"Miller thinks deeply about how to create a dignified, graceful end of life for his patients. Take the time to savor this moving talk, which asks big questions about how we think on death and honor life."
Good Morning Folks,
At the end of our lives, what do we most wish for? For many, it’s simply comfort, respect, love.
Death is a subject no one likes to talk about. Yet it is one of the only certainties of life. Any of our families could deal with a health crisis, accident or aging parent and find themselves totally unprepared for the decisions they will face. So for that day, and with the goal of using these TED Tuesdays to enrich you both personally and professionally, I share B.J. Miller's "It’s Time to Redesign Death".
Sue Campbell notes, "Miller was a sophomore in college when, horsing around with friends, he climbed onto a parked commuter rail car and was electrocuted. He lost part of one arm and the bottom of both legs as a result. That, he says, was the beginning of his “formal relationship with death.”
Now a physician working at the Zen Hospice guest house in San Francisco, Calif., he focuses on providing palliative care and on fundamentally changing the American health care system. Right now, medical care centers on the disease. Miller argues that it should center on people — what patients want to do and what makes them feel good — taking into account caregivers as helpers and healers.
Miller says “life and health and health care can become about making life more wonderful, rather than just less horrible.”
The video is 20 minutes long and lays out rich ideas. Take the time to savor this moving talk, which asks big questions about how we think on death and honor life:
As B.J. says, "I got to redesign my life around this fact, and I tell you it has been a liberation to realize you can always find a shock of beauty or meaning in what life you have left, like that snowball lasting for a perfect moment, all the while melting away. If we love such moments ferociously, then maybe we can learn to live well -- not in spite of death, but because of it. Let death be what takes us, not lack of imagination."
I hope that you learned something new and valuable today from this powerful TED talk on patient-centered compassion. Thanks to Sue Campbell and the Next Avenue Blog for tipping me to this talk.
Have a great day and thanks for being a part of our amazing journey.
Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer
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“Remember if you are not smiling then you are doing it wrong."
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Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TED Tuesdays on MitchWeiner.com highlights some of today's most intriguing ideas. Look for more talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more— HERE.
Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TED Tuesdays on MitchWeiner.com highlights some of today's most intriguing ideas. Look for more talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more— HERE.
