Zen Hospice's BJ Miller- What Really Matters at the End of Life

At the end of our lives, what do we most wish for? For many, it’s simply comfort, respect, love. BJ Miller is a palliative care physician at Zen Hospice Project who thinks deeply about how to create a dignified, graceful end of life for his patients. This moving talk asks big questions about how we think on death and honor life.

Matthew O’Reilly - Am I dying?  The Honest Answer

Matthew O’Reilly is a veteran emergency medical technician on Long Island, New York. In this talk, O’Reilly describes what happens next when a gravely hurt patient asks him: “Am I going to die?”

Candy Chang - Before I Die I Want To...

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.

Buddhist Roshi Joan Halifax - Compassion and the True Meaning of Empathy

Buddhist Roshi Joan Halifax works with people at the last stage of life (in hospice and on death row). She shares what she's learned about compassion in the face of death and dying, and a deep insight into the nature of empathy.

Artist Jae Rhim Lee- My Mushroom Burial Suit

Here's a powerful provocation from artist Jae Rhim Lee. Can we commit our bodies to a cleaner, greener Earth, even after death? Naturally — using a special burial suit seeded with pollution-gobbling mushrooms. Yes, this just might be the strangest TEDTalk you'll ever see ...

Steve Jobs- How to Live Before You Die

At his Stanford University commencement speech, Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of, Apple and Pixar, urges us to pursue our dreams and see the opportunities in life's, setbacks — including death itself.

Judy MacDonald Johnston - Prepare for a Good End of Life

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.

Anthropologist Kelli Swazey - Life Doesn't End with Death

In Tana Toraja, weddings and births aren’t the social gatherings that knit society together. In this part of Indonesia, big, raucous funerals form the center of social life. Anthropologist Kelli Swazey takes a look at this culture, in which the bodies of dead relatives are cared for even years after they have passed. While it sounds strange to Western sensibilities, she says, this could actually be a truer reflection of the fact that relationships with loved ones don’t simply end when breathing does. (Filmed at TEDMED.)

Peter Saul - Let's Talk About Dying

We can’t control if we’ll die, but we can “occupy death, ” in the words of Peter Saul, an emergency doctor. He asks us to think about the end of our lives — and to question against the modern model of slow, intubated death in hospital. Two big questions can you help start this tough conversation.

Maurice Sendak - Life, Death and Children's Lit

Interview from "Fresh Air - NPR" with Maurice Sendak: On Life, Death And Children's Lit

We hope you find these talks inspiring and encouraging.