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NPR News

Death is inevitable—why don't we talk about it more

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Jasmina Tomic / TED
)

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Listen 17:43
RELATIONSHIP REPAIR - ARTHUR

Part 2 of the TED Radio Hour episode How to repair your most important relationships.

Death is hard to talk about. But death doula Alua Arthur says if we want to live presently and die peacefully, we have to radically reshape our relationship with death.

About Alua Arthur

As a death doula, Alua Arthur help individuals and families to navigate the emotional, legal and spiritual issues that arise around death. Arthur worked as an attorney prior to entering the field of "death work." Her organization, Going with Grace, educates fellow death doulas in nonmedical end-of-life care. Her forthcoming book, Briefly Perfectly Human, reframes how we think about dying.

Arthur was recently featured in the National Geographic television series Limitless, in which she helped actor Chris Hemsworth map out his own future death. She has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Vogue, InStyle and more. She is a former director of the National End-of-Life Doula Alliance.

This segment of the TED Radio Hour was produced by James Delahoussaye and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour. You can follow us on Facebook @TEDRadioHour and email us at TEDRadioHour@npr.org.

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