It’s easy to comment on biology, bones, muscles and the like. It’s a lot harder to see the impact of our emotions on our physical experiences. I love this movie because it tackles some hard concepts around emotions. Kids movie or not, there is a lot we can learn about our own emotions just by watching. In this blog post I will highlight a few issues that I think relate to our pain journeys and how we can use them to improve our pain.
A Rainbow of Emotions
Inside OUT unveils a spectrum of five fundamental emotions—Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust—inhabiting the mind of the young Riley. Our emotional makeup is a complex kaleidoscope, not a singular hue, and this film does an excellent job illustrating that.
In the film, each emotion is represented by a character. Joy is always looking for the bright side of life. Sadness is often overwhelmed. Anger is quick to react. Fear is constantly anticipating the worst. Disgust is there to keep Riley safe from physical and social harm. Together, they navigate the ups and downs of Riley’s life, adding to the rich tapestry of her emotional landscape.
The portrayal of these emotions is not only relatable but also an eye-opener to their inherent value. Inside OUT breaks down the conventional narrative that only ‘positive’ emotions like Joy are desirable, while ‘negative’ emotions like Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust should be avoided. Instead, it urges us to acknowledge that every emotion has a significant role and together, they contribute to our mental wellbeing.
Core Experiences Shape Our Personality and Emotions
Inside OUT masterfully presents the idea that our foundational experiences significantly mold our personality and the way we handle our emotions. Each memory, whether painted with hues of joy or sadness, plays a pivotal role in shaping who we are. This is evident throughout the movie as we witness Riley’s personality being influenced by her memories and the emotions attached to them.
These experiences create the foundations of our emotional personality. They also influence the way we interpret situations and the sensitivity of our nervous systems. Our pain journeys have these core memories. It’s important we understand those moments so we can understand our journeys – the first unit in Moving Beyond Pain is dedicated to this exploration. For instance, what do you remember about playing games like dodgeball in school? What happened when you went to visit the school nurse or got sick at home? How do you handle being sick and your job now as an adult? Is there any correlation between these things? We need to understand our history to understand how we have arrived at our present.
The Power of Ambivalence
Inside OUT serves as a powerful reminder that experiencing mixed emotions is not a sign of emotional instability but rather a testament to our emotional complexity. It invites us to acknowledge and accept this facet of our emotional self. Giving us a broader understanding of our emotional landscape. Rather than viewing our mixed feelings as a challenge, Inside OUT encourages us to see them as an opportunity to gain a more nuanced understanding of ourselves and our emotional responses to the world around us.
Very few things in this world are only one thing. Joy has to realize that Reily’s experiences are often two opposing emotions at the same time. Saddens and Joy can exist in the same moment. Joy has to stop trying to protect Riely from anything that isn’t ” happy”. She miss understands the importance of all the other emotions and how much they bring to a full life. Once we accept this dichotomy and embrace the ambivalence of a life with pain. We can move forward with much more clarity and acceptance. Much like Joy did.
The Danger of Toxic Positivity
The movie Inside OUT provides an essential perspective on what is often referred to as ‘toxic positivity’. This concept is best represented by the effervescent character, Joy. Throughout much of the film, Joy strives to maintain a constant state of happiness within Riley, inadvertently suppressing the expression of other valuable emotions in the process. The narrative thus highlights the possible negative implications of an unwavering focus on positivity.
Joy’s relentless pursuit of happiness, at the expense of acknowledging other feelings, results in an inadvertent dismissal of crucial emotions like Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust. This singular focus on happiness inadvertently creates an environment where the presence of other emotions is viewed as a failure or a problem, fostering a distorted understanding of Riley’s emotional needs.
As Inside OUT explores, the relentless pursuit of happiness can lead to emotional suppression and potential imbalance. Dismissing or downplaying other emotions can deny us the chance to fully understand and embrace our emotional complexity. This is especially highlighted when Joy realizes that by constantly suppressing Sadness, she has prevented Riley from processing her feelings about the move, hindering her emotional growth and understanding.
Can you relate? Constantly trying to make the best of a high pain day? Telling yourself there is purpose to your suffering? I have found these choices tend to bind us to the inability to move forward and understand our experiences. Living with pain is complex. Let’s stop trying to “positive” our way through it and deal with the realities, shall we? Honestly, it’s healthier in the long run. Our brains reject false positive ideas and see them as a threat anyway.
Nurturing Emotional Resilience
One of the central messages imparted by Inside OUT is the critical role of emotional resilience in our lives. It underscores that it’s completely normal to experience periods of emotional turmoil and that these experiences don’t define our overall emotional health. Instead, they provide us with valuable opportunities for growth and self-understanding.
In the movie, it’s only when Joy permits Sadness to take the reins that Riley can finally articulate her true feelings about the move. This poignant moment illustrates the importance of confronting and processing our feelings, even when they are difficult to bear. It shows that it’s not only okay to express sadness or discontentment, but it’s also a necessary step towards emotional resilience.
By portraying resilience as a dynamic process rather than a fixed attribute, Inside OUT provides us with a more realistic understanding of emotional health. It highlights that emotional resilience doesn’t mean always maintaining a state of happiness, but rather involves adapting to emotional challenges, learning from them, and using these experiences to foster personal growth.
Furthermore, Inside OUT encourages us to see emotional resilience not as an end goal but as an ongoing journey of self-discovery. It invites us to view our emotional struggles not as setbacks but as stepping stones towards becoming more emotionally robust individuals. The film teaches us that every experience—good or bad—provides us with an opportunity to enhance our emotional resilience.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, Inside OUT conveys the transformative power of emotional resilience. It advocates for the acceptance of all emotions as integral parts of our human experience and emphasizes that the ability to navigate through our emotional landscape, especially during tough times, is a testament to our resilience. This powerful message encourages us to nurture our emotional resilience, enhancing our capacity to adapt, grow, and thrive amidst life’s many challenges.
Other Reading
Acceptance
Acceptance: What does that mean?
Conversations with the Psychologist who helped with Inside Out
