With the day off for July 4th this week, my husband and I went out on a Wednesday night to see a 10 pm movie - Who do we think we are staying up that late? I’m often in bed by that start time! But I’ve been wanting to see the movie since it came out and was wide-eyed watching until the end. Causing both laughter and tears, the film was fantastic!
We got home after midnight, still had to play the Wordle in bed (our favorite playful pastime of 2024), and was asleep by 1am. Gratefully, my dog Charlie slept in and I didn’t have to get up until around 8am. So after he did his business, I got right to mine.
Feel free to follow along with the movement as you read…
Standing tall facing the sun, I took deep breaths and grounded myself in the moment. Feet firmly planted, I leaned into my toes, then back into my heels, then side to side before finally settling into the center. Once stable, I pulled my kneecaps up to activate my legs and pulled my belly button in to engage my core and open my chest. I lifted my shoulders towards the ears, then back and down, and allowed my arms to externally rotate so my palms faced out, fingers extended. With the crown of my head high, I took some more deep breaths bringing that prana energy from the ground up through my body. In this tall strong mountain pose, I repeated silently with each breath: Inhale gratitude, Exhale peace.
This grounding practice is one I do daily to start my day. It’s not always as formal as this, standing on my yoga mat facing the sun - sometimes it is done in my bathroom before a shower or outside of my car before heading off to work. It takes just a few moments, a couple of breaths, but it always has me feeling strong and ready to climb whatever mountains show up that day.
*Reality Check: Of course I skip this practice some days. I try but don’t want to make it sound like I have a perfect record of daily grounding and mountain poses.
Once back inside, I brewed some delicious Mrs. Robinson’s Kiss Me tea. I took my time smelling the black tea, smiling with excitement when I saw the bright red mint pieces as I put the loose tea into a bag. Mindfully standing at the counter, waiting for the electric tea kettle to do its work, I brought to mind my gratitude list. For the few minutes it took for the water to boil, I recalled the people, places, experiences, and feelings that make my life meaningful.
Gratitude is a practice. Like everything worth pursuing, it takes consistent effort to make an impact. I try to keep gratitude front and center in my mind, but sometimes, other emotions take over, just as the film Inside Out 2 portrayed.
Inside Out 2 (SPOILER ALERT)
The clever take on emotions and the skillful way the creators artistically portrayed how our mind works were entertaining to watch on the big screen. In real life, it can feel more like an action movie or thriller instead of a cartoon for kids. Many aspects of the film were ingenious:
Showcasing sarcasm as an actual chasm: When speaking sarcastically, it caused a deep canyon to form in the mind, one which left an actual rift between the characters in the mind. Each time they yelled across the gorge to the people on the other side, the echo from the chasm made it sound like sarcasm, and the listeners became offended and left them all stranded.
Visualizing the stream of consciousness as a river: Random objects appear and then float down the water as they pop into the mind. When hungry, a piece of pizza drifted by, and after trying to eat something stiff and bland, a piece of cardboard passed by.
Having the characters caught in a brainstorm: Anxiety had all the workers in Imagination conjure up every possible scenario of how things could go wrong. Light bulbs of various sizes and colors fell from the sky and the wind blew them around violently.
These examples of creative genius made the film light and fun. I especially loved Nostalgia, a grandmother-looking character who comes out of the basement with a cup of tea to timely pronounce, “Remember when…” before sharing a memory. But the reason the film will stick with me is from a few other moments that stood out as lessons about our emotions and how they work together.
Our Sense of Self
The movie explained that each night while the person sleeps (Riley in this case), some memories from the day are taken underground to the foundation of the mind where they are planted. Beliefs about themselves grow from those strong memories and over time, create a sense of self.
Early in the film, Joy plants a few beautiful memories from the day: the celebration after winning the championship ice hockey game by passing the puck to a friend to score the winning shot. After being rooted in the ground, shiny white vines grew up out of the ground, and when plucked they sang their beliefs, “I’m a good friend” and “I’m a winner.”
This is a simple and stunning representation of how we form beliefs about ourselves. Later in the film, when Anxiety gains control of the mind, the anxious memories are planted instead of the joyful ones and they start to take over the entire garden. This uproots the original sense of self and starts to turn the core beliefs into a resounding song of “I’m not good enough.”
I can relate.
For a long time, my garden became overgrown with vines that said, “I’m not worthy.” My inner voice of anxiety (and depression and PTSD - emotions that haven’t yet made it into the life of Riley in the film) became the loudest voice in my head and impacted my mood, beliefs, and actions. It took a long time to recognize the overgrowth taking place in my mind, and even longer to pluck all those unwanted weeds to replace them with beautiful flowers that sang, “You are worthy.”
For me, healing came in the form of writing, yoga, and vulnerable storytelling. My book, Fragile Thoughts: A Healing Memoir, describes my healing process and provides writing prompts and yoga-based activities for readers to utilize to find their own healing because we all have a #writetoheal.
Panic Attacks
The creators showcased a fascinating and accurate representation of how it feels in the mind to experience a panic attack. Anxiety was at the helm of the dashboard, the center of the mind, and ran back and forth so fast with various projections of what could go wrong while simultaneously concocting new ways to deal with each situation that a tornado developed around her. As the winds whipped wildly, she stood still, frozen at the center of it. The other emotions were blown back by the wind and weren’t sure what they could do to help. Anxiety was stuck in the eye of the tornado, while in control of the mind.
Outside of the mind, Riley showed signs of having a panic attack. Her breathing was quick and shallow and her vision was blurry. Unable to catch her breath, she started to cry.
Again, I can relate.
There are times when my mind moves too fast for my own good, conjuring up every horrible future scenario and I feel stuck, unable to control my next move. In those situations, I have learned to focus on grounding exercises, like I did this morning on my mat with Mountain Pose.
Anxiety is future-based, always planning and scheming, so getting back into the present moment is key to stopping the spiral.
Riley was able to pull herself out of the panic attack by taking deep breaths and grounding herself. She touched the hockey stick and bench around her, listened to the sound of the skates on the ice, and felt the sun hit her face through the big windows. As she took time to get back into the present moment, anxiety was able to be tempered.
Her deep breaths gave strength to the other emotions and allowed them to pull Anxiety away from the dashboard control center. Then it was up to Riley to make the next move. And what she did is something that took me years to figure out.
Calling Upon Joy
After Anxiety was taken out of the tornado, small beautiful stars began floating from the dashboard toward Joy. Up until now, all the emotions controlled Riley through the dashboard, it was a one-way street. Riley never consciously chose which emotions she wanted to be in control. But now, she was calling upon Joy to be front and center in her mind.
We all have this ability. With practice, we can learn to choose our emotions.
While we naturally experience Anxiety, Fear, Embarrassment, or any other not-so-fun emotions, we can notice them, recognize them for what they are doing - guiding us to or away from something - and then call upon Gratitude or Joy to take center stage. It’s not as easy as it sounds and it takes practice but it is life-changing.
This is why I try to start my days by mentally listing all the things I am grateful for - because inevitably, I will hit bumps in the road. Having gratitude easily accessible helps me recover from those detours as quickly as possible. This practice allows me to call upon Gratitude when things are going down a dark path and because they are so close to the dashboard, they can reroute me quickly.
All at Once, Together
The poetic ending to the film showed all the emotions realizing that the sense of self they were all fighting to create couldn’t be made up of just one emotion. Riley isn’t just joyful or just anxious, she is both. Like us, Riley has many opposing truths living within her.
All of Riley’s memories blended to create a new beautiful sense of self, one that rotated between saying: “I am a winner,” “I’m not good enough,” “I am a mean girl,” and “I am a good friend.” All of these are true at times and they work together to create the complex human being that Riley is.
It’s now up to her to choose which beliefs she will allow to impact her actions. She can learn from the times she was mean to her friends and work to improve her relationships. She can learn from the anxiety about not feeling good enough and work on improving her mindset, staying focused on the present, and calling upon joy.
Inside Out taught us that we must allow all parts of ourselves to show up, to meld together, to intertwine because that’s who we are. Our sense of self can’t be based on one truth - we have to see and accept all sides of ourselves to flourish. And while our emotions might feel in control of us, we have the power to choose, through practice, which emotions we want running the show.
I can’t wait to see when Gratitude and Love enter Riley’s mind, perhaps in the next Inside Out movie, yet I know they will be joined by Depression and Grief when they do. Like Joy and Sadness who learned in the first movie that they always go together as two sides of the same coin, all emotions have a partner and all emotions serve a purpose.
Journal Prompts:
Name 3 core beliefs you have about yourself. Can you recall what core memories those beliefs grew out of? If your core belief is something like “I’m not good enough” how can you work to replant more positive memories to help grow a better sense of self?
How would you visualize the feeling of anxiety in your mind and body? What strategies do you use to call upon joy and stop anxiety from taking over? How can you incorporate grounding techniques into your daily routine to build a practice that prepares you for when anxiety takes over in the future?
What are you grateful for today? Make a list of at least 10 people who you appreciate, or who have helped you or offered kindness in some way. These can be people you know and love or people you meet out in the world, like the barista at your favorite coffee/tea shop or the tech support who helped you with your computer. Once done, make a list of 10 more reasons you are grateful, listing small conveniences and the day-to-day experiences you get to have. Consider ways to incorporate a daily gratitude practice if you don’t already have one.
Thanks for recapping the movie...I'll put it on my must-see list! I think it is fantastic that emotional intelligence is finding its way so directly into the realm of children. Our school system really doesn't seem to help them much with this.
Oh how I loved this movie! You did such a great job recapping it and highlighting the terrific take aways. The anxiety tornado whirlwind of a scene was, in my opinion, the most powerful part of the movie. The artistry in that scene was spot on as to how a panic attack feels in the body.
Have you seen Pixar’s lesser known movie Twenty Something? I just heard about it. It came out in 2021 and it highlights the push/pull of walking into adulthood as the main character turns 21 (and the angst over leaving childhood behind). It’s on Disney Plus. It’s on my “to watch” list.