Is Inside Out Upside Down?: Emotions at the Control Panel

Maybe you’ve seen the movie Inside Out. It’s an animated film where emotions are depicted as characters that live inside the mind of an eleven-year-old girl named Riley. Joy, Sadness, Anger, and Fear all sit at a kind of internal “control panel,” reacting to what’s happening in Riley’s life and trying to guide her through it. 

The movie is funny and creative. It’s both entertaining and surprisingly insightful in the way it portrays how our emotions influence our words and decisions, how they conflict with each other, and how they shape our responses to life. And yet, for all its creativity, the movie might be reinforcing a very common —and perhaps even dangerous—misunderstanding. 

Because while it’s cute to picture your emotions sitting behind a control panel, I’m not so sure that is where emotions were ever meant to be.

Each of us can relate to having Anger at the wheel, or Joy pulling the levers. We can all relate to the inner chaos that occurs when our feelings take control, and reason, rational thinking, and self-control are nowhere to be found.

God created our emotions. They are not inherently bad. But emotions were never meant to control our lives. They were not designed to be in the control room. And I’d like to challenge the idea that they actually are in the control room of our lives. Emotions are more like indicators, signals that point to something deeper going on beneath the surface. 

Story Panel v. Control Panel

The more accurate illustration for how emotions affect us is a storyboard, not a control room. I want to challenge our perspective on emotional control: Your emotions respond to the story panel before they sit at the control panel.

In the movie world, a storyboard (or “story panel”) is where the writers lay out the way a story flows. The framing, story sequence, and plot development are all laid out in story panels, allowing the entire movie plot to be viewed from beginning to end all at once. This layout of panels helps writers ensure that every scene serves a purpose, that the characters develop correctly, and that the story arc makes sense. 

Every person has a story panel, of sorts, inside of them. It’s the internal narrative that tells the story of our lives. This story interprets our world, our view of God, our self-perception, and our perception of others. It is what you believe about what’s happening to you, and it often shows up in the way you talk to yourself.

Maybe you've caught yourself saying things like:

• “I always mess things up.”
• “No one really cares what I have to say.”
• “If they don't respond, it’s because they don’t like me.”
• “I can’t handle this.”

Every one of those sentences represents a part of a larger internal story. And here's the critical point. If the story you believe about yourself and your world is broken, your emotions will still respond as if it were true. And when you make decisions based on those emotions, they take over the control panel, and your choices become broken, too.

Changing the Story Panel

But what if the story you’re telling yourself isn’t true?

It is not enough to simply feel something. We have to learn to understand what we're feeling. Did you know that your emotions have a way of slipping on masks? Sometimes anger is actually fear in disguise. Sometimes we think we're sad when we're actually experiencing rejection. Only when we’ve taken the time to examine and identify our emotions clearly can we begin to trace them back to the story panel that shaped them.

This is not some trick of pop psychology. The apostle Paul teaches us this very principle in Romans 12:2. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is…”

The world tells us to follow our hearts. But Scripture teaches us to renew our minds. Our heart can feel something deeply, yet still respond to a lie. Renewing our minds involves examining the narrative of our story panel and determining whether it aligns with God’s will. And the will of God is revealed by the Word of God. 

When we correctly identify our feelings and examine the storyline behind our emotions, we can begin to ask the most important question: Is this story true according to God's Word?

If it isn’t, then we call it what it is—a lie.

Transformation through Truth

Listen carefully. When you identify the storyline behind your emotions as a lie, don’t justify it. Don’t ignore it. Don’t deny it. And don’t assume it is just your personality. Call it a lie and tell yourself the truth based on Scripture.

This act does not just calm us down; it also soothes us. It aligns our emotions with God’s plan for our lives in that exact moment and enables us to respond to life as He intends us to. The truth shapes our emotions, and then the decisions that result from those emotions become whole and healthy as well. Emotions don’t belong at the control board. Truth belongs in the story panel—and we don’t just manage our emotions, we surrender them to God. 

This is what transformation looks like.

This may not seem dramatic. But when we train ourselves to live like this every day - to speak to ourselves the way God speaks to us - our life is transformed completely.

So yes, Inside Out was creative. Emotions portrayed as characters behind a control panel? It’s clever. But letting the truth of God's Word direct your life and govern your choices is more effective, more peaceful, and more productive. 

If lies write your story panel, your emotions will reflect it and so will your choices. If your story panel reflects God's truth, it will not only be reflected in your emotions and choices but in the very trajectory of your life.

The real control room doesn’t belong to your feelings.

It belongs to your Creator.

And the story panel? He’s already written the ending. And it’s good.