Six TED Talks About Death: Grief, Fear, And Hope

Inspiring thoughts about life’s hardest moments

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The death of loved ones is one of life’s hardest moments. When it happened, most of us are unprepared. There are six TED talks that inspired me in answering questions about death including:

• Other than a biological process, can we redefine death from other perspectives?
• Is it possible that humans can face death with something other than fear?
• What does it mean about seeing life as being like a book that is bounded by its covers?
• Is there a timeline for how long grief lasts? Is “move on” a fake goal?
• How do you interpret the “denial”? Could it have a new name “hope”?
• How to prepare for a good end of life?

The TED talks mentioned in this article:

1. “We don’t ‘move on’ from grief. We move forward with it” by Nora McInerny
2. “The 4 stories we tell ourselves about death” by Stephen Cave
3. “Life that doesn’t end with death” by Kelli Swazey
4. “We need a heroic narrative for death” by Amanda Bennett
5. “How to find meaning after loss” by David Kessler
6. “Prepare for a good end of life” by Judy MacDonald Johnston

“We don’t ‘move on’ from grief. We move forward with it“ by Nora McInerny

“Because when you watch your person fill himself with poison for three years, just so he can stay alive a little bit longer with you, that stays with you. When you watch him fade from the healthy person he was the night you met to nothing, that stays with you. When you watch your son, who isn’t even two years old yet, walk up to his father’s bed on the last day of his life, like he knows what’s coming in a few hours, and say, ‘I love you. All done. Bye, bye.’ That stays with you. Just like when you fall in love, finally, like really fall in love with someone who gets you and sees you and you even see, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve been wrong this entire time. Love is not a contest or a reality show — it’s so quiet, it’s this invisible thread of calm that connects the two of us even when…