Useful Totem of Undying

In my opinion the totem only triggering if you hold it in your hand is to limiting. I understand the problems for  pvp, and having an inventar full of totems making you kind of immortal. In survival I do not consider that a problem, since your inventory usually already overflows with stuff, and there simply isn't enough space to carry masses of totems with you. I would like to discuss/you to consider two possiblities.

First, simply removing the need to hold the totem in your hand, without any further changes. It would make the totem useful and worth considering always keeping one in your inventory. They still do not stack! And havin more than one would limit your inventory space considerably! Considering pvp it could be an issue, but I seriously doubt it would be worth abusing with the current buffs the totem grants you after reviving. 

Second, let the totem be an upgrade for armour in your smithing table. Upgrading your armour with other items and materials (that would be a suggestion in itself, I guess), like a totem of undying, and granting the armour piece a 1x use of the totems effect. That would limit the use of the totems abilities to the number of armourpieces you carry, maybe excluding elytra?