Destiny: An Animated Short About the Here and Now

Destiny is an animated short by four students from the French school Bellecour Ecoles d'art. The story sends a powerful message Starting from an impossible that, although magical, proposes an intelligent reflection on how we live in the moment.

It raises different aspects that can help us enjoy the present more fully.

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A short film that invites you to reflect on the present moment

With the following story, the team of Institute of Psychological and Psychiatric Assistance Mensalus opens an interesting reflection on how to live in the here and now.

First of all, you can watch the video below:

The short shows a range of magical options. How can we understand this message?

History poses a wide repertoire of the impossible, it is true, but we can understand them as metaphors that promote changes in different aspects of life.

The outcome is a clear example. Stopping looking at the clock and taking a deep breath to appreciate the day allows the character to end “control to live” and ushers in “live to control.” Likewise, the short shows on different occasions the possibility of “stopping time”. With this message, the authors invite us to make a STOP to reflect, that is, leave a space to think instead of facing the day on automatic pilot.

It's revealing when the protagonist can see himself in slow motion. What metaphor can we extract from this moment?

Seeing reality in slow motion is a way of materializing something as abstract as the ability to analyze. By this we refer to a more objective analysis, an exploration from a position far from the self-critical voice and from which we develop positive-realistic thoughts.

How many times do we come to a constructive conclusion once we have distanced ourselves from the conflict? The most functional options are the result of carrying out this exercise. Likewise, connecting with objectivity can also go hand in hand with asking for external help and sharing the concern.

We all look for moments in which we can breathe, contemplate a ray of light, distance ourselves, etc. However, we don't always find them...

TRUE. This has a lot to do with functioning under pressure. The feeling of "I can't get to everything" and "I must be able to" sometimes increases self-demanding thoughts and puts individual needs aside. The metaphorical act of taking a breath can precisely respond to this contact with one's own need.

On the other hand, “breathing” is sometimes just that, breathing. In that moment when we focus our