Would you live today over again?

A little lesson from the Groundhog Day movie

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip involves improving your life by asking a deceptively
simple question, would you choose to live today over again?

(00:25):
So I live in Pennsylvania, which is also the home
of a famous groundhog known as Punksitani Phil, and this
episode is first airing shortly after February two. Each year.
On that day, a huge crowd gathers to see if
Phil will see his shadow or not. This augurs whether
there will be six more weeks of winter or something

(00:45):
like that. Groundhog Day is a rather silly holiday, but
a few decades ago it became the title of a
movie based on a fascinating premise. Phil Connors, a not
terribly pleasant TV personality, visiting the Groundhog Day festivities, get
stuck living Groundhog Day over and over again. At first,

(01:07):
he is defiant about the whole time warp, but eventually
he decides that if this is the day he has,
he is going to live it right. And this premise
gets at an old existential question, how would we live
if we were sentenced to live any given period of
time over and over? Again, I imagine we have different answers,

(01:29):
but there are probably certain things we do. We wouldn't
fly off the handle about silly things. We wouldn't make
choices that we knew would make us feel bad later.
We would spend time with people who energize us and
make us feel good about life. We would spend less
time with people who don't meet those criteria, And I'd

(01:51):
like to think we'd spend less time on things that
are all about filling time. Scrolling through tweeted insults feels
pretty pointless the first time around. Multiplying that by eternity
is mind boggling. Of course, we are not actually going
to live today over and over again, but I think
this is a good question to ask, as we're looking

(02:12):
back over any given day, what aspects of the day
would we not mind reliving and what do we really
wish to consign to the past. Asking this question can
help us think through what the good life would look like.
A day I'd live over and over again probably wouldn't
involve waiting for a groundhog to pop up, but I

(02:33):
would like to savor a good cup of coffee, run
somewhere beautiful, and snuggle with my kids. I don't think
those things would ever get old. How about you? What
would your answers be In the meantime, This is Laura.
Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

(02:54):
our time. M Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Before Breakfast pod that's B the number four, then Breakfast

(03:17):
p o D. You can also shoot me an email
at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com
that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For

(03:37):
more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart
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