THE SHOW
Alua Arthur has one of the world’s most important jobs: she helps people die with dignity. After getting a law degree and starting a career in social work, she became a death doula. She helps individuals and families navigate end of life transitions. As a result, she has profound wisdom on how eventual death can inspire us to live more purposefully. In this conversation, she shares gem after gem about life, grief, work, and evolution.
Behind her brilliance: Leading with her heart
THE GUEST
ALUA ARTHUR| Death Doula + Entrepreneur
Alua Arthur is a death doula, recovering attorney, and the founder of Going with Grace, a death doula training and end-of-life planning organization that exists to support people as they answer the question, “What must I do to be at peace with myself so that I may live presently and die gracefully?” Going with Grace works to improve and redefine the end-of-life experience for people rooted in every community using the individual lived experience as the foundation. Alua was a keynote speaker at EndWell 2019, and has been featured in the LA Times, Vogue, Refinery29, The Doctors, and InStyle. She is inspired by the gift of LIFE itself and is always on the quest for the best donuts and fried plantains!
TOPICS COVERED
Alua’s formative years as the child of missionaries
What a death doula is (and why you should consider engaging one)
Alua’s career path and how she became a death doula
How Alua works with clients and the ways she serves them
How to have hard end of life conversations with family
How to engage a death doula
Alua’s perspective on the connection between death and grief
How Alua’s faith has evolved during her career
Alua’s reflection on self-awareness as a personal asset
How Alua maintains mental and spiritual health
Alua’s reflections and curiosities on monogamy
And much more!
STUFF MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
On Grief and Grieving by David Kessler and Elizabeth Kubler Ross
The All or Nothing Marriage by Eli Finkel
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (Alua’s book pick)
Sula by Toni Morrison (Alua’s book pick)
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugedines (Alua’s book pick)
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty (Alua’s book pick)
Rules of Inheritance by Claire Bidwell Smith (Alua’s book pick)
Dying to Be Me by Anita Moorjani (Alua’s book pick)
The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult (Alua’s book pick)
Unio Mystica by Osho (Alua’s book pick)
On Death and Dying by Elizabeth Kubler Ross and David Kessler (Alua’s book pick)
The Beginners Guide to the End by Dr. BJ Miller and Shoshana Berger (Alua’s book pick)
The Body by Bill Bryson (Alua’s book pick)
