The Surprising Spiritual Themes in Inside Out 2

In today's episode of the Integrated Wisdom Podcast, I explore some interesting spiritual themes I spotted whilst watching Inside Out 2 recently.

Some of the themes I explore include:

- the benefits of embracing all of our emotions
- the importance of embracing the complexity of human beings
- how spiritual by-passing and toxic positivity undermine our resilience and spiritual growth

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Intro and Outro music: Inspiring Morning by Playsound

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be treated as psychological treatment or to replace the need for psychological treatment.

Transcript

Tatiana: 0:00

Welcome to the Integrated Wisdom Podcast. I am your host, Tatyana Da Silva. Join me as we discuss what it means to live an integrated life and explore ways for you to create a life filled with greater meaning, peace, and connection by integrating the wisdom of spirituality, psychology, Neuroscience, Epigenetics and Energy Psychology are hoped to empower you to create deeper and more loving connections with yourself and others, whilst also paving the way for humanity at large to be reimagined and inspired to become the very best version of itself. Hello, and welcome to the integrated wisdom podcast. Thank you so much for joining me for yet another week. So the other day, I went to the movies with my sister and my little niece. And we went to, to watch inside out to. I had been completely enamored with the very first inside out when it came out years ago. I thought they had done a brilliant job. In explaining the inner workings of our brain, our emotions, how the interact with. What we experienced and shape, shape us. Oh, attitudes, our personality. Our experiences. I thought they really did a brilliant job. And I think most therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, would agree that they really took the time to. To get the details right. And illustrate it in a way that was very accessible for, for people. And for those who have seen inside out, there's some beautiful. I think guiding principles. In this movie about our relationship to our emotions. And I wanted to speak to These two movies today, particular, because I think there are such great parallels for our spiritual journey. In life. I speak a lot about the fact that we're souls having a human experience. And I speak a lot about the fact that our essence, you. And our spiritual essence interacts with the person that we are, the character that we're playing in this life. Which I think is another reason why psychology and spirituality integrate so well. Right. You almost need to have the two lenses coming together to help us understand some of the things that are driving us. I think. Inside out and inside out two. is Speaking to the depth and breadth of the human experience. And without maybe even realizing or meaning to. They are highlighting the spiritual elements Of life that. We're navigating. And so I wanted to speak to that. Today. So I'm going to speak as though you haven't watched the movie and if you have. It would be obviously. You'll know what I'm referring to, but I'm going to speak to the broader audience in case there's any listeners. Who don't know the story. So the very first inside-out that came out a few years ago. Followed the life of a young girl, Riley. who's 12 years old. As she navigated, moving into, moving into a new city, trying to navigate a whole new life, leaving everything behind that. She knew her friends, her home her hockey team. And. the premise of the movie is to really demonstrate the inner workings of our brain. How our emotions shape a little bit. How we experience life, but also how we integrate the experiences that we have. That ultimately shape. Our personalities, our values, our attitudes and beliefs. And. The story revolves around the fact that as a 12 year old, Riley has. Five key emotions. Joy. Sadness. Fear. Anger and disgust. Basic innate emotions. And interestingly at that point, Joy. Kind of is the team leader of the pack, right? She's running the show. She, she determines how memories are integrated, what memories are chosen, She helps Riley deal with situations. In, in lots of different ways, but she mistakenly believes that the only thing that Riley needs is to feel joyful all the time. As long as she's happy all the time. There's nothing to worry about. And she spends most of movie fighting really, really hard. To stop Riley from feeling the grief and loss. That relocating to a new city. Has sparked for her. Joy doesn't understand. That. There is a place for grief that there is a place for sadness. Right that. It's an emotion that. Is necessary for us to honor and process. In order to really integrate the experiences that we have that might be challenging. And in trying to suppress sadness and the grief that Riley's feeling. It just creates chaos. Creates chaos internally, but it also creates chaos externally because it leads Riley to try to run away from home. And just feeling really confused by all these warring emotions inside her. And when we get to the conclusion of inside out, One, the first one. Okay. The moral of the story is that sadness has a place. Joy recognizes that sadness has a place in helping Riley's healthy development. Right that we don't develop as healthy. Full complex human beings. With only some of our emotions, we need access to all of our emotions, all of our emotional expressions, including the painful ones. They have a place too, they serve a purpose. And when we incorporate those emotions and they work together and we honor all of them. That is the foundation for healthy development and for a thriving human. So that was a beautiful takeaway at the end of that first one. And. When we get to Inside out two, which just came out. Currently it's currently in cinema still. We follow Riley as she transitions into teenage hood. Right. Which for those of us who still remember. It was a bloody tough time. It was probably the hardest time we have to live through. Really like many people live, look back on adolescence, wistfully. As a time of freedom and fun, but really it's because half of us have forgotten how tough it really is. To be a teenager, all of a sudden you're. So self-conscious. You're acutely aware of everything about you and your place in the world. And everything feels uncertain and uncomfortable. And. Embarrassing and even shameful in some ways and confusing. It's a tough time. Like you could