The Same, And Yet Not
Things are not always what they appear to be.
We live near the groundhog, or woodchuck, called Punxsutawney Phil.
Once a year, he lets us all know if there will be six more weeks of winter. This event, known as Groundhog Day, always reminds me of the movie of the same name.
In the movie, Phil Connors is an arrogant and egocentric weatherman who, during a hated assignment covering Groundhog Day, finds himself in a time loop, repeating the same day over and over again.
Eventually, he discovers he has the choice to act differently, which changes each day's pattern.
Each day is the same, and yet not.
However, just making changes doesn’t release him from the time loop.
It’s when his choices include opening his heart to his co-worker, Rita, and doing good for others that he escapes—because he is a changed man.
Things are not always what they appear to be.
And as we recognize that, it becomes easier to change our point of view and see the good that is already present.
Because spring has arrived, even though it looks like winter.
Because although Phil will declare six more weeks of winter, spring has already arrived. The signs are subtle, but they are obvious if one is paying attention.
The first sign comes from the birds.
Just a few days before the end of January, I heard the mating call of a chickadee. Soon, more varieties of birds started their mating calls.
I imagined them saying, “Hey lady, got room on your dance card for me? It’s time to choose. We have nests to build and babies to make!”
A few days later, couples started showing up at my bird feeders, partners chosen.
What happens at the feeder is another lesson about things not being what they appear to be.
Nature is not in competition. Nature is always in a state of cooperation.
Bluebirds, a few varieties of woodpeckers, juncos, cardinals, finches, chickadees, and wrens are all sharing food at the feeder.
The juncos kick at the snow at the base of the feeder to uncover the seed dropped by other birds. Because they are ground feeders, they depend on that dropping.
The bluebirds watch the woodpeckers make a mess of the suet, but by dropping it all over the ground, they provide the bluebirds with their lunch.
The essence of what is going on is balance and equality, with each participant fulfilling their unique place in a grand design.
This brings me back to Groundhog Day and choices.
Aren’t there days when we wake up and think the same thoughts we had the day before when we woke up?
We see the same day stretched out before us.
The same worries, the same expectations, the same words spoken, the same outcomes expected.
How can we expect to escape that time loop if we don’t change first? And that change comes first from a change of choice.
It doesn’t take much of a perception shift to shift the unfolding of a day.
We can practice changing one thought at a time to a different idea, expectation, and point of view and watch the pattern of the day shift with that change.
Perhaps it feels like winter in our lives.
However, we can remember that what we see is not always what is going on. Listen! There is a different song in the air. There is sharing and helping, and the living of purpose continues.
Groundhog Day is a wonderful reminder that change comes from within, one choice at a time.
It’s not that we are going to create something new and wonderful. There is no need for that kind of work.
The One Creator has already prepared a perfect day for us. All we need to do is stop the habits that show us a picture of a day stuck in what is not working.
We can shift our perception. We let go of what is not working and see what is.
Take a moment and watch nature at work, and realize it is working in your life, too.
As we become grateful for what is present, that will open our hearts to see the grand design, where each of us, by living our unique spiritual blessing, fulfills the needs of each other in one ongoing spiral of expansive love.
By the way, did you know groundhogs are also called Subterranean Whistle Pigs? This is because they make a cute little whistle. See, things are not always what they appear to be.