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Somewhere inside Riley’s head, five emotions are running a control room.

Joy tries to keep things upbeat, while other emotions have their own agendas that can complicate things.

Inside Out gives emotions faces and personalities, making a largely invisible process concrete.

But imagine walking away thinking emotional regulation means finding the little employee responsible for your sadness and revoking her access to the console.

Well, that’s not right. In fact, how incomplete.

That’s where the comparison starts getting us into trouble.

The control room helps us picture competing emotions. Taking it further could suggest that feeling better means putting one emotion in charge and keeping the others away from the buttons.

Thankfully, the movie itself pushes against that idea.

That’s worth remembering when we use analogies.

(Oh, and if you haven’t seen it or its sequel, highly recommend both. Even more emotions, yay feelings!)

We use them constantly in public health. A seatbelt. A safety net. A river with people falling into it. A house with a shaky foundation.

A familiar image gives people a place to start.

Then comes the part we might tend to forget:

Where should the comparison stop?

Say you describe health insurance as a key that unlocks the door to care.

Easy enough to picture. There’s a barrier, and the key helps you get past it.

Now the door is unlocked.

Can someone get an appointment? Get there without missing a shift? Understand what’s being explained?

The key did its job, and barriers remain.

When you have to keep inventing rules to make the comparison work, it may be time to change the comparison.

What if the analogy were a library card instead?

The card lets you check out books. But having it doesn’t mean you can actually use the library.

Can you get to the library when it’s open?

Are the materials available in your language?

Can you physically get into the building and reach what you need?

Those are recognizable features of using a library.

They help us picture several barriers that can remain after someone gets insurance.

The comparison gives us more room to explain the experience.

It still has limits, but it’s less reductive than “Locked? Here’s a key!”

All to open a door into other unannounced traps.

🛠️ The PHacilitator’s Corner:

Pick one analogy from a presentation, post, or story you already use.

1. Name its job.

“This comparison helps people understand ___.”

Be specific. Are you explaining how something works? Why a barrier exists? What an experience demands of someone?

2. Find its stopping point.

“If I keep extending this comparison, what becomes confusing or misleading?”

Watch for details you have to invent or explain before the original point makes sense.

3. Make one adjustment.

Remove a strained detail, add a sentence marking the limit, or try a comparison that carries the point more clearly.

You’re done when you’ve revised one sentence so the comparison makes your point clearer.

Part of the fun is connecting things people wouldn’t usually put together.

Then check how far the comparison can take you.

Even Joy needed to learn she couldn’t run the whole console.

L8r.

How’d I do?