not give me enough money to go back to be a teenager again. Um, and inside out two demonstrates that complexity and that turmoil so beautifully.'cause all of a sudden, as Riley enters adolescence, she goes from having just those five core emotions of joy, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust. To having some more complex, emotions that signal. Now she's a teenager and things are going to get a little bit more tricky. And one of those emotions is anxiety. The other three, play a little bit more of a. Uh, I guess you could say a secondary role. W which is envy embarrassment. And Ennui or, you know, that kind of weariness that sometimes you get from teenagers that says sort of. Boredom and apathy. But really, as she, as finally become the teenager, anxiety starts to become a little bit more prominent in. The way that she navigates the world, because she starts to develop these really unique type of self-consciousness. That doesn't really exist. Up until we become a teen and, you know, there's all the hormonal changes that happen. At that time. Cause us to stoparteeling very, very aware our place in the social structure of our lives. Right. We cease to focus so much on our family of origin and start to care much more about how we fit socially with our peers. So this movie demonstrates beautifully how Riley. It starts to become, self-conscious how her emotions are a little bit. Chaotic and all over the place, because there's so much change and turmoil going on. Um, even for the original emotions that are there, everything's very confusing. They're not, they're not quite sure what's going on, what all this means for Riley and for them and their role in her life and how they've shaped her personality. And immune side to send out to, they start to really demonstrate the development of personality and self. The core beliefs that we develop in. Kind of have guiding our self of sense of self or sense of self-worth. The beliefs and attitudes that we hold. About who we are as a person on the world, in the world. Who we are as a person in the world. And. When anxiety shows up. Again, the. The purpose of anxiety. It's an emotion that has a place, right? It is it's designed to help anticipate. Potential problems and keep us safe. Like everything that our brain does. It's primary goal is to keep us safe. And, and well, and functioning to the best of our ability, but sometimes, you know, it misfires. It misinterprets what danger is and. Much like in the first movie. Anxiety. He seems to think that she has all the right answers for how to keep Riley safe. And starts taking charge in control of all the other emotions and suppressing all the, all the positive. Uh, associations that Riley had with other aspects of her life starts to. I guess undermine the structural for personality that had been developed up until that point. And almost starts to. Shape Riley's believed that she has to. changed who she is. Well, I don't want to give away these pointless for those of you who haven't seen inside out two. Like I highly, highly, highly recommend. That you watch it. And if you haven't watched the first one, watch that first one too, because they're just the most beautiful movies. They really do. celebrate The beauty. and the complexity that exists in being a human being. So I highly highly recommend it.. I don't want to give spoilers away. But in essence, We start to see how. This is conflict that happens for, for the emotions running Riley, but also for like, as a consequence of these emotions fighting between themselves and fighting for control and how to shape Riley's experiences, what they think is best for Riley. She starts to develop different beliefs and attitudes about herself and how she sees herself in the world. That are contradictory, right. She starts to recognize, oh, okay. There are some good things about me. There are some bad things about me and there's a war between these sides. As though she can only be one or the other. All right. And all of us have had moments like that where our mind sometimes can be. Uh, Very good at overgeneralizing and filtering. Through negatives or positives, depending on what's driving us in that moment. Right. Like we can look at ourselves in black and white terms and think that we have to be one or the other. A lot of time. When the reality is. We have very, very complex and multiple sides of us exist. Within us, we all have good, good traits. Good qualities. We all have the capacity for it to be good people. At certain times. It's in circumstances, but we all have the capacity for flaws as well. We all have things about us that. We may not be necessarily proud of. There's still a work in progress. But that are equally true of us. Right. Now constant quest to, to grow and develop. There was always things that we need to be working on or the, in ourselves. And we have these little qualities and. Traits that might be. Um, not ideal. Uh, things that we would change about ourselves, if we could. But. You know, they still shape who we are and they still shape how we show up in the world. And I think that was a beautiful takeaway from inside out two that. It starts to really. Illustrate so beautifully. That as human beings, we are complex. We have good, good parts. We have some not so good parts. Right. We have strengths. We have weaknesses. We have quality. We have flaws. That is the human existence summed up. Right? We are made up of a whole bunch of things. And they all play a role. And if we try to deny aspects and elements of ourselves, It causes chaos. It causes suffering. Right. It makes things messier than they would be if we just embrace these parts of ourselves. And, and looked at ourselves, honestly. And owned these, all these different elements of who we are. And psychologically speaking, We know that. Teaching people. to. Recognize the two. Oh, seemingly opposite things can be true at the same time. Right that there is this great strength. Uh, and flexibility, psychological flexibility that comes from being able to accept that two things can be true at the same time, even though they seem contradictory. As an example. Like I can. Absolutely love my puppy to death. And at the same time, sometimes we do still have my opportunities with. Independence on my own and my own thinking time, which. I don't have much of these days anymore. Right. Those two things can be absolutely true. It's not either a love my puppy or I hate my puppy because I want to be. Having. The quiet, independent time. I can, I can love him