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Writer's pictureMaxie Heppell

When your insides show on the outside


There are few things that feel more like a holiday, than sitting in a movie in the middle of the day, on a random weekday. What does it matter that you are a comfortable conglomerate of three in there?


So, I persuade da new English friend, with roots in Mauritius, to go and watch Inside Out 2 with me. It didn't take much. She is 85, but her desire for life and her appreciation for all that is beautiful is very much alive, I thank you very much!


In 2015, we had to deal with so much after hubby was declared legally blind, that we completely missed the first instalment of Inside Out. However, it is nine years later now and with my healthy interest in animation, this second one sounded like a winner to me.


And I was right.


In the first film, the audience could get a glimpse into the daily goings-on of five of the 11-year-old Riley's emotions: Joy, Fear, Sadness, Anger and Disgust.


It's now two years later, and overnight Envy, Embarrassment, Boredom and Anxiety arrive in 13-year-old Riley's brain, all compliments of puberty - a new warning light on her brain's control panel.


But this is not just a story invented by idle screenwriters who wanted to attract as many children as possible to the box office. Dr. Dacher Keltner, a professor at Berkeley University, and other brain experts were tasked with making sure that the story reflecting the inside of Riley's brain was based on actual, factual neuroscience.


Mum & Dad, if you ever needed an excuse to go to the movies in broad daylight, on a random week day, you can now in all honesty tell people that you are doing psychological research...!


There were a few moments in this film that will probably stay with me for a long time...


There is a little "plant" in Riley's brain that pulses alive and well with all the things Riley believes about herself. Well, all the good things, at least – up to this point.


Because until this day, Joy would gather all the negative memories of the mistakes she’s made, the embarrassments she’s found herself in, on a daily basis and used a super-strength shooting machine to make sure those memories were saved in the deepest, hardest to reach place in her brain. In this way, all that resonated when the harp strings of this little "plant" was stirred, was Riley’s belief that “I am a good person.”


However, when Anxiety appears on the scene, it takes control, breaks down this understanding of Riley's self, and replaces it with a new contraption that grows out of thoughts of everything that could go wrong. (Sound familiar?)


Eventually, however, Joy manages to regain Riley's original view of herself, but she now understood that all these different experiences shaped Riley's self-belief. However good and bad it is. Because it teaches her, and it shapes her and helps her to develop in all the facets of her human being.


"I need to fit in, but I want to be myself"


Then there was another moment where Joy and Sadness got into an elevator together, and Joy said to Sadness: "Where I go, you go." But I don't think this was meant to be a sad moment. Because it is Joy that takes Sadness by the hand and continuously provides a way out and makes things better and remains the Big Sister.


The bit where Riley has an anxiety attack during her yellow card next to the ice hockey rink is disturbing and real and informative and reassuring, all in one. All the emotions must watch as Anxiety causes chaos. But in the end, it is Joy who restores the balance and allows Riley to breathe.


I could go on, but feel free to go and see for yourself.

And give Joy a chance when your insides show on the outside again.



"...the joy of the Lord is your strength!"

Nehemiah 8:10 AMP



Your inspiration for the week: Never alone


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