The film “Groundhog Day” has always been one of my favorites and the fact that one of the main characters is named Rita doesn’t hurt! When Bill Murray’s character Phil the newscaster, gets stuck in the dull town of Punxsutawney, waiting for the groundhog to make his appearance, it’s a metaphor for all of us. Have you ever noticed yourself living in autopilot? Recreating the same patterns day after day? Trapped in your own groundhog day? Every single day is the same in the film. The events and people never change one iota, but the lesson that Phil has to learn the hard way, is that every single day we have the choice to take responsibility for our lives. In the beginning of the movie, Phil tries to “fix” the problem, then he decides to indulge in it, then he tries to escape it by committing suicide in various ways. He would literally rather die, than change! None of it works though until he fully commits to the present moment. His misery was not from the day in which he found himself (over and over and over), but his desperate and futile attempts to escape the present. Once he shifts perspective, his whole life changes and he even gets liberated form the prison of “groundhog day”.
Our time is literally our life so use it wisely. Just as Phil learns over the course of the film that he gets to create his reality (with plenty of practice), we get to reverse the TMS strategy through our own choices. We are not doomed to suffer in a chronic pain loop. We can choose our thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. We can choose to live in the past, or appreciate the right now. We can choose to remain stuck and wait for someone or something to “fix” us, or we can realize that we are not broken. The choice is yours!
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