“Sometimes I wish I had a thousand lifetimes. I don’t know, Phil. Maybe it’s not a curse. Just depends on how you look at it.”
– Rita (Groundhog Day)
In this episode, I use the movie Groundhog Day to describe how we can break out of our painful and self destructive patterns. The movie is brilliant in depicting someone who is enclosed in their own bubble of suffering and how they manage to find meaning in their life. Bellow, I talk about the major points discussed in this episodPhil has a set-mindset. He believes that having a life in Florida is what’s necessary for him to finally be happy. But most likely, if he was in Florida, he would still be pursuing a better life. He needs to change himself in order to find meaning.
- Phil bends the world to fit his NEEDS. He thinks happiness is found in women, fame, and fortune.
- Phil has a poorly constructed persona (the mask you present to the outside world). He is awkward and has no awareness of the outside world around him (as we see when he continues to step in the same pothole over and over).
- Phil experiences this existential anxiety when he realizes he is reliving thee same day over and over. Like us when we become aware that we have been in the same anxious loop for a long time. It’s not easy to realize the reality of the situation. The question is, how do you change your life and break this cycle?
- We see Phil break and shift his patterns as the film progresses. The world and people around him stay the same, but Phil doesn’t. He improves his life 1% everyday. You can’t wait for the world to change, you have to change. If you take on the responsibility to overcome the anxiety loop you are stuck in, then meaning will then come into your life. The constant striving for the higher good is what brings meaning into Phils life. That BREAKS the loop.