Self-Development Book Club - Meditations for Mortals

tracymartorana4
Nov 23
4 min read

We are on number eleven of my Self-Development Book Club books. If you haven't been following along, at the beginning of the year, I set a goal for myself to read or reread at least one self-development book a month and then share it with you. You can find all of my Book Club YouTube videos in this playlist. Be sure to check them out!

What was my eleventh self-development book for 2025? It is Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman. The subtitle of this book is 'Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts'. If the name of this author sounds familiar, it's because I re-read and shared his book Four Thousand Weeks earlier this year.

I loved Four Thousand Weeks, so I picked up this book as soon as I saw the author's name on the cover. However, I completely missed the mark on the subject of this book (but I'm NOT disappointed). I expected this to be a book about meditation...as in, sitting in silence, being mindful, enjoying visualizations, etc. However, the word meditation also means "a written or spoken discourse expressing considered thoughts on a subject." And that is what Burkeman meant by meditations in his title.

Watch Me Talk About It

Meditations for Mortals - Summary

This book contains 28 chapters plus an Introduction and an Epilogue. It is written this way so that you can easily read one chapter a day for a month and then spend some time each day contemplating the subject of each chapter. I love a book that acknowledges people are busy and breaks things down into small, digestible chunks.

Each week of the month (7 chapters), has its own theme., such as BEING FINITE, TAKING ACTION, LETTING GO, and SHOWING UP. Within each chapter there is a Title, a Subtitle, and a Quote. Burkeman spends the rest of that chapter sharing his thoughts (and thoughts of others), deep diving into the meaning behind it, and how you can use these ideas to shape how you live in the world.

Highlights

Due to the book's format, it is impossible to provide a comprehensive overview of the entire work; therefore, I will share a few highlights. I will include the title, subtitle, and quote from a few chapters and along with a couple of thoughts he shared.

Day 3

You need only face the consequences

On paying the price

'You are free to do whatever you like. You need only face the consequences.' - Sheldon B. Knopp

"...there are no solutions, only trade-offs."

"The only two questions, at any moment of choice in life, are what is the price, and whether or not it's worth paying."

This chapter reminded me that when you make a choice, if you consider everything in the context of trade-offs and consequences, you remove the feeling of "I have to" and replace it with "I chose to", which feels much more empowering.

Day 4

Just go to the shed

On befriending what you fear

'We cannot change anything unless we accept it.' - C.G.Jung

"It is alarming just how much of life gets shaped by what we're actively trying to avoid."

"Confronting the situation is the only way you can begin to do something about it."

Day 14

Develop a taste for problems

On never reaching the trouble-free phase

'Beyond the mountains, more mountains.' - Haitian proverb

"Grappling with all the somethings is what life is fundamentally about."

Solving problems and fixing issues is what our lives are all about. Accept the fact that life is never meant to be trouble-free, and your daily frustration of trying to reach the end of your list of issues to solve, will lessen.

Day 21

What's an interruption, anyway?

On the importance of staying distractible

'The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's "own" or "real" life. The truth is, of course, that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life - the life God is sending one day by day.' - C.S.Lewis

"...ponder the strange assumption of omniscience that's baked into the notion of minimizing 'interumptions' and blocking out 'distractions.' The idea that these labels can confidently be applied to things before they happen implies that you always know, in advance, the best way for any portion of your time to unfold."

"The natural state of the mind is often for it to bounce gently around, usually remaining only loosely focused and receptive to new stimuli, the state sometimes known as 'open awareness.'

Our daily lives are made up of a sequence of distractions. And that's not usually bad.

Last Thoughts

While there may have been a couple of chapters that I wasn't enthralled with, most of them left me thinking about the world, myself, and those close to me a little differently. While I only briefly shared a few highlights, there were many great chapters I didn't share because I would not have done them justice.

I will definitely be revisiting this book in the future, and I encourage you to pick up your own copy!