Why Thinking About Death Helps You Live a Better Life | Alua Arthur | TED 

Alua's authenticity and sincerity are the real deal. She's one of our greatest advocates and thinkers around death.

I sobbed so hard at her description of what she believes death to be. Unbelievable talk. So grateful for her wisdom.

A life worth dying from. These are going to be the words I live by. Thank you.

I have died. You give permision. It is peaceful. It is like floating through a bright eyeball. On the other side there are only those that came before you. I am currently pregnant AND dying. So I live life. I show love. I smile so largly at the moon and sky I have given myself more wrinkles. Love life! Death does not hurt!

Looking forward to my first day or lecture of Death doula course! I am 58, retired Pharm Tech, slightly depressed due to fibromyalgia pains, thoracic outlet syndrome, etc. However, there is time still to serve others.

How is it I just discovered Alua? This talk is poignant and powerful. I left it thinking more about living than dying. She drives home, our lives are a series of transitions preparing for the biggest transition death. She inspired me so deeply and transformationally.

As@death doula, I applaud this Ted talk 110%. So right, like Barbara Karne’s said, “in real life people don’t die like they do in the movies”.

I learned alot from this talk but the most that i will take from this is to "hold life lightly",nothing lastly forever.

Alua, I really liked the somewhat humorous tone of this talk about a subject that scares so many people. But my God, where did you get those sublime high heels? ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

I'm literally in tears as I watched this TED talk. It felt as if I was listening to a poem that touched me so deeply. Thank you TED for sharing this. What an amazing speaker.

I love how she speaks with kindness, poetry, confidence and wisdom. Its been pleasing, funny and VERY touching to listen to her.

Amen- Dad in Hospice Care and your spirit is beautiful. Thank you for being you .

I’m so moved by Alua !! I sobbed when she shared her story of her brother in law .

I cried😭! Not because of sadness but because what she said makes so much sense. I am making it my goal to live fully in the years that I have left. Thank you ☺️ so much for this talk. 😊

Alua did an amazing job, she inspired me to a new life motto, which from now on reads: 'Don't wait for things to happen, make them happen, because life doesn't stop for you.'

"We highlight what we have to do to feel worthy rather than who we get to be"

Her talk is beyond beautiful! I listen to this talk about once a month and I ugly cry every single time. But it inspires me and reminds me to live every single moment and second of my life to the fullest! She is such a gift!!

This video has been in my Watch Later List until today, as I got busy with life, thinking I will come back to it later. But today I just needed something to speak to me. My life has been a mess, with wrong decisions in life and work. I know I am mildly depressed. So I just decided to watch this video today, and I am glad I did. It changed my perspective on the problems that I am facing in my life, where they are not that important anymore. I want to live, to try to experience what else life has to offer, good or bad, with no regrets, until the very end of my life. This could be the one moment that changes my life.

Wow wow wow wow wow - she is incredible! What a fantastic speaker, storyteller and thinker. I feel like I just experienced something very special.

"It is complete, and I am safe" Thank you for turning and facing the things that matter. Thank you for speaking ❤‍🔥🙏

I attended Alua’s classes. No one can express it better. She is such a gift and a complete and utter delight!

This is the best Ted talk I’ve ever seen. Thank you for gifting us profound meaning, Alua.

Just beautiful.

I love her energy. Thank you, Alua, for serving humanity.

Alua’s work with the Order Of The Good Death has always inspired me to live my life exactly how she describes it. Live life so that when you die, you’ll be remembered how you want to.

I’m incredibly happy I came across this video

As a woman with MBC- when I asked Drs is there a calendar or calculator that determines my end of life- well no…That is when I began pondering how do I really want to go- ever more so, accentuating how I really want to live- until that time. Alua Arthur spoke an absolute truth with soaring compassion, mostly she validated how my perception of life and death has taken on an entirely different meaning. Poignant and vulnerable and purposeful, thank you.

Ted made this talk happen for me. I have had these questions for some time now. I wish I could meet someone wise like her in real life. Why is this not that popular. Death is the ultimate truth and will happen to all - why don't we talk more about it.

An amazing and emotionally moving Ted Talk! I love the humor, which is not easy to have when talking about the subject of dying. Alua is an amazing orator!

A life worth dying from ❤❤❤

This is beautiful, We should think about dying it helps shape what we do and how we relate to our society 🙏🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿

This is one of the best Ted I have ever listened to. Absolutely stunning.

That was so beautiful. Thank you for this offering

You are an Angel⭐️ thank you for sharing your gifts. I’m feeling inspired to become a death dula. 💕🌈🙏

What an extraordinary talk, thank you so much Alua!!!! 👏👏👏👏

Wow, so succinctly spoken…thank you Alua, for this wonderful and enlightening piece

One of the most profound talks I have ever heard!❤❤❤

Wow, Mrs. A., that talked was so touching. I cuurently feel my mom may pass this year, and think about my own life and death to come... I've tried to live life from the perspective of death, and yet, there is so much living in the glittery instants that I haven't plumbed yet. Thank you for your work. And btw, your beauty was a joy to behold.

Absolutely stunning talk, message, and delivery. Thank you, Alua!!

