VIDEOS
Published on Apr 23, 2012
Question: Why are we so afraid of death?
Ira Byock: Well, I do think it’s partly a human thing, I mean partly anthropologically, frankly biologically there is some hardwiring to avoid death. We fear, we have a fright or flight impulse or response built within us, a hormonally and neuro-chemically and the like. But I think it has become more exaggerated at least during the later part of the last century, during the last half of the last century. . . We have never had a cultural conversation about what a healthy last chapter of life looks like, what that would actually look like to be taking the best care possible of one another professionally and socially in a way that is not always seeking to prolong life, and it corporates this notion that dying is going to happen at some point. Recorded on: March 21, 2008
Published on May 22, 2013
Thinking about death is frightening, but planning ahead is practical and leaves more room for peace of mind in our final days. In a solemn, thoughtful talk, Judy MacDonald Johnston shares 5 practices for planning for a good end of life.
Published on Sep 4, 2012
In her New Orleans neighborhood, artist and TED Fellow Candy Chang turned an abandoned house into a giant chalkboard asking a fill-in-the-blank question: “Before I die I want to ___.” Her neighbors’ answers — surprising, poignant, funny — became an unexpected mirror for the community. (What’s your answer?)
Published on Jun 9, 2013
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/let-s-talk-… We can’t control if we’ll die, but we can “occupy death,” in the words of Dr. Peter Saul. He calls on us to make clear our preferences for end of life care — and suggests two questions for starting the conversation. (Filmed at TEDxNewy.)