I went to see the new Disney film, “Inside Out” recently. It was like no other Disney film I’ve ever seen. Fun and very child-friendly, but really all about the emotions going on inside the hero’s head (she’s 11 year old Riley).
The main emotion is Joy, who tends to take control – she wants everyone to be happy and for things to go well. But there are other emotions flying about too: Anger, Fear, Disgust…and Sadness. They all have something to say and do as the adventure develops!
And it’s Sadness who increasingly comes to the fore. She finds it so hard to be positive – and yet she effectively saves the day by her deeper and more intuitive approaches to life!
It all goes to show in our ‘you’ve-got-to-be-happy-and-positive-all-the-time’ atmosphere today that ‘negative’ emotions are also vital for our sense of reality, meaningfulness and – yes, wellbeing too!!
More research is being done today on the distinction between ‘happiness’ and ‘meaningfulness’ – they are not the same thing, and can even take us in opposite directions!
