{"id":324,"date":"2015-02-02T15:00:21","date_gmt":"2015-02-02T21:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/?p=324"},"modified":"2021-02-11T17:44:24","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T23:44:24","slug":"groundhog-day-with-andrea-g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/real-happiness-challenge\/real-happiness-2015\/groundhog-day-with-andrea-g\/","title":{"rendered":"Groundhog Day \u2013 with Andrea G"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In many parts of North America, February 2 is known as Groundhog Day<\/a>, a day when a furry little critter is pulled out of its hole to somehow determine whether spring is coming sooner or later.<\/p>\n<\/header>\n

The 1993 movie of the same name<\/a> stars Bill Murray as an obnoxious weatherman, Phil Connors, who gets caught in some kind of time-loop and re-lives that one day over and over. As the cycle continues, Phil starts to re-examine his life, and starts to make changes that day, again and again. Eventually, he gets to a point where the cycle is broken.<\/p>\n

In our lives of busyness, it\u2019s easy to feel like we are also in some type of time-loop. We wake up, check email, shower, go to work, go home, walk the dogs, catch up on Facebook, watch TV, go to bed. Repeat, ad nauseum<\/em>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where this practice can be so liberating. We can concentrate on one thing \u2013 this breath, in this moment. Sharon says, \u201cConcentration lets us put on the brakes and spend time just being with what is, rather than numbing out or spinning away into excess stimulation.\u201d<\/p>\n

And later, she says, \u201cIf you have to let go of distractions and begin again thousands of times, fine. That\u2019s not a roadblock to the practice \u2013 that is<\/em> the practice. That\u2019s life: starting over, one breath at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

An interview with the director of Groundhog Day<\/a>, Harold Ramis, had this insight:<\/p>\n

Ramis said that, for him, the key to Groundhog Day is learning to have the insight, courage and energy to make changes when you come to those moments when \u201cyou are about to make that same-old, same-old mistake again. We face those changes every day, large and small, every single day. If you change one little thing, one little behavior, then everything might change.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that\u2019s the opportunity we have in this practice. As Sharon so aptly explains:<\/p>\n

The moment you realize you\u2019ve been distracted is the magic moment. It\u2019s a chance to be really different, to try a new response \u2013 rather than tell yourself you\u2019re weak or undisciplined, or give up in frustration, simply let go and begin again. \u2026 This act of beginning again is the essential art of the meditation practice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So as I\u2019m about to sit down to practice to start this second day of the meditation challenge, I\u2019ll welcome the many opportunities I\u2019ll have to begin again, and return to my breath. Starting over, one breath at a time.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Andrea G<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In many parts of North America, February 2 is known as Groundhog Day, a day when a furry little critter is pulled out of its hole to somehow determine whether spring is coming sooner or later. The 1993 movie of the same name stars Bill Murray as an obnoxious weatherman, Phil Connors, who gets caught … Continue reading “Groundhog Day \u2013 with Andrea G”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-real-happiness-2015"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2783,"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions\/2783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saskatooninsight.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}