The movie “Groundhog Day” tells the story of Phil Connors (Bill Murray), a man doomed to relive Feb. 2 over and over again. At one point, Phil says to two drinking buddies: “What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same and nothing that you did mattered?” “That about sums it up for me,” one of the men replies. That bleak view is extreme, of course, but it’s possible to fall into a daily regimen that dulls our thinking and our sensibilities. Like many readers, I suspect, I generally enjoy routine, following a roadway of customs and habits that, for better or worse, allow me to do a great deal of work and keep me in a comfort zone. But sometimes that road can become a rut. Recently, my good friend John invited me to go with him in a rental …