Let’s talk about feelings

By Melanie, Provisional Psychologist, Change for Life

Released in 2015, the award-winning film Inside Out won the hearts of many. Not only was the film engaging, lively and relatable, it also highlighted many lessons about our emotions and the workings of our brain and mind.

Firstly, one of the biggest take-aways from this film was the spotlight it placed on sadness. In the movie, the character Sadness was isolated and even confined to a single space. Sadness was seen by her colleagues and friends not to have a place in helping Riley. This behaviour mirrors the world that we live in today, where many do not embrace being sad. Our society tells us that we need to be happy and think positive thoughts. While somewhat true, there is also an underlying assumption that being sad or thinking negative should be overwritten, that sadness is not value-adding. However, every emotion in our body is there for a reason; it helps us to understand the situation, to troubleshoot a problem, and sometimes to protect ourselves. When we ignore the emotion we’re feeling with something more socially acceptable; we deny ourselves the process of understanding what we are going through. It is okay to feel sad! By embracing sadness, we are opening up ourselves to feel and begin the process of healing. If we deny ourselves the opportunity to be sad and grieve, we are jumping ahead and forcing ourselves to be happy. This does not necessarily solve the issue or the emotional turmoil we are going through. Instead, it leaves an area of our lives unresolved. This festers and might turn into a bigger problem in the future.

Secondly, the movie Inside Out explains to us that our memories can elicit more than one emotion. Maybe recalling a happy memory with a pet that is no longer around might make us feel sad. For a moment, we are confronted with feeling both joy and sadness. It is okay to feel multiple emotions when recalling a memory. As we grow older, we learn to understand more emotions and its complexities. In understanding what emotions each memory elicits, we know how each memory impacts us.

Lastly, our core beliefs play a part in the decisions and actions we make. Riley’s core memories in Inside Out are seen to power her each of her personality islands. When these core memories are lost in the movie, Riley’s personality islands start to fall apart. Similar to core memories, core beliefs are often formed from a childhood experience or an early life experience. When our core beliefs are challenged or threatened, we begin to respond and behave differently to situations. When Riley performed poorly at the Hockey tryouts, her core belief of being a good hockey player and enjoying hockey was threatened, and she got angry and upset. She behaved in a way that she usually would not have. Our core beliefs can be vital to the way we respond to situations.

There are many more lessons that the movie Inside Out presents. It portrays this knowledge in a manner that is easily understood and digested by many across all ages. Watch the movie (again, if you’ve already watched it before) and see if you can find more exciting lessons the producers included in their film.