Sublimity in print.

Journey Through the Mind
Decoding Inside Out's Emotional Landscape

To commemorate this year’s World Mental Health Day, let us journey inside the mind labyrinth of Disney-Pixar’s most cerebral film, Inside Out. In the year 2015, Inside Out was best known for its creative setting of little voices inside our heads, representing our emotions; joy, sadness, anger, disgust, and fear.

The beginning of the film delves on how joy triggers our psychological being, and that every moment is worth smiling for in order to prevent sadness—a negative emotion—from becoming an obstacle to our upbeat lives. But as the film progresses toward its end, everything we know about happiness is not entirely true. Inside Out has brought to you a message, that every emotion is crucial to our well-being. There is no such thing as negative emotions. We have the right to embrace our emotions and express what our minds want us to express and not, without the permission to do so.

Take a look at Riley for example, there’s a reason why fate threw Joy out of her headquarters—or shall we say out of Riley’s head. Sometimes there are emotions we are unable to produce. And like Riley, trying to adapt to her new surroundings is not a work for Joy. I understand that it’s not that easy to smile in the face of change. This is a perfect illustration of why you should not try to force happiness into yourself as it doesn’t help you deal with your stressful and difficult situations. That’s where your sadness must enter the picture.

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Sadness plays a vital role in your mental health. It does not imply weakness; rather, it aids in coping with hard times and accepting things for how they are. When Sadness was brought back to Riley’s head, you can see how her parents reach out to console her, turning a sad moment into a happy one. This applies to everyone being sad and all, but the comfort of your loved ones helps you feel at ease even if you’re crying.

It’s okay to not be okay. What is not okay is keeping your emotions to yourself, as this never fixes anything. It aggravates the situation. That’s why we have these emotions. All the people who care about you want to know how you are feeling. Emotions are hard enough to deal with. You should not have to go through them alone. That’s a promise.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter Junriel

I paint with letters what my voice stumbles to convey, bridging the gaps my stutter creates.

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