Running head: GROUNDED BY GROUNDHOG

Groundhog Day

A Lesson in Grounding

Chris Dolezalek

San Jose State University

College of Social Sciences

http://www.dolezalek.com/chris/groundhog.htm

Groundhog Day
A Lesson in Grounding

The film Groundhog Day directed by Harold Ramis (Rubin, 1993) portrays a very cynical weatherman Phil played by Bill Murray who finds himself trapped living a life without meaning day for day. At first there is the realization that the second day is simply the first day being relived and that only Phil realizes that his life has become an endless cycle. He quickly realizes that only his actions and choices influence the differences between one day and another, and therefore the reactions of and impact on other people. He becomes aware of his own influence on his own life and also that of those he does or doesn’t interact with.

Seeing that each morning is a reset he becomes very selfish and very reckless, as there are no long-term consequences. He leverages his knowledge of what will happen each day to seduce women, rob a Brinks truck etc. Feeling empty and unsatisfied with all this self-indulgence, he turns to altruism; having lived the day many times before, he is essentially omniscient and steps into the role of savior. Closer inspection leaves you (and presumably Phil) wondering whether this is an ethical call to not let those come to harm who he can save of if it isn’t altruism at all as there is no sacrifice and he is rewarded with recognition from all those he saves. He discovers that doing things for others can also be very selfish and unfulfilling. In the end, he discovers a selfless love within himself for Rita and a way of living that makes him feel good about himself.

In the movie Phil visits a therapist who is of little help. How might it look if Phil came to an existential therapist? His presented problem of reliving every day might be interpreted as a delusion; however, taking Binswanger’s approach of focusing on the patient’s view of the world (Sharf, 1999) and we accept his perspective and help him live within his own view of the world as opposed to needing to cure him of his “delusion.” Phil seeks therapy at a point where he has been content with his life as it was and initially simply wants to get back to his old ways. He is frustrated with the immediate feeling of being stuck in a repetitive day and not yet aware of his own unhappiness within the routines of the life he had lived heretofore. The crisis that triggers his visit is his feeling stuck in this town; for him it is a question of actually reliving the exact same day, but even if it were simply having a snow-storm blocking the roads that kept him in a world that was so small that it was hard to avoid seeing himself and his impact on others, this probably would have been enough to precipitate a crisis. The small town robs him of his anonymity and ability to simply let life pass him by as he had done in Pittsburgh. He is middle-aged and at the stage that Erikson (Sharf, 1999) would refer to as the time for generativity verses stagnation conflict. As an existential therapist what seems implausible is not significant in comparison what is real for him; the crisis exists within and the perceived world around him fundamentally has more to do with his discoveries through introspection than what may in fact be occurring.

He is a Caucasian male with a middle income; as far as we can tell, he lives a pretty isolated life with no friends or close ties with family. He interpersonal relationships seem to be limited to the interactions with his colleagues at work. He initially is reluctant to engage in meaningful relationship as evidenced by his curt and perfunctory interactions with the people he meets. He acts like a man that has never really touched another person or been touched himself. He seems to feel others have little interest in him and therefore also feels reluctant to invest in them. Over time he becomes more aware of his own desires for real connection with those around him.

His profession of choice also seems of relevance. He is a weatherman, and therefore spends his time looking at and reporting on short-term occurrences over which he has no influence. He isn’t involved producing any tangible products, and the service he provides is somewhat superficial that will have no long-term impact. This too could contribute to his feeling of having a meaningless life as he awakens from a life of thoughtless routine. The sense of being trapped awakens Phil to a sense of what it is like to live a life like there is no tomorrow, an infinite loop without any visible purpose.

A reasonable, existentialist approach to treating Phil involves helping him understand what is important to him and to value his opportunities to seek out those things. The first step is to awaken him from his notion of the ideal detached life in the big city with no attachments and no complications. The thought that he is mortal and that he has spent significant time living a life that is now turning out to be incongruent with his true desires, goals and values is something to step him through as it will be hard to take. It must be countered with the forward looking notion of being able to live life to its fullest henceforth. It is also necessary to help Phil realize that his separation from the routines of daily life as he knew it gives him the distance and perspective (or awareness through distance as Karl Jaspers puts is (Sharf, 1999)). Jaspers also refers to the need for being oneself as opposed to simply “being there.” In Phil’s struggle and search for meaning in this little town, the therapist should help him navigate in his discovery that there is no intrinsic reason for existence (a la Jean Paul Satre), and with the finding of one’s own reason through freedom and decision (Sharf, 1999).

