Happy Ground Hog Day! Are you kidding me? No, here is central Pennsylvania – that’s still a big deal.
One of my Penn State graduate students actually had her parents come visit from out of state to be at Gobbler’s Knob at dawn this morning to see Punxsutawney Phil’s prognostication – a longer cold winter, or a sooner spring thaw?
(Sorry, word has it, he saw his shadow again – six more weeks of winter.)
So what? Well, one of my all-time favorite movies is Ground Hog Day. My wife and kids and I curl up with blankets and pop corn around this time every year to watch it – which we did again on Saturday night. Why do I love it so much, and why the heck am I writing about it now.
Well, I did another one of my favorite parenting programs last night, “Finding the Time to Enjoy Your Life and Your Kids Again!” We spent the evening taking inventory of what’s most important in your life, and how you can find the time for it. And it got me to thinking…
Bill Murray found one way to enlightenment in this farcical, yet philosophical, romantic flick. He was forced to live the same day over and over again until he learned his lesson – found his truth – and starting living it in earnest.
What would you do if you had only one day to live over and over again?
Maybe you’d act out at first with wild fantasies, naughty or crazy or whatever – just as Bill does. Then you might get bored, or depressed, or desperate for a spell. Eventually, if you’re lucky, you’ll come to realize that life doesn’t have much meaning if we’re in it just for our own gains and needs.
It means a whole lot more when it’s shared with others – when we can give, lovingly of ourselves to others, and rejoice in regular (not necessarily random!) acts of kindness – just for the joy of it.
Now, a subtle part of the movie is that Bill has to go through a cleansing period, a period of self-care and self-development, before he has strengthened skills that he can then put to good use serving others.
This is just like my prescription for less stress and more life satisfaction in the T3 Family Wellness Program. Before you can effectively call TIME OUT to resolve conflicts with your kids (or anyone), you need to share enough positive, fun TIME IN with them to build loving relationships. And you can’t do that, if you don’t take enough TIME OFF to re-energize yourself, first.
To produce good output – parenting or otherwise – we first need to have good, quality input to fill our souls and our minds with the beauty we want to see in our kids and in our world.
So during this mid-winter pause – for some a time of silly celebration – let us also use it for a time of brief reflection: What would I do if I only had one day to live? And why am I not living my life that way now? What am I waiting for?!
No time like the present. Take a deep breathe. Think about what matters most to you today. And live it. Go love someone. Just for fun. Ground Hog Day is as good an excuse as anything!
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