Today I would like to use a fantastic film about emotional intelligence to explain the importance of one of the keys to Mindfulness and its importance in our lives: acceptance (Hoffman and Asmundson, 2008). As many of you may have heard, there are 6 basic emotions (Ekman, 1992). These are Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, Surprise, Fear.

All these emotions have an important charge in the development of the story of the film Inside Out, except for Surprise, which was finally not added as a character in the story. These characters enter the mental world and give an animated explanation, quite close to reality, on several aspects studied in psychology. Let’s focus, in this article, on the emotional issue.

Positive and negative emotions

We tend to consider emotions as positive or negative depending on the effect produced on us, well-being or discomfort. In this way, we tend to avoid negative emotions and go in search of positive ones constantly.

This is something we can see in our daily lives. With just one click, by touching our mobile phone, we enter the world of any social network where everything that appears is perfect. And we start to have that feeling, which becomes a necessity, of living all the moments that people around us (or from our list of followers) live.

That is to say, although this obviously happened before, the need to live positive emotions that we have in the Western world today is much stronger, one could even say that it is almost a social imposition… Or, how many times have you heard that “dry your tears, smile and go out there”?

By this I don’t mean that putting intention into improving our state of mind is something negative . On the contrary, but first, we must give our emotions the space and time they need to express themselves. One of the key principles of mindfulness is based on this: acceptance (Hoffman and Asmundson, 2008).

What does Mindfulness have to do with the outcome of the film?

The film Inside Out introduces the viewer to the mind of a baby (Riley). There, we see how the baby grows and faces different situations thanks to the emotions (characters that monitor Riley’s behavior). Over time, Riley has certain experiences that influence his mood.

However, Alegría, the main character in charge of monitoring, does not allow Tristeza to take control for a moment and ends up isolating her so that she does not influence Riley. The result? A series of events that end up causing Riley to make impulsive and drastic decisions. However, the key lies, unexpectedly, in the reinsertion of Tristeza into the group , letting her take control of the control centre momentarily. In other words, the moral of the film already shows the importance of the union of the group to stabilize the situation.

The same thing happens in real life. When we constantly strive to feel good about a given situation, we are only isolating our emotion. This has a biological explanation, as living beings, we seek survival, for that reason, we have the tendency to avoid discomfort in all senses.

Now, the Mindfulness has a lot to teach us in this respect . It is a central component added by Hoffman and Asmundson (2008), on which most of this new technique revolves: acceptance. However, we must be careful when interpreting this word. Acceptance does not mean resignation, it does not mean that we sit back and watch what is happening. Acceptance implies not judging, seeing things as they are and how they make us feel. It means becoming aware, giving ourselves a space to attend to what is happening to us and letting it communicate without putting up any kind of resistance. Thanks to this, Mindfulness gives us the opportunity to stop and pay attention to what is happening inside us, and think about what is happening to us before we make a decision and take action.

Thus, explained in mindfulness terms, it could be said that when Tristeza takes over the central controls, when Riley experiences the emotion and breaks down in tears, she is paying attention to what Tristeza was trying to communicate to her. As a result, she gets to know a new inner experience and make a new decision.

Final Reflection

With this interpretation of the outcome of the film, I intend to show the importance of all the emotions in our life . Although it is true that not all the secret is hidden in the practice of Mindfulness, its exercises to attend to what happens in the present moment and become aware of it, help a lot in the integration of our emotions. This is why Mindfulness exercises are being incorporated into current EQ programs.

So, use whatever method you use, my friend reader, do not forget one thing, take your time to feel each emotion and do not judge it, each one of them has something to tell you. Remember that no one can know what is big without first knowing what is small.

Biliographic references

  • Ekman, P. (1992). An argument for basic emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 6(3-4), 169-200.
  • Hoffmann, S. G. and Asmundson, G. J. (2008). Acceptance and mindfulness-based therapy: New wave or old hat? Clinical Psychology Review, 28(1), 1-16.

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