The Five Rules of Love | Dan Whitlam | TEDxMarvila

Dan Whitlam opens his talk with a line written for someone who doesn't exist yet, then spends the next few minutes being unusually honest about what he's learned about love the hard way — how the way we were held as children becomes the blueprint for how we love as adults, why intimacy is less about touch and more about actually being known, why the friends who've seen every bad version of you and stuck around anyway might be the purest example of love there is. It's a spoken-word set, but it doesn't feel like a performance so much as someone telling you the truth — watch it, and see which of his five rules you didn't know you needed to hear. Dan Whitlam is a poet, rapper, and musician whose work blends reflection, honesty, and emotional depth. After losing his mother young and surviving a stabbing at sixteen, he turned resilience into purpose — using music and poetry to inspire healing and connection. Fresh from his biggest headline tour across North America, Europe, and the UK, and with his debut album coming in 2026, Dan also supports mental-health charities like CALM and Kooth UK. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx