15 Life Lessons You Learn From Watching Animation Movies

This article was last updated on December 30, 2015

What I love the most about them is that they teach valuable life lessons in such a simple way. Although these motion pictures seem to be only for children, I strongly believe that adults have much more to learn from these “ordinary” movies than kids.

I encourage everyone to take some time off next Sunday and watch one of the animation movies listed below just for the fun of it, but I am sure you’ll find some valuable life lessons inside. Below, you have 15 of my favorite life lessons found in animated motion pictures.

15 Life Lessons You Learn From Watching Animation Movies

Inside Out

1. Negative Emotions Are Okay!

We’re living times when we do whatever we can to become happier and more aware of our lives, but we often tend to forget that each emotion plays an important role in our lives and that neglecting the negative ones it’s not the wisest thing to do. I believe this is the main lesson of the movie, to encourage us to accept our negative emotions and try to see the big picture and how each emotion has its own role.

The secret is not to neglect, but to learn how to work with your emotions.

2.  The Mind Matures Too

Another great lesson is that the mind of an adult is so much different than a pre teenager’s mind. You can see how organized are the emotions of an adult person, how they work together, everyone is calm and they accept each other. On the other hand, in a teenager’s mind everything is chaotic and there’s no team whatsoever.

This will definitely will help adults treat children and teenagers with more compassion by understanding that they have a hard time and by also remembering how they behaved when they were going through that exact phase in life.

The Book of Life

3. It’s Okay to be Kind!

It’s okay to be kind and save animals. Just because our ancestors killed bulls for centuries does not make it right and our main character is rejected by his father for being different and choosing to save the bull and pursue a different career path. Some of you might relate to this story and there can be so much pain attached to this kind of events (I went through the same experience when I chose to blog full-time and do all kinds of business and marketing consultations for a living in spite of graduating Power Engineering). But, in the end, you have to trust your instincts and know that you cannot be happy by always doing what’s best for others or by doing certain activities just to please your parents.

Even though the road might be a bit more bumpy, it’s totally worth it to pursue your dreams and don’t worry, everyone will see that eventually!

Finding Nemo

4. Just Keep Swimming!

This is one of the most valuable life lessons you could learn: just keep swimming (read: keep your faith). Because I want to keep this article as positive as possible, I won’t say the negative version of this statement, the one you see everywhere because it actually makes you focus on the opposite.

Always keep your hopes up, no matter how bad or hard it is, it will eventually become better – it just can’t be bad forever!

Up

5. It’s Never Too Late to Follow Your Dreams!

Even though Carl is in his 70’s, he proves that you are never to old to pursue your dreams or even to set a new dream. He embarks on a great adventure to accomplish the dream that he and his wife set when they first met, even if that means risking his life, but at least he does it for something he believes in.

Look for people who choose to leave the status quo and live a different life, they will give you more confidence that it is possible you can do the same. Like Sam Bryant Jr. (a bodybuilder in his 70’s) said that “age is just a number that gives most people – the majority of people – a reason to be lazy and not do anything”.

“Age is just a number that gives most people – the majority of people – a reason to be lazy and not do anything.” – Sam Bryant Jr.

Home

6. Stop Judging Everyone!

One of the main lessons that I got from this movie, even though it came right before the end, was to not judge someone until you walk one mile in their shoes. Even though all the Boovs (the little aliens) thought that Gorg was their enemy, the big ugly spaceship was only following them because they had something very precious – the last set of eggs and without them their species would go extinct.

It’s easy to walk down the street and put a label on everyone (I know I used to do it back in the early college days), but it’s better to remember that we are all good at our core, we have good days and bad days and that shouldn’t define us. Next time you see someone you would normally judge, stop and try to find a reason for why is he/she doing that – you’ll act with more compassion which will make you feel much better!

7. You Are Bigger Than Your Fears

The Boov society was built on fear (interesting irony – hint hint!), but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way to live and it’s not the healthiest as they have to constantly be on the look out and run from their enemy. When Oh (main character) decides to step out of his comfort zone and face his fears, he instantly becomes the new leader and sets a new example for everyone. We are so much bigger than our fears and doubts, and it’s time to learn this in order to live happier lives.

How to Train Your Dragon

8. We Are All Equal and Part of the Same Family!

We are all living beings and part of the same planet: people, animals, plants, insects and God knows what else. I think it’s time we start living in more harmony with the world around us. What I personally like to do is:

• catch flies carefully so I don’t hurt them and then throw them outside.
• eliminate ants in a peaceful, natural way even though I am not always successful
• admire and give thanks for all the beautiful nature I have around me
• say blessings over the food that I eat
• save spiders and put them outside nicely
• watch where I step (when possible) and do my best to save some of the insects that you see

Big Hero 6

9. Revenge is Never a Good Choice!

Revenge is never a good option and it will, most likely, make you feel worse than before. Let karma do the work for you. All you have to do is to free yourself by trying to forgive the person and let God/Universe decide if and how to punish him/her.