Kierkegaard, Heidegger and most of the other existentialist theorists direct us to make Phil very aware of the inevitability of death and finding authenticity from the awareness and acceptance of death (Sharf, 1999). We must help Phil find his place in his struggle through Nietzsche’s irrationality of human nature (Sharf, 1999). His attempts to do all sorts of things may seem and feel a bit random and unnerving, but it is simply his struggle to find what is in fact important for him in life. Without this, he cannot achieve Heidegger’s dasein/being in the world (Sharf, 1999). As Frankl suggests as vital, Phil must learn to take responsibility for himself and for others (Sharf, 1999). We should help Phil experience taking on this responsibility in our little town where he can experience the impact of his actions upon others and upon himself with much more detail than he could in the big city. In Phil’s cyclic world, he spends some time apparently seeking out death by committing suicide and thereby confronting the mortality he has come to fear with his awakening to a dissatisfying and mundane life that will come to an end. As a therapist, one could never suggest therapy, but as an existentialist one would want Phil to confront the mortality he fears.

We must help Phil not look at the daily events he experiences in this small town, but rather at his interpretation of those events. Only this can help him along the path towards discovering his own values which could dictate how he shall chose to his life from now on. We can achieve this by having Phil relate his experiences each day, and as he does so, we should inquire how he feels about what he did, what happened and how others reacted. This will give us insight into his internal values, but expressing them will also help Phil in finding out what makes him tick. Coming to grips with his situation and life is very relevant for Phil. Learning more about his perspectives and values give us the opportunity and insight to help him navigate towards a more awake life which he might live in a manner where he finds each day precious and can go to sleep each night content with how he lived that day regardless of what the next day may bring.

With the passing of each day, we learn more about what is truly important to Phil in his life and can counsel him in discovering his own values, exploring further, and finding ways to live his life to the fullest according to those values. We must thereby help Phil transcend his old self. Only in so doing can Phil become a truly happy, healthy and functioning person within his world.

For a man who finds himself lost after discovering himself in a meaningless life that’s seems to him to be going nowhere, the existentialist approach to therapy seems very relevant. Phil is clearly seeking perspective on his own life and ways to make it more meaningful. Existentialist therapy lends itself very well to his predicament. He has arrived at a stage in his life where such exploration seems not only to make sense, but feels very crucial to him. For Phil, and many others, the existentialist approach does bring with it a unique approach to life that other therapies tend to overlook (Sharf, 1999). The individual is encouraged to look outside themselves and find meaning in their life. For Phil, his situation and his crisis, this is in fact quite relevant and applicable.

Where the existentialist approach to therapy falls short with Phil may illustrate places where it might fall short with others. Awakening someone to the notion that their current life and their life heretofore has been essentially meaningless does come with a danger. There is a certain safety in the ignorance is bliss approach to life. Phil’s own frustrations and attempts at suicide could have cut his life short. Socrates once said "the unexamined life is not worth living," but who are we as counselors or therapists to impose this perspective on others? Life may seem more satisfying, more fulfilling, more meaningful and worth living to us if it is lived consciously and conscientiously. However, to guide someone into that perspective who is not ready for it could throw his/her life into chaos. We saw how Phil’s life did in fact get through into chaos as he struggled with finding himself. Luckily for Phil, he did find himself and therefore a path into a more meaningful and satisfying life. Is everyone really willing and needing to take that plunge when we as their therapist feel it is necessary, or is it up to the therapist to only help navigate the client down that road when they are ready for it and seeking to travel it themselves? The Buddhist and Hindu perspective on life as being a cycle of birth, death and rebirth is perhaps not something that should occur all in one life for everyone.

Phil’s old life dies when he awakens and sees it for all its shortcomings. It is like a death in hell to not be able to escape from that awareness of his incongruence between his life and his values. He tries to escape through turning to an incredibly self-centered life, through attempted suicide, through trying to be the altruist hero and savior for all. Nowhere does Phil find happiness; in fact he seems must more downtrodden, disappointed and depressed that he had been in his previous life. Phil does manage to find his way out with a rebirth into a life that he does find meaningful and congruent with his values. What, however, would be Phil’s lot had he not found that? Can we as his therapist really be so sure that we can navigate him to that place we perceive as being a happier place for him? It is vital that we are able to assess the client’s ability to face life honestly (Sharf, 1999) before we assist them in embarking upon this path.

We should also not forget that existentialism is more of a philosophy of life than a system of psychotherapy (Sharf, 1999). The intellectual ability to be able to process this approach to life is not necessarily given for every client (although it does seem to be for Phil). It might have gone astray and led to a life of frustration for Phil. For Phil is was worth the risk to travel this path in life given where he came out. Would we still feel that way if the movie had ended with him still in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, still every day trying new ways to get out of that town, out of his mindset of not having found a life of meaning and or out of the hell knowing what was “wrong” with his life but not being able to find a way to a satisfactory life of contentment according to his own values and beliefs?

References

Rubin, D.. (1993). Groundhog Day [Motion picture]. United States: Columbia Pictures.

Sharf, R. S. (1999). Theories of Psychotherapy and Counseling - Concepts and Cases (3rd ed.). United States: Brooks/Cole, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc.