Making the 365 Commitment may have the strange effect of casting you in a great movie, Groundhog Day. Allow me to explain. In the movie, the main character (Bill Murray) is trapped repeating the same day over and over. Someone did the math and estimated that he spends the equivalent of 47 years trapped in this cycle. Initially he goes through phases of depression and nihilism and even suicide, which he succeeds at, but nonetheless, wakes up the next morning facing the same day, the same situations, and people. He faces frustrations at things he cannot change, and realizes what he can change! After a while, he begins in earnest to figure out how he can impact, change, and influence the cyclical reality he is trapped in.
At the heart of the movie is a love story. He falls in love with a woman, and she rejects his advances every single day. It’s hilarious. Everyone knows how funny rejection is! Right?! Ha Ha! He becomes obsessed with changing this outcome and slowly realizes that as he changes himself her response to him improves improves. You can guess the ending by now even if you have not seen this movie. What is so heartening for me is to see Bill Murry’s transformation as he applies himself to the task of developing his potential on many dimensions. In particular, his focus on empathy and his capacity to make things better for every single person he encounters inspires me, his repeating day becomes a tour de force in mitigating suffering and spreading joy.
It is a funny and poignant way of portraying our life experience. Although we experience life in a linear fashion, there are cyclical elements. We face the same situations and often times the same outcomes again and again, and again until we realize that we must develop ourselves and strive to make whatever positive impact we can have on those around us. So, if you haven’t seen this movie in a while, watch it again and see your 365 Commitment through this lens. As a result you may have the simultaneous and diametrical experience of not taking life so seriously and taking life more seriously at the same time, which I think is a great trick! Just what is needed.
I feel like I may have written this blog before.
Ben Wagner (75)
Member The 365 Commitment