Sometimes, grief can make us blind, but that’s why we have friends that can help us see what’s right from wrong and help us make better decisions. You don’t have to do everything alone, you don’t need to have all the answers. It’s okay to be helped, that’s what strong people do – they ask for help when they need it and accept that. I believe it’s time to move away from the myth that a strong person has to be strong all the time. We are all human beings, we make mistakes, we have good days and bad days, and sometimes we just need a little push and that’s okay!

Wreck-It Ralph

10. Trust Your Instincts

We tend to believe that we are just what we see in this world, all the programs that we’ve inherited from our parents, teachers and friends, and that’s a big-ass limitation. There comes a time in our lives when we need to sit, analyze and decide which of the voices in our heads have to leave and which can stay. Believe me when I say that it’s not always fun or easy, but it’s so worth it because you will actually discover your true self and that’s one of the biggest successes that you can experience in this life.

Learn to trust your instincts instead of wanting what everyone else has because you might get it and still feel unsatisfied because it’s not what your true self want, which makes it more important to learn which one’s your true voice.

11. Learn to Accept Yourself

Ralph says something very wise and it kinda summarizes the whole lesson in one single quote:

“I am bad and that’s good, I will never be good and that’s not bad, there’s no one I’d rather be than me.”

Learning to better accept and love yourself should be always at the top of your mind because that’s what brings you peace of mind, joy, compassion and love for other people. Accepting yourself is an act of consciously accept what you are today, good or bad, with an intention to always strive to improve yourself. Ralph managed to accept himself being bad and that was a crucial point in his life when he became good. Once we stop resisting things, we grow and everything becomes easier.

12. Always Follow Your Dreams!

Go for what you believe in even if all the odds seem to be against you, like Vanellope did by trying to win the race even when she knew that she’s a system glitch, which made it practically impossible for her to win. But guess what? She did it anyway! It’s how life works – you have the power to be anything that you want even if you come from a poor family, have no education or you don’t know anyone. You can still win at this race called life!

Kung-Fu Panda

13. The Greatest Power Lies Within YOU!

Probably the most important lesson found within this movie and one of the most important lesson that you can learn in your life is that the greatest power lies within you. You can search for it outside only to find out that it was within you all the time. There’s a divine spark inside each person and all you have to do is to cut through all the programming, negativity and dysfunctional beliefs, but you will get the biggest prize of all: your true power!

14. You Don’t Have to Look Like a Hero!

Yes, you don’t have to look like a hero to become one. You don’t have to do all the things successful people do to become one. Find your own journey and rewrite the rules if you have to. Like there’s no diet to fit all human beings, there’s no road to success to fit us all either. Of course, there are some important ingredients you have to keep in mind, but you can mix and match everything else according to your intuition.

15. We Are All Equal

A very subtle lesson, but oh so valuable! In the movie, it really does not matter what animal you are, they all work together nicely and it’s very empowering to see a panda, tiger, snake, bird and monkey fight together. This is how we, human beings, were designed to work together no matter our race, religion or political views.

Big Common Lesson: Good Always Wins

A lesson that appears in all of these motion pictures is that good always wins – it might take a while, but it always does because it’s related to love and compassion which are the greatest powers in the Universe.

Conclusion

Even though they seem to be movies for children, I believe these are the real movies that we all should watch again and again until we learn these lessons (and many more) because there are so many hidden lessons that are pretty hard to be understood by a child.

Action movies, dramas and everything else are great, but most of the times they teach us quite the opposite and can create all kinds of fears and negative beliefs. Action movies teach us that revenge is acceptable, dramas teach us to always be on the lookout for something bad to happen – it can’t be good for too long, and don’t even get me started on horror movies which I personally believe should be banned.

A few key points to remember from this article:

• stop judging everyone around you and learn to focus on yourself
• we are all part of the same environment so we might as well just learn how to live together
• you don’t have to look like a hero to become one
• good always wins
• always follow your dreams and your instincts
• it’s okay to be kind and I will add that this is becoming the new trend in the world
• and last but not least, revenge is never an option – forgiveness is.

Hope my article inspired you to start watching some animation movies next weekend, but don’t do it alone – you have the power to inspire other people as well and drag them into a more positive Universe with you!

Featured image credit: Ed Bierman