Another Groundhog Day!
Weekly Word #2 ~ February, 2007
“What would you do if you were stuck in one place and everything
was exactly the same and nothing that you did mattered?" Phil
(Bill Murray) asks his inebriated companions at the bowling alley,
in the great metaphysical movie, Groundhog Day. One of the local Punxsutawney
fellows replies: “That about sums it up for me.”
Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever wondered if your life
was stuck on “repeat,” and going around and around in
the same place, day after year? It’s easy for this to happen
to us, following the rules we learned during our childhood domestication—being
nice, not making waves, holding on to the safe job-- and safe relationship,
safe wardrobe, safe identity, and safe religion.
As Phil and his companions drive off from the bar, he realizes that
if he has “no tomorrow,” he can do anything he wants.
He can be in the moment and quit following all the rules. It is one
of many profound teachings in a gentle comedy about a man stuck in
a repeating day. Of course, he begins pushing the edge more than most
of us might be comfortable with . . .but then, comfort is one of those
“safe” things that many of us try to hold on to.
The turning point in Phil’s agony, trapped in his repeating
Groundhog Day, comes when he is telling his producer, “Rita”
(Andie McDowell) about his dilemma. She says something like, “It
depends on how you look at it.” (As in the Toltec wisdom about
"Dreaming").
Phil goes through several changes about his situation, beginning
with being a victim of it, to becoming a master of his situation—and
using it in an attempt to seduce Rita and others. Rita represents
a very strong personal integrity in the film, and he cannot use his
tricks to win her—he cannot achieve her level of integrity and
realness without a purposeful inventory of his own mind.
When he realizes who she is, he finally begins to model his life
in his repeating day after her, and lives his life in genuine service
to others. We can watch his feelings about himself change as he responds
to the needs of others in service and appreciation. He becomes a true
master of his own personal world.
With Phil’s integrity now matching Rita’s, his heart
is freed to truly love, and the spell is broken. His heart is open,
she responds, and all is well.
Is your life repeating itself? Are you following rules that trap
you in a repetitive cycle of days without a chance to be yourself
and shine in your integrity? What if there was no tomorrow? (There
isn’t, you know, there's only today). What will you do with
your life today? What risks will you take, what will you give? How
will you love?
What a great lesson for us all! Let’s wake up from our Groundhog
Days, and LIVE!! Let's open our hearts and heal those fears and wounds
that hold us back from our true nature as generous lovers of Life!
I hope that my teaching and Joydancer.com can offer guidance to that
awakening.
Thanks for being here.
To receive Allan’s free Weekly Word and News, subscribe on most
pages of Joydancer.com.
Thank you for sharing
Allan’s message with others