madgirl

Yesterday I started a thread asking the question "how does it feel to be happy?" and I received amazing, thoughtful responses from others in the community here which have given me so much to consider and work towards in recovery. (thanks!!!)

My 16 year old son had been pestering me to watch the Pixar movie "Inside Out" for some time, so last night he and I did watch it. For those of you that haven't seen it - I HIGHLY recommend that you do, for it is BRILLIANT. You are "inside" the head of a young girl, and "see" her emotions - they are characters - Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear. You "see" trains of thought, the subconscious, core memories, abstract thought, etc. and also "islands" which form her personality - family, friendship, etc.

Not only was it a very touching story, but it was AN AMAZING VISUALIZATION TOOL to see how deeply alcohol, trauma or drugs would impact the inside of your head, your personality, and your capacity to experience Joy. I now have a very graphic picture in my mind, picturing alcohol drowning or damaging those emotions and islands which form my own personality, and it is a powerful picture which reinforces my decision to embrace sobriety.

freshstart57

I thought it was terrific too. Very cool to see how all of these emotions, even and especially sadness, are needed to be a whole human. The voice actors were spot on too. Don't dismiss it as a kid's mindless diversion. Highly recommended.

MissPerfumado

Thanks madgirl. I have to see it now!

Funny how these things work. This was also highly recommended to me by a dear friend, a wonderful, sensitive, compassionate lady, who suffered from anxiety and said it helped her. This friend actually played a not insignificant part in my own sobriety journey. With her encouragement, I stopped drinking the day I did instead of putting it off any longer.

So yes, that's at least two strong recommendations. Thank you!

madgirl

It was beautiful timing for me given that I was just thinking so hard about emotions yesterday and my son randomly pestered me for the 20th time to watch the movie.

Recovery is an "inside out" journey, for sure.

madgirl

To touch on something else tomsteve mentioned yesterday in my thread on happiness - a lot of us started drinking at a fairly young age, and if it's true that our maturing process "inside" really stopped when we started drinking, many of us suffer from impaired emotional development.

EndGameNYC

I recommend Inside Out to my students and to my patients, and to anyone who cares. It's a nice movie.

We cannot assume that everyone has even a basic grasp of what feelings mean for each of us. There is a condition, alexithymia, in which a person cannot identify or express their own feelings, or identify and understand the feelings of other people.

madgirl

No assumptions made here.

The movie helped me, and may help others visualize their minds and perhaps be a little more patient with the healing process.

entropy1964

I loved that movie so much I bought it!

IvanMike

Great flick.

I felt the same way when I saw it.

(Besides, my 20 year old daughter wanted to see a movie with me and picked that. - Double cool.)

madgirl

It was certainly a beautiful experience to watch that with my son. Interesting to consider how alcohol or drugs might pair up with those emotions as pictured in the movie - Joy would be manic, delirious - anger might get ramped up - fear and sadness would definitely take over the control panel in the morning, along with disgust. Do that to your emotions over years, decades - --

Hevyn

I'm glad you mentioned this, mad - I kind of overlooked it & didn't think I'd be interested. I'll add it to my Netflix queue.

madgirl

Do it! You won't regret it!

Susurration

Inside out is an amazing film and as someone who suffers from depression I was deeply moved by it. I think this and Up are by far the two best Pixar films to date.

uncorked

They played this movie at the rehab I went to, rotating it with other movies with powerful messages. Unfortunately, I missed it but I'll definitely check it out.

immri

I absolutely love this movie and made my own mother watch it after endless nagging, she loved it too.

Such a great movie both for kids and adults, especially anyone struggling with any sort of disorder I think. I even found it helped me understand my anxiety and so many of my friends have said similar things about their depression etc

Recommend it for sure, glad to see it being discussed here

ACT10Npack

I really like that movie. It was only one of the few movies I wish I saw in the theater. Thought the trailer made it too kiddie but has one of the movie adult feeling themes of all Pixar movies evers.