Lessons Learned & Ground Hog Day (The Movie)

A talk and meditation on how we are having many lessons learned in life now. I go into the movie Groundhog Day as an example of how you can live the same day over and over until you learn how to get it right. We have so many opportunities to learn right now, but it takes a certain perspective to not get overwhelmed by the changes we are seeing.

Transcript

Aloha,

I'm Reverend Cindy Palos and today I'm going to talk about learning and how life is a major learning field.

We've all had to go through so many learning experiences and with everything that's been happening in the last six months,

Four to six months,

We've never had such a time of having to learn new things,

Deal with new challenges,

And let go of old ways of being and thinking.

And it's been very difficult for some people.

If we're people who like things fixed and in a certain way,

This has been upsetting to see how we've had to change our way of being.

But I think it's very,

Very important that we remember that we're here on earth to learn.

I really believe that this earth plane is a learning experience where we all learn to grow.

And I like to review everything that happens during the course of the day and see if there's something I've learned from it.

And the hard reality is that we learn most when we fail.

And of course there's been a lot of failures and challenges lately and that's the time we have to realize this is a chance to learn more and to grow more.

Of course our goal is not to get angry and upset and frustrated when we find that there are mistakes being made.

There's so many people doing things that can get us upset if we react that way.

Maybe it's someone not wearing a mask,

Someone not following social distancing.

Sometimes it's frustrations that are happening because of things that aren't going smoothly because of the problems with COVID-19.

But it's really important now more than ever to realize that the lessons we learn get us to where we need to be.

And I can't help but thinking of that great movie,

I hope you've seen it,

Groundhog Day,

Where Bill Murray is a rather cynical reporter.

He does the same thing and he wakes up every morning and then Groundhog Day he has to awaken every morning over and over and over again until he gets it right.

And what caused this?

Well he falls in love and all of a sudden he has a reason to want to make some changes.

But it's an example that really is fascinating.

I was doing a little study on it and I know I've always loved that movie,

You know,

Because in life we do learn over and over again until we get it right.

And of course it's upsetting to have to do the same thing over and over until you get it right.

But in the movie what happens and is so well written is that he starts to take that time every day to get better at what he does,

To make the changes that he needs.

You know,

Still stuck in that time loop living the same day over and over as all of a sudden his new calling.

And there are many groups of people that find this movie very much a teaching experience.

I've seen that it's been embraced by Buddhists who say that it's very close to their teachings and they reference samsara,

The continuing cycle of rebirth that Buddhists regard as suffering,

That humans must try to escape and Christians embrace the film's idea of purgatory and rebirth.

And there's also rabbis that say this is the chance for people to do good deeds all over.

Groundhog Day,

According to Dr.

Zito who is a co-director of the Center for Religion and Media at New York University,

Says it's a cinematic version of the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism known as the greater vehicle.

He said that in Mahayana nobody ever imagines they're going to escape samsara until they have everyone else doing so.

That's why you have bodhisattvas who reach the brink of nirvana and stop and come back and save the rest of us.

Bill Murray is the bodhisattva.

He's going to abandon the world.

On the contrary,

He's released back into the world to save it.

So I mean it's fascinating to me how this movie has really touched so many people in that way and that's because we are indeed here to learn and if we give up then we don't achieve what we're really here for.

And there's so many great people.

Did you know that JK Rowling of Harry Potter fame said that she really was once a failure too.

After her graduation college her worst nightmares were realized.

In her words,

I had filled an epic scale.

She had an exceptionally short-lived marriage that imploded.

She was jobless.

She was a lone parent and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain,

She says.

But yes,

She didn't give up.

Steve Jobs of course was fired from his own company Apple and he said he didn't see it then but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to him.

Bill Gates was a Harvard dropout.

Did you know that?

So there's some things really here we can reflect on.

There's no limitation on how we can learn and grow and it's easy to get crystallized and fixed in one position but when life throws us curves as it has been doing,

We have to all of a sudden be motivated to make ourselves better,

To learn,

To grow.