Beautifully given, so inspirational, so affirming. Thank you for the lesson learned, and the experience shared! 🙏

the thought of death actually comforts me. not that i want to end my life but rather it is in knowing that our limited time here makes me more grateful for the time i get to spend with my loved ones, and for the experience i continue to have no matter how big or small they are. we'll all be gone someday. at the end, it is all about how we made others feel with our brief moment on earth

Listening to this felt like life intimately touching my face and reassuring me to live full ❤😊

Wow. More wisdom in this than I can hold onto. Going to be reflecting on this for a long time. Thank you for sharing this!

I love this!! The visual imagery, the details, thought-provoking questions.. just incredible talk all around.

This talk is life transforming! Thank you

Alua's extraordinary talk is a profound reminder to be present to the experiences and the richness of life and to those we love. In the end, that is all that matters.

Thank you, Alua & TED, for one of the best talks ever!

This was so graceful and beautifully conveyed 🥰. Life-changing talk! Thank you Alua ❤️

I can't stop thinking of the fact that death may be an infinit emptyness. It terrifies me when I start overthinking of it. My mother died young (41) brutally when I was only 11. The fact that she may not be here somehow to see me grow it's an absolutely scary and sad thing, that she will never see my future kids etc. Something I can't fully accept and I can't just accept infinite nothingness, so I just try to have faith that there is "more".

Absolutely amazing. I'm floored. What a blessing I found this.

Probably the best Ted talk or speech in general I’ve ever seen. Amazing work Alua 🏆

"Eat the dessert you want, you will die" This one will get a lot of views, great talk.

Thank you for this video. It really helped me to think about my life.

Thank you Ted for making this happen, Thank you Alua for sharing such a magical perspective and lesson. I am forever changed in the perspective of how I look at death and face it. 💛

So gracefully spoken!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom on bridging the gap between life & death❤🌻

In Islām being conscious of death is vital! Everything we do will it please god and result in a good death a good rest in the grave and heaven or not in the afterlife

My favourite TED talk - never heard such a talk . Thankyou

Beautiful - so glad that I listened. Thank you for sharing! ❤️

Incredible, had to pause a few times .. so so moving

I am in awe. Just wow. Alua, a gift.

This is beautifully touching and inspiring!

Stunning!!! Thank you for touching my life!!

Brilliant! I wish she was there at my father’s end of life. People with cancer need more dignified care at the end of life. Thank you for the colorful celebration at the end of your life.

Really beautifull thank you I really needed to hear this❤

What it means by confronting the reality! She is fantastic and articulate on idea of coming to terms with death and live a better life!

I am in awe Thank you 🙏🏾

Amazing talk. Poignant. Thank you, Alua.

❤❤❤❤make meaning out of the magic of the mundane! Thanks Alua!Thank you for sharing this!

Loved this. I always come back to her stuff when I’m struggling with life.

Thank you for sharing your heart experiences and growing wisdom. ❤️

This is what I help people do for a living as a Death, Dying, Grief Specialist. 💙

Time offers us opportunity, and demands a sense of urgency. As our present moment must be embraced, or our rewards for the future will be with held.

This was a really great lecture. I constantly find myself imagining my own death. Whether I'm hit by a car, suffer a heart attack, trip and smash my head in, or go peacefully in my sleep, my death itself never concerns me. I always picture the next few years after my death and the impact it has on those around me. I picture my moms eyes filled with tears, even after so long. I picture my dad silently struggling in pain and the dullness in his eyes. I picture my brothers, the oldest growing numb to life and contemplating suicide and the youngest traumatized over it. I picture my aunts and uncles telling all my cousins they'll never see me again and the pain they hold hiding me as just gone. I picture my girlfriend finding it hard to move forward in life, and her staying that way until another young man finds his way into her heart. It's a sobering experience facing death, and it gives you a clear impression of the impacts you've made. I've never enjoyed facing my death, but acknowledging the significance of my life is oddly comforting. It gives me the direction and motivation to make my life into something more. Hearing this lecture has been freeing as I feel I've gained permission to choose how I die. I want to pass away holding my future wife in my arms. Our children, grandchildren and a few great grandchildren will be close, but respectfully giving us space. I'll kiss her for the last time and after kissing me back she'll peacefully pass in the comfort of my arms. I'll hold her softly, finding comfort in her lasting warmth as my eyes slowly close for the last time.

I love this, thank you

Thank you for this ❤

Wow,I loved this talk! 💗

Simply brilliant !

I really love this talk❤

Best TED talk i’ve ever heard. ❤

Jep. Needed that! Thank you❤

Beautiful Ted thank you ❤

I love her, I love her work, and let's also talk about that ORANGE. dayum!

This video was riveting! BRAVO

So heart touchin✨

This is amazing work ❤

Preciosa intervención. Graciasssss

This is so beautiful

that was fantastic! thank you

I really needed this video. Thank you, TED❤ Thank you, Alua❤❤

I’m glad one day this will be over. Life is hard, but living is harder. I’m a Man I’m tired of this places. I apologize to all the people I hurt. ❤

AMAZING!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!

One of the best TED talks. Reminds of Steve Jobs speech at university

This was a good one TEd, well done.

I cry A LOT, but now I will try do that, thank you so much to share this ❤❤❤

How can one cry so hard, and laugh, almost at the same time? The universe, through Alua Arthur, just sent me one heck of an important message. Thank you so very, very much. May I add, that outfit is sensational 😉.

Wow, thank you Alua absolutely beautiful ❤🌟

Thank you, Alua ❤

This was so beautiful

Love this 💜

Well said. Also notice this: Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. (Ecclesiastes 11:9) Also, this: The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)