How Thinking About Death Can Improve Your Life | Alua Arthur

How Thinking About Death Can Improve Your Life | Alua Arthur

New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.

---


There seems to be one clear bug in the human operating system — most of us do not like talking about death. Yet when we do talk about it, it can genuinely upgrade the quality of our lives.


Our guest today is Alua Arthur, a former attorney who is now what’s called a death doula, which is someone who helps guide people through the end of their lives. Through this work, she has learned some extraordinary stuff about how to live life right now.


Alua is also the founder of Going with Grace, a death doula training and end-of-life planning organization. She is working on her debut memoir, which will be coming out next year called, Briefly Perfectly Human.


This conversation took place at the 2023 TED Conference in Vancouver, immediately after Alua delivered her triumphant talk, which is out now. Special thanks to the TED Audio Collective. You can listen to Alua's talk and other TED talks on the TED Talks Daily podcast.


In this episode we talk about:

  • How death can be a powerful motivator
  • How consistently being aware that you’re going to die can be a “stress reliever”
  • The utility of imagining your ideal death
  • Her view on reincarnation
  • How the concept of “healing” can sometimes be used as a weapon against ourselves
  • The importance of not leaving things unsaid
  • How “hope” at the end of life can sometimes be unhelpful
  • What surprises her about death
  • How her work helped her out of her depression
  • The five steps that you should take when confronting your own death
  • The harm that can sometimes result from too much medical intervention toward the end of life
  • The often fraught relationship that vulnerable and marginalized people can have with the medical community
  • The benefits of thinking about what version of yourself you want to meet on your deathbed
  • The death meditation that she uses when working with people
  • What to say and do when you are with somebody who is grieving
  • And a practice she calls, “The dying things exercise”


For tickets to TPH's live event in Boston on September 7:

https://thewilbur.com/armory/artist/dan-harris/


Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/tph/podcast-episode/Alua-Arthur-619

Jaksot(927)

Danica Patrick, Racing Superstar

Danica Patrick, Racing Superstar

Danica Patrick is one of the most successful female drivers in racing history, having been the first and only woman to win an IndyCar race. Since becoming a staple on the race track, Patrick has expanded her repertoire to include owning a winery, launching a clothing line and writing a new lifestyle book called, "Pretty Intense: The 90-Day Mind, Body and Food Plan," which she developed after changing her own diet and exercise routine while going through the process of freezing her eggs.

17 Tammi 201835min

James Altucher, Master of Reinvention

James Altucher, Master of Reinvention

James Altucher, an entrepreneur, writer and host of "The James Altucher Show" podcast, is a master of reinvention, so much in fact that the title of one of his 18 books is "Reinvent Yourself." Altucher has built and sold numerous companies (and made and lost a few fortunes in the process), once gave up all of his possessions and was homeless for a time, dabbles in stand-up comedy, and all the while has maintained his long history with meditation.

10 Tammi 20181h 3min

Manoush Zomorodi, Host of 'Note to Self' Podcast

Manoush Zomorodi, Host of 'Note to Self' Podcast

Manoush Zomorodi, the host of WNYC's "Note to Self" podcast, is an advocate for boredom because allowing our minds to wander, she says, can lead to problem solving and fresh ideas. Her book, "Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self," stems from an experiment in which she convinced more than 20,000 listeners to try to disconnect from their phones, just be bored for a moment and jump-start their creativity.

3 Tammi 201858min

Your Meditation Questions, Answered!

Your Meditation Questions, Answered!

We close out the year by hearing from you, our loyal listeners! We recently set up a voicemail where listeners left questions for our host Dan Harris and he answers a selection of them that range from how to start a practice, how to tell your friends it's not "weird" to meditate and how to afford retreats. Dan's new book, "Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-To Book," is on sale Dec. 26.

27 Joulu 201752min

Dr. Bianca Harris

Dr. Bianca Harris

Dan interviews his wife, Bianca Harris, who is a big part of the storyline in his new book, "Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-to Book." She resisted starting a meditation practice for years, but has recently made a change. The book is on sale Dec. 26 and available for pre-order now.

20 Joulu 20171h 2min

Jeff Warren, After the '10% Happier' Road Trip

Jeff Warren, After the '10% Happier' Road Trip

Meditation teacher and writer Jeff Warren and our host Dan Harris reflect on their January 2017 road trip, in which they traveled from New York City to Los Angeles to talk with people about what keeps them from meditating, and in the process, the two friends discuss how meditation has helped them work through their own personal struggles. Their new book on their journey, written with Carlye Adler, is called "Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-to Book," which is on sale Dec. 26 and available for pre-order now.

13 Joulu 20171h 12min

Dr. David Vago, This Is Your Brain on Meditation

Dr. David Vago, This Is Your Brain on Meditation

There has been an explosion of research in recent years on what meditation does to the brain, but as neuroscientist Dave Vago points out, the science of putting meditation under neuro-imaging is still quite young. Vago, the research director for the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, studies brain scans of meditators to analyze changes in brain activity, blood flow, size and function of certain areas in the brain, and he was part of a group of scientists who published paper aiming to define "mindfulness" and its neurological impacts.

6 Joulu 201758min

Ginger Zee, ABC News Chief Meteorologist (Bonus!)

Ginger Zee, ABC News Chief Meteorologist (Bonus!)

On "Good Morning America," Ginger Zee is known as ABC News' bright, always-smiling chief meteorologist, but now she is sharing that, in reality, she has long battled storms within herself. Zee, who was born Ginger Zuidgeest, discusses her new memoir, "Natural Disaster: I Cover Them. I Am One."

1 Joulu 201755min

Suosittua kategoriassa Terveys ja hyvinvointi

unicast
tiedenaiset-podcast
psykopodiaa-podcast
voi-hyvin-meditaatiot-2
vakeva-elama-viisaampi-mieli-vahvempi-keho
rss-pitaisko-erota
fitnessvastaanotto
meditaatiot-suomeksi
terapiassa
rss-mighty-finland-podcast
rss-narsisti
selviytyjat-tarinoita-elamasta
rss-uplevel-by-sonja-hannus
selvin-pain
rss-rentoudu-podcast-rentoutumiseen-hanna-viljanmaa
rss-kuumilla-aalloilla
rakkaudella-karita
rss-nautinto
aamukahvilla
paritellen