The Tragedy of Running from My Shadow

     I laughed my way through Bill Murray’s movie “Groundhog Day” as I watched it again in preparation for this year’s event on February 2. Murray plays Phil, a self-centered TV meteorologist, who dreads covering the same Groundhog Day ceremony every year where a woodchuck supposedly forecasts the weather. If the rodent sees his shadow, he scoots back into his hole, and we have six more weeks of winter.     
     But just as the groundhog won’t face his shadow, Phil won’t face the shadows of his personality. He’s incapable of caring about anyone’s needs or feelings beyond himself, and he is destined to relive Groundhog Day, with all its monotony, every day for years. Only when he learns to care about others does the clock advance into a new day, and he’s free.     
     I wonder how much of Phil is in me. Am I sometimes unwilling to face the shadow side of my personality? Do I destine myself to failure because of a pattern of self-centeredness? Or negativity? Or unforgiveness?     
     Such habits defeat me until I face them, get out of myself, and embrace life’s sunshine, instead of running from it.     
​     Maybe we all have a bit of Phil in us. We see the shadow sides of our lives and run for cover. Wouldn’t it be better to acknowledge the darkness and turn toward the Light?
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