I’ve been working to become a certified yoga teacher and during today’s session, the instructor referenced the movie Groundhog Day to describe the different types of karma. Now I completely related to this analogy because I, a huge Bill Murray fan, have actually put a lot of thought into how seriously impactful his seemingly silly movies actually are.

My online yoga instructor used Bill Murray’s character, Phil Conners, in Groundhog Day to explain the difference between vikarma and karma kanda. She pointed out that at the beginning of the movie, Phil acts likes a spoiled child acting impulsively with complete disregard for the repercussions of his actions. It is only when he wants to win over Andie MacDowell’s character, Rita, that he begins to do the right thing.

My favorite scene is when Phil tells Rita he can’t go for coffee with her because he has errands to run and then proceeds to catch a falling boy from a tree and change a woman’s flat tire. I love this part because Phil has finally accepted the reality of his situation and instead of seeing it as being stuck in a living hell, he decides be a good Samaritan instead. As a teacher, I often find myself in painfully repetitive scenarios and making the best of the situation is the only way I know how to get through the day. I have Bill Murray to thank for that.

But that’s not the only lesson we can glean from Bill Murray’s movies. My next favorite is What About Bob ? In this gem, Murray plays Bob, a neurotic and overly dependent patient who becomes so attached to his psychiatrist Dr. Marvin after a single session that he tracks him down and joins him on his family vacation. Bob’s well-meaning but annoying antics ultimately drive his psychiatrist crazy and explore mental health, boundaries and relationships in a hysterical yet realistic way. The most memorable moment of this movie for me is when Dr. Marvin suggests Bob take baby steps, or slow acts of progress toward facing his fears, but Bob takes him literally and shuffles his feet across the room. Between that and Bob’s affirmation of, “I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful,” I can’t think of a more relatable way to address mental health. Treating mental health issues is so individualistic and what may work of one person may seem silly to someone else but it’s the bonds we make along our journey that truly matter. The love Dr. Marvin’s family has for Bob is a testament to that.

As someone who waits to watch Christmas movies until after Thanksgiving, my go-to favorite is Scrooged. Based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Murray plays Frank Cross who, like Ebeneezer Scrooge, learns to change his miserly ways when three spirits show him the fate he can expect if he continues to be heartless. Other than telling a stagehand to staple antlers on a live mouse, there aren’t too many other moments I can specifically recall but by the end, Frank Cross undergoes a Grinch-like transformation and decides to treat people with compassion. Since the moral comes from a famous novel, this lesson is more obvious but once again, Murray is making profound statements with his dead pan humor.

Last but not least, I would be remiss if I did not point out the valuable message of the cult classic, Caddyshack. Set at the Bushwood Country Club, Murray’s character, Carl Spackler, is a groundskeeper who is obsessed with getting rid of a gopher who is wreaking havoc on the golf course. The film is a satire on class and privilege with classic lines such as, “you buy a hat like this, I bet you get a free bowl of soup,” among others. Despite the outrageous antics in this movie, it still manages to prove that the good guy wins in the end.

Of course I could go on and point out other influential Bill Murray movies, but I have already spent more time on this post than I anticipated so I’m signing off, or as Phil Conners would say, “so long.”