So with that in mind,

Let's just take some time to ponder this.

Let's just take a few deep breaths in,

Breathing in and holding our breath for a couple of seconds and breathing out,

Breathing in and releasing any tension,

Any stress that might be held anywhere in your body and breathing out.

Now let's do a body scan.

Let's take a moment to just relax and feel the ease of just being here right now.

That right now you know that all is well and you can relax your face,

Your eyes,

Your jaws,

Your neck,

Your shoulder muscles,

Any tension throughout your body.

If there's any tension in any of your organs,

Send them light and love.

If your heart feels frustrated or closed,

Send it much,

Much love right now.

Put your hand on your heart and breathe love into that heart that may be a little weary for everything you've been going through.

Breathing in love and releasing your breath and letting go of any blocks,

Any tensions.

Breathing in more love and the light of love and understanding compassion to yourself and letting go.

And if you were Bill Murray and you walk up and it was the same day,

The same hour,

The same moment,

What would you do to take this day to learn your lessons to make yourself better,

To get that goal of love in your life?

What would you do?

What good deeds could you do?

What learning lessons?

What opportunities?

If indeed you understand that this life is a chance for you to learn and grow,

Take a moment to go into your soul and see yourself objectively.

What would your soul have you learn to make your life the life you wish to have to accomplish what you are here for?

Take some deep breaths in this place from the place of the objective observer and take a moment to ponder what lessons can I learn?

And be still and listen.

Be still and with love embrace that inner child who might be upset by having to go through these frustrating changes and understand your inner child sometimes throws a temper tantrum when life throws you curves.

Send some love to that inner child and to you.

Embrace your inner child.

Allow your objective observer,

Your soul,

To be a counsel to that inner child.

What is that inner child upset about?

What is the frustrations there?

Allow that inner child to express whatever it is it needs to express and allow that love that you have for yourself to just completely surround every single part of your body every atom every cell with light and with love with compassion with understanding and know that as you learn to love yourself in this way you can learn to have more compassion and more love for others and allow yourself to believe that energy of love that is really at the heart and soul of you.

Go to the source of all life.

Go to the light behind the light of all life and allow yourself to be totally re-energized and re-infused with that light and that love and your true purpose.

Don't give up my friend.

Allow yourself to believe you are here for a reason and you can learn what you need to learn to grow and be a better person and to help others in doing that as well.

Breathe that in.

Believe it.

Absorb it.

Become that open chalice for learning and growing and now send your love and light out to maybe someone else you know who's having a challenging time.

Send that love and understanding compassion to them and to their soul and now let's send that love and that light and that understanding out to the whole world.

Send your love out to the world and see the world encircled with more light,

More love and allow that part of the world that's in darkness to be now full of light and love.

Breathe it in and allow that light and love to circle the world and come back to you 100 fold and now slowly slowly come out of your meditation and if there's something that comes to you some idea,

Some thought,

Some concept,

Remember what it is and write it down.

I'll close with the Aramaic version of the Lord's Prayer.

Father,

Mother of the cosmos,

Shimmering light of all,

Focus your light within us as we breathe your holy breath.

Enter the sanctuary of our hearts,

Uniting within us the sacred rays of your power and beauty.

Let your heart's desire unite heaven and earth through our sacred union.

Help us to fulfill what lies within the circle of our lives today.

Forgive our secret fears as we freely choose to forgive the secret fears of others.

Let us not enter into forgetfulness tempted by false appearances.

For from your astonishing fire comes the eternal song which sanctifies all renewed eternally in our lives and throughout creation.

We seal these words in our hearts committed in trust and faith.

Amama,

Amama,

O anoa,

The prayer is freed.

Thank you so much for being here today my friend.

I'm sending you all my love and light and prayers for getting through these times with the greatest attitude of knowing that you are able to make changes and you are able to learn to be the person you're meant to be and you are perfect.

God bless you.

Reviews

Always inspiring.🙏Many thanks Rev. Doctor Cindy. Bless you for your devotion and dedication to all who find you.

Just what the doctor ordered for me today! Thank you!