desperately and think about him when I'm not with you, in which I do. But also. Crave some of that alone time that I used to value and cherish because as an introvert, I need solitude to help process and recharge. So teaching our clients or as, as consumers learning the ability to navigate. These dichotomy of this dyad. Is so important in building resilience in building. Psychological flexibility in being able to navigate life with greater ease and less suffering. If we look at what's going on in the world right now. We have a polarized world where people have bought into the mistaken belief. That you have to either be one or the other. Right. That we're, that we're not complex in that life. Isn't complex, that everything should be really simple and easy to put into neat little boxes and that these boxes never overlap. And that's just not true. And the more we buy into this myth. The more suffering we're seeing in the world, the more conflict we're seeing in the world. Which brings me to the spiritual essence of these movies. Right. When I, when I thought, when I was watching it and I was. Really relishing, how they illustrated the fact that. We are made out of qualities, flaws. Good and bad. It speaks to not just this human experience, but ultimately. The spiritual experience that we're here having. Right. The fact that we, as part of our spiritual journey, our spiritual evolution. We need to acknowledge some of the negative things that are there that we may not like. Right. They're still serving a purpose in shaping our experience, but in shaping out development. And. I don't think you can have. True spiritual growth. If you deny these other parts of yourself that are not ideal, in fact, And if you deny yourself access to situations, That challenge you that are painful. In previous episodes I've spoken about. You know, the spiritual bypassing, which in psychological terms, people talk about toxic positivity. We lose a lot from. Believing that we should only have. easy experiences. easy emotions right. Like easy relationships. Of course. Ideally we would want positive relationships. Right. And we want. I'm not saying that we should be embracing toxic relationships. What I'm talking about is the fact that some of our growth, some of our development will come from navigating. Uncomfortable interactions with other people. Uncomfortable emotions elicited in us by other people. And if my way of coping with these things is to just cut all that out of my life. I am losing opportunities for growth. Right. And I am losing the very resilience that we need to navigate life. and so I thought that the, even though this movies is speaking in our neuroscientific and psychological terms, there is absolutely this spiritual. Undertone. That. Encompasses what it means to be a human being or what it means to be. A soul having a human experience. And so I just wanted to share that with you today. To think about that. Reflect on the. Your relationship to your uncomfortable emotions. Your relationship to the parts of you that maybe you're not particularly. Happy with or proud of. And think about. You know what. What lesson could be coming from that? What. What. Positive information. It could be coming from that. If we see all of our emotions, Right. As tools and resources that aid us in navigating life. If you see all the experiences that we have as tools to navigate life and our development, both as a human and as, as, and as a soul. How can we harness the best that he has to offer us? The positive that we can take from it. How can I grow from these emotions, experiences, relationships. You know, Just as an example, to help you with your reflection and emotion, that a lot of clients will bring into the room, but a very, very ashamed to speak of. Is envy. Which is interesting because you know, that's one of the emotions that Riley develops as a teen. And. We see feeling envious as something to be really ashamed of. Right. Only bad people. Feel envy. But again, if we take a neutral stance with our emotions, if we don't see them as either good or bad, but only as signals only as data. For what we need. envy takes on a completely different form. Right. Envy. Isn't about wanting you for the other person. It's signaling to us what it is. We want more of. Well, what we want less off, right? It's information about ourselves. To help us make decisions that are more aligned without essence. With what calls to us. That's just one example. Another example is anger. Another emotion that people have a really tricky relationship with. What is our, anger telling us when we feel it. Right. It's not telling us that we're a bad person. Often it's telling us that one of us, our needs aren't being met. How boundaries have been violated. So I want you to reflect on that and I invite you to have a different relationship. With, with your Martians. So many people these days. I struggle with. Sitting in the discomfort of their humanness. And it, and it comes at a huge cost. So I hope that you, you can reflect on some of these. I would love to hear your experiences with this. If you, if you do see it in reflect on that. Uh, you can always reach me. At hello@integratedwisdom.com.au. Hello@integratedwisdom.com.au, you can email me or you can also find me on Instagram at integrated underscore wisdom. You can send me a DM there. But yeah, I. I would love to hear from you. And I hope that you. Again, if you haven't seen these movies. I encourage you to go and watch them. And if you have, I would love to hear what you think. Can you see some of the things that I'm talking about? What did you take away from it? I'd love to hear from you. And so that's all I have for you this week. I hope you will have a lovely week and we'll speak next. Time. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Integrated Wisdom. It is my sincere wish that today's episode may have intrigued and inspired you to reclaim your power and step into becoming more fully integrated spiritual beings. New episodes are published every second Wednesday and I hope you'll continue to join us as we dive deeper into what it means to live an integrated life. So if it feels aligned to you, I invite you to hit subscribe and share it with others who you feel may benefit too. You may also find me on Instagram at integrated underscore wisdom. Remember each moment is an opportunity to embrace your divine potential and create a world that is more frequently inspired. So for now, stay connected, stay inspired and keep shining your light into the world.