Inside Out

Creativity Expression

It’s incredible the number of ways we can express our creativity. I love so many of those called art – poetry, literature, music, dance, painting, sculpture, cooking, crafts, and the list goes on. However, as movies are a compilation of many different forms of art – storytelling, music, photography, acting, and writing (to name a few), they have a special place in my heart. A good movie for me is one whose message touches my heart deeply. Inside Out 2 is an incredible movie.

Animations

I have always loved animations; I’ve enjoyed them forever, since before having kids. They are usually so amazingly well done that the message is for the parents as much as for the kids. This past weekend I watched Inside Out 2. The first one (2015) was a gem, and I was curious about the second. As I’m in a very different place in my life right now, my analysis of this sequel has a health coach’s perspective. Regardless, I was so touched by the message that I felt called to write about it.

Personification of Emotions

The idea of creating a character for each emotion was brilliant, and the creative process behind it was very thoughtful. The main team of emotions, JOY, SADNESS, ANGER, DISGUST, and FEAR are called primary emotions by psychology. Joy is a bright yellow slim girl who seems light and, of course, happy. Sadness is a blue, adorable, short, heavier girl. Anger is a short and strong red guy. Fear is a purple, tall, skinny, and funny-looking guy. Finally, Disgust is a green, good-looking, fashionable girl. All personifications are a work of art.

Sense of Self

In the movie, the primary emotions now oversee a newly formed element of Riley’s mind called her “Sense of Self”, which houses memories and feelings that shape Riley’s beliefs. Sitting in the middle of the brain headquarters, the sense of self is a beautiful image of entangled yarns representing beliefs coming from the stream of consciousness – where memories were carefully placed by Joy. Aiming to fill the Sense of Self with only “positive” remembrances, Joy creates a mechanism that launches “negative” memories into the back of Riley’s mind. Precisely showing the body’s protection mechanism against traumas.

Additional Emotions

As the main character, Riley Anderson turns 13, new emotions show up in her brain headquarters. A puberty alarm goes off in the control panel and the team is surprised by a construction crew in charge of making room for new team members. Then ANXIETY, ENVY, EMBARRASSMENT, and ENNUI – or boredom, are introduced to the main team. Again, the personification is genius. Anxiety is an orange, funny-looking short guy with a huge smile and big eyeballs coming out of his face – very disoriented. Envy is tiny but has big, round eyes. Embarrassment is a huge, pink fella that, of course, hides his face all the time. Ennui, who is indigo, has a French accent, a big, pointed nose, and cannot hold his head straight. 

Puberty

The demolition crew leaves a big mess at the headquarters. And while the old emotions find that Riley overreacts to any inputs they make, the new emotions start to play their part in the teen’s life, willing to take control – a teen’s mind brilliant metaphor. Deciding that Riley needs to change to fit in with her new high school friends, Anxiety launches the Sense of Self to the back of Riley’s mind and throws the original emotions into a memory vault. New emotions then create a new anxiety-dominated Sense of Self by adding other memories to Riley’s stream of consciousness. Precisely how emotions can influence our belief system, even in adulthood.

Lost Sense of Self

After Anxiety rips out Riley’s sense of self and throws it to the back of the mind, for a short time, the girl has no sense of self.  The limiting belief of “If I don’t make the high school team, I’ll have no friends” and the anxiety caused by so many unfavorable future scenarios keep her from thinking straight. Not being able to decide what’s right or wrong, she breaks into the coach’s office to check her notebook. Limiting beliefs might lead us in the wrong direction or might be roadblocks making reframing an important step towards emotional intelligence.

Anxiety

It’s very interesting to see how anxiety starts playing all the different future catastrophic scenarios in Riley’s life. Yes, there is anxiety when we live in the future. In the final moments of Riley’s tryout game, Anxiety frantically swarms the console in a blinding whirlwind, causing Riley to suffer from a severe panic attack – the combination of acute stress symptoms. Back at headquarters, Joy convinces Anxiety that Riley does not need to change to have a better future. Anxiety relents and Joy reinstates Riley’s original Sense of Self, but the panic attack persists.

Emotional Integration

When Anxiety admits that she cannot determine who Riley is, Joy realizes that the same applies to her. She then removes the first Sense of Self and forms a new one from Riley’s positive and negative memories. The foundation of emotional integration is that no single emotion should take control of one’s life. Bringing forward all the “bad” memories or traumas to be fully seen, felt, and integrated, was what Joy did with the back-of-the-mind memories’ avalanche. Then Riley’s new sense of self becomes this ever-changing shape made of a combination of new and old beliefs. The new sense of self defines Riley fully, with all her mishaps and imperfections. 

Integrating Anxiety

I recently had my first experience of feeling frightening anxious. I’ve always felt a mild anxious excitement at the beginning of presentations or even when getting on a plane to get to a new place. Yes, anxiety can be positive, and it actually moves us forward. There is harmful anxiety when you feel a nonpainful pressure in the chest as if it is going to explode. I’ve asked my son to ensure it was nothing else because he often feels anxious. I was proud of myself for being aware of it and pinpointing the trigger. Then, I let it be, felt it fully, and it dissipated.

Embracing All Emotions

The final moment of magic is when all emotions embrace the third Sense of Self, calming Riley. They all finally understand their roles in specific moments of life, and how they are supposed to show up and go away. When we give ourselves the grace of feeling our emotions fully, without resistance, we find peace. We should let emotions be like waves, they will come, peak, and go. Without resisting they will last 90 seconds. Otherwise, they can last weeks, months, or even lifetimes. What we resist, persists.

Map of Consciousness

Mastering our emotions is a path to inner peace. It’s not always easy though, you have to be consistent. This week I learned that the map of consciousness, created by Dr. David Howkins, provides the foundational understanding of the evolution of human consciousness. His integration method, although quite simple, is very effective. It encompasses asking yourself a series of simple questions: What am I feeling? Am I willing to let it go? Can I let it go? And when. The idea is to use it every time emotions come up – feel it fully to free it. I found it quite interesting.

Joy Creates Flow

The moment after the emotional integration, Riley is clear to go back to the game. She then feels peace and craves joy. Joy then takes control leading Riley to enter a flow state – playing fully immersed and enjoying the present moment. No other thoughts were on her mind, not even the question of making the team or not. This is the beauty of the movie’s final message – when we find joy in what we do, the outcome becomes irrelevant. Fully enjoying the present moment is the only thing that matters.

My Favorite Gem

There are so many gems throughout the movie that I’ll just highlight my favorite. At the very beginning, Joy takes the elevator to place a good memory in the stream of consciousness and invites Sadness to go with her. She says – where I go you go. Such a beautiful way to show that joy and sadness are not only opposite but, complementary emotions. One does not exist without the other. We cannot understand light without knowing the dark. There are no good or bad emotions, they simply are.

Final Notes

Brother Bear is still my absolute favorite animation ever. It’s hard for me to believe that almost nobody has watched it. But Inside Out 2 just took the second place in my favorites list. I hope parents have a chance to reflect on those teachings with their children. It’s so good to see profound messages like these being addressed in such a relatable way. I’m looking forward to part 3!

And remember, Good is what makes you feel well!

Anna.