Kirtan Rabbi)

Lily Dulan has written an important book that is both highly informative and practical. Her approach is also deeply spiritual, gently enabling even those who dont feel particularly nimble in that realm. Speaking from her own devastating and tragic experience of the death of her young daughter, Ms. Dulan weaves together her various arenas of expertise, giving others the tools to work through their grief in ways that are both honest and constructive. Ms. Dulans approach to the process of grieving is that it is real, and rather than it being something to overcome, we can mold it into a force for good, for ourselves, and everyone we meet. In doing so, the lives of those we loved and continue to love, never end.

Neil Comess-Daniels, Rabbi Emeritus, Beth Shir Shalom

Giving Grief Meaning

A Method for Transforming Deep Suffering into Healing
and Positive Change

by Lily Dulan

Coral Gables

Copyright 2020 by Lily Dulan
Published by Mango Publishing Group, a division of Mango Media Inc.