Inside Out

Tuesday afternoon was hot and humid here, leading us to employ a strategy we’ve often done before, watch a movie in an air-conditioned theater. I chose Inside Out for our viewing pleasure because animated family movies appeal to Cindy; they leave her smiling. Inside Out delivered on this mission as well as being thought-provoking for our own personal situation.

The main characters are personified emotions inside an 11-year old girl’s head, going through the traumatic experience of moving from Minnesota to San Francisco. Up until that move, the emotion known as Joy had been in charge of her life, with the other emotions playing a cameo role. In her new home the emotion Sadness starts to assert her presence in unwanted ways. The central plot revolves around both Joy and Sadness being thrust out of the “headquarters” of the mind and their journey back to where they belong. One nuance to this plot is the assumption by her emotions, including the ones remaining at headquarters, that Joy needs to get back to regain control.

At one level the movie engages on a simple level. Different situations triggering different emotions in the girl’s mind … and in the audience. Cindy both cried hard and laughed hard during the movie. Cindy’s openness to simple, raw emotions is one of her most endearing traits. Simplicity has been the key for why Joy mainly has been in control of the headquarters of her mind.

The movie engages on a deeper level as well, at least for a person like me, going through my own traumatic experience. In order for their journey to succeed Joy discovers that she must embrace Sadness as a partner, rather than isolate her in a circle or drag that emotion behind. From that point on, though still the central emotion in a young girl, Joy operates in a participatory democracy of emotions rather than a dictatorship.

For most of my life I’ve been a positive, optimistic can-do person, perhaps a little too optimistic at times in thinking how problems will resolve themselves. For most of my life Joy has led a dictatorship at the headquarters in my mind. Now I find myself at a similar crossroads as that 11-year old girl. Joy still prevails, but only through embracing Sadness as a partner.

That’s where this blog comes in. In the movie the girl had her parents to lean on. I don’t lean on others in person because that never has been my typical role in relationships. I try to alleviate Sadness in others, with a focus on such things as kindness and community, not seek others out to alleviate Sadness in me. Instead, I lean on the readers of this blog.

Sure, the original mission of this blog had to do with raising awareness about kindness and community, which still provides the tag line in the upper right corner. Sure, the current mission is to provide information and inspiration for the importance of maintaining a high quality of life for brain health. Yet if I’m to be honest this blog also is therapy for me, my means for embracing Sadness to address a traumatic experience. I’m gratified when informed by others they had tears from reading a post. In truth, I’ve had tears by the end of writing quite of few posts, including this one.

Ah, but I can’t resist letting Joy have the last word here. That is who I am; that is why Cindy and I are a good team. At the end of Inside Out Cindy was all smiles, just as I predicted for a animated family film. What I did not predict was how, when we got up to leave, she wrapped her arms around me looking for a kiss. We walk out hand-in-hand, me still feeling like I’m a very lucky man.

And, yes, I do recommend seeing this movie.