Live as if you were to die tomorrow: This quote from Gandhi is a powerful reminder of making the most of the moment. If we think that we were to die tomorrow, our perspective changes. It makes us think about the most important things in life. It also makes us question whether we are getting stuck in things that don’t matter and reprioritise our life. The best part is that if were to live as if we were to die tomorrow, we wouldn’t worry so much about mundane things that don’t matter.
The first part talks about boldness, being adventurous and not holding ourselves back. The second part is all about learning, growing and continuously evolving ourselves because there’s so much to understand and make sense of in this world.
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Live as if you were to die tomorrow meaning
This sounds rather bold and callous if we look at it in isolation. A part of me loves this idea of living in the moment because we will never know what happens in the future. It encourages us to think of this moment alone in isolation and do what’s best. It also highlights that we need to focus fervently on this present moment and listen to what our thoughts are telling us.
Focus on the present moment
This quote also talks about the focus on the present moment. We tend to get lost in the past, present and future. Most times, we are either thinking too much about the past or imagining the future. In both these circumstances, we are lost from the moment or things in front of us. This causes a great deal of frustration and restlessness.
Feelings, Worries and frustrations are temporary
Nothing is permanent but our mind often gets confused and starts thinking that things are permanent. Hence, we are lost in the world of worries feeling that we will carry them forever. The thoughts from Gandhi in this quote remind us think about how fleeting these things are. When things are so fleeting, what’s the point in worrying about it as if it is permanent?
Live as if you were to die tomorrow, Learn as if you were to live forever
Mahatma Gandhi Quotes
Fear and Judgment vs living in the moment
Sometimes, the thought of the future induces a sense of fear and judgement that prevents us from doing what we think. If we were to live as if we were to die tomorrow – maybe we’d stop lying to ourselves and be true to our thoughts. These thoughts will not be adulterated with the sense of being judged or living up to someone’s ideologies. They just ask us to look within and do what we feel like. Wouldn’t it be refreshing and freeing to just live in the moment, do what we feel like and be bold and honest about our emotions?
Learn as if you were to live forever
We’ll never know everything or will ever be perfect. But that’s a good thing. This whole sense of perfection is boring – it gives you nothing to learn or grow from. Growth and learning however are beautiful because they keep us on track. They go beyond the smaller goals of achieving or doing something. They’re internally focused because growth is about mastery and a never-ending goal of continuous improvement.
If we were to learn as if we were to live forever, it would fill us with knowledge, awareness and respect for everyone else in the process. We can be kinder to people who are struggling as they are going through their learning journey and may not know everything that we do. It also teaches us to be humble because we have so much to learn and keep growing. It keeps our ego in check while encouraging us to look to the future and keep learning.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow, Learn as if you were to live forever
Mahatma Gandhi Quotes
Thank you for the kind words Prerna, glad you enjoyed this post
I am a Follower and A fan of mahatma Gandhi and its an really amazing article , Loved It a lot