When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. – Phil Connors, Groundhog Day movie
Yesterday, February 2nd – Groundhog Day, strikes me as a very important day mostly because of the 1993 movie, Groundhog Day. I was trying to explain to a small group of kids the wisdom in the movie - why it is a both funny and “religious” movie.
For me the movie is about humanity’s ultimate path to redemption exemplified in the character of Phil Connors played by Bill Murray (he just makes me laugh). I know a minister who gets a small group of people together each year on Groundhog Day to watch the movie.

At the start of Groundhog Day (1993), Connors blindly delivers the Chekhov poetic line on live television with detached cynicism, seeing nothing but the drudgery of yet another Groundhog Day in small-town Pennsylvania. What he doesn’t yet realize is that he is about to experience his own version of a long, bleak winter—an existential loop that forces him to live the same day over and over again.
Some say that especially for men Groundhog Day isn’t just a clever comedy; it’s a parable about the journey from self-absorption to self-mastery. It’s a film about feeling stuck in routines, wrestling with control, and ultimately discovering what makes life meaningful.
When Phil Connors first realizes he’s caught in a time loop, he reacts like many would if given limitless time: he indulges. He eats whatever he wants, seduces women, robs a bank, and manipulates people for his own amusement. It’s fun—for a while. But he soon discovers that pleasure alone is fleeting.
This is one lesson most learn the hard way. Hedonism, unchecked, doesn’t lead to fulfillment. Whether it’s chasing wealth, status, or temporary thrills, we eventually realize that pleasure without purpose leaves us empty. Phil’s journey reminds us that true satisfaction comes from growth, not indulgence.
Then Phil tries everything to escape his fate: he rebels, he resists, he even attempts suicide. But no matter what he does, February 2nd keeps resetting. He learns a truth that men, people, throughout history have struggled with—some things are simply beyond our control.
Ancient Stoic philosophers like Marcus Aurelius and Holocaust survivor, Dr. Viktor Frankl taught… that peace comes not from controlling our circumstances but from mastering our responses. Buddhist thought echoes this, emphasizing surrender to the present moment. In Groundhog Day, Phil embodies this wisdom as he stops trying to fight the loop and instead embraces it.

For people facing difficult jobs, relationships, or life’s inevitable slings and arrows and setbacks, this is a powerful reminder: We don’t control the world, but we do control how we respond to it.
Once Phil moves past despair, something changes—he starts using his time to become better. He learns piano, becomes fluent in French, and memorizes the quirks of the townspeople to help them in moments of crisis. In doing so, he shifts from self-indulgence to self-mastery.
Many men, many people, feel adrift at some point, unsure of their purpose. But Groundhog Day suggests a simple answer: Instead of waiting for life to hand us meaning, we must create it ourselves. Learn new skills, help others, and become the best version of ourselves. It isn’t just a way to pass time—it’s what makes time meaningful.
Then, there’s the love angle. Probably the biggest aha. At the beginning of the movie, Phil sees love as a conquest. He tries to manipulate Rita (Andie MacDowell) into falling for him, memorizing facts about her to craft the perfect seduction. But every time he attempts to force love, he fails.
It’s only when Phil genuinely transforms—when he becomes a man of character, kindness, and depth—that Rita naturally falls for him. This reflects a fundamental truth about relationships: We don’t find love by chasing it. We find love by becoming someone worth loving.
When Phil finally wakes up on February 3rd, it’s because he has broken the cycle—not by escaping it, but by embracing it. He has become a man worthy of love, respect, and happiness.

We don’t need a time loop to change our lives. Every morning is a reset button, an opportunity to grow, to love, and to contribute. The question isn’t, “How do I escape this day?” but rather, “How do I make this day count?”
There’s some real wisdom of Groundhog Day—and the secret to The Good Life for individuals.
And you could stop reading here. But...on a larger scale...
What if it’s not just individuals who get caught in these loops? What if entire families, communities, or even nations fall into their own versions of Groundhog Day? And more importantly—how can they get out of it?
We watch as Phil, trapped in repetition, moves through predictable phases: frustration, indulgence, despair, and eventually transformation. His story resonates deeply because we all experience Groundhog Day moments—getting stuck in habits, patterns, and cycles that feel impossible to break.
Many families find themselves living the same conflicts over and over—arguments that never get resolved, expectations that never change, and emotional wounds that never heal. Parents pass down unspoken anxieties, financial struggles, or patterns of avoidance. Children, watching this, grow up to repeat the same patterns in their own lives.
This is Groundhog Day at a generational level. A father might have grown up with emotional distance from his own father and, despite promising himself he’d be different, finds himself just as emotionally unavailable to his own kids. A mother might have grown up in a household filled with stress over money, and now, decades later, she still reacts with the same financial fears—despite having more security than her parents ever did.
How does a family break the cycle? The same way Phil Connors did—by shifting from reaction to intentional transformation. Families that recognize their unhealthy patterns and commit to change can create new traditions, new ways of speaking, and new ways of supporting one another. Just as Phil’s genuine transformation led him to love and connection, families that embrace self-awareness and healing can write a new future for the next generation.

Just like individuals and families, communities can fall into repetitive cycles—failing to address big problems and instead reliving the same struggles year after year. Poverty, crime, failing schools, or social and political divisions often persist not because solutions don’t exist, but because communities remain stuck in the past.
Think of cities that have faced decades of economic decline but resist new industries. Or towns that continue bitter political divides, recycling the same arguments without ever working toward understanding. Or school systems that continue outdated teaching methods, failing to recognize the needs of modern students.
Communities, like Phil, must decide whether to keep reliving the same day—or to transform. This doesn’t happen overnight. It happens when local leaders and citizens take responsibility for change—when they recognize the patterns that keep them stuck and start asking, “How can we make tomorrow different?”
One real-world example is the city of Medellín, Colombia. We visited friends who lived near there. At first we were aghast when they decided to move their little family there. Medellin was known as one of the most dangerous cities in the world! Medellín transformed itself by investing in education (this is what our friend was helping with in Colombia), public spaces, and transportation—shifting from a cycle of violence to a model of urban renewal.
Just like Phil learned that small daily actions lead to big transformations, communities that commit to change—bit by bit, choice by choice—can rewrite their story.
At a larger scale, entire nations can fall into their own Groundhog Day cycles—reliving the same political conflicts, economic mistakes, and cultural divisions generation after generation. War, racism, and corruption don’t persist because history is doomed to repeat itself, but because societies often fail to learn from the past.
Consider how often nations cycle between economic boom and bust, between war and peace, between unity and division. It’s easy to fall into despair, believing that history is just an endless loop. But Groundhog Day reminds us that transformation is possible—if we are willing to change.

Nelson Mandela understood this when he led South Africa out of apartheid. Instead of repeating the cycle of division and vengeance, he chose reconciliation. Other nations have done the same—Germany, after World War II, actively worked to reckon with its past, committing itself to democracy and human rights.
For a nation to break free of Groundhog Day, its leaders and citizens must stop reacting in the same predictable ways and start making conscious, courageous choices to do better.
The beauty of Groundhog Day is that it offers us hope. Phil Connors eventually wakes up on February 3rd—not because the loop magically ends, but because he changes.
Families, communities, and nations can do the same. When we become conscious of our patterns—when we stop blaming and start growing—we begin the work of transformation. It’s never easy. But history, like time loops, can be rewritten.
Every day, we have a choice: to relive the same story, or to create a new one.
That’s the real wisdom of Groundhog Day—and the secret to The Good Life.
How might we break free of our Groundhog Days, become conscious of our repetitive patterns, and begin the work of transformation…particularly by looking beyond our egos?
I’m reading a book by Iris Murdoch, called The Sovereignty of Good. I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s a very hard read, but Murdoch does have some wisdom to offer. I’ll have more to say about how we direct our attention toward the good to become…good.
In the meantime, one easy step forward is to simply watch the old movie Groundhog Day. Again. I need it.

How might we enjoy the fun AND together take in the lessons – those lessons the ancients have been trying to teach for centuries?
Maybe we’ll see some truth around the futility of total hedonism as the supreme path to the good life; and the truth around accepting that there are some things we cannot control, but we CAN control our response; and surely we’ll see some truth in the insight around the transformational shift, the big change, from self-indulgence to self-mastery for living well. Perhaps we will be able on some level the importance of authentic love… understand how to put our “attention on goodness” is the ultimate path forward.
And why not blow up the whole endless loop by asking ourselves how we can do tomorrow differently - how we can stop simply enduring the same ole day – the same ole patterns, and rather consider how we might make the day count. Think larger than the self to our families, our communities, our country, and journey together to The Good Life.

What patterns are we willing to see and ultimately break free of?
It’s a courageous, challenging, compassionate, tender, and, yes, even somewhat comic (if we can stand back and take a look at ourselves - at least many mystics thought so), adventurous journey toward becoming more truly human that we'll be taking if we choose to break free.
Here's my plan.
First watch Groundhog Day. Again. Learn the lessons. This is the easy part.
The harder part, and according to many gurus, the meaningful part could come next. Am I willing to pull up the commitment, courage, and compassion and humor to see AND break free of my old destructive patterns? I'm curious how that will go.
I'm mentally preparing myself to become more humble through this whole thing. My mother and personal guru said, aging well involves being willing to accept a humbler version of yourself. Maybe that's part of the work. It certainly was true for Phil Connors.

How might we journey together to the Good Life by learning how to break free of old unhelpful patterns of thinking and behaving individually and collectively, be willing to grow and change, escape ground hog day and a life-long, bleak winter?

("Breaking Through" - a painting I did some years ago to celebrate the courage it takes to break out of habitual, destructive repetitive loops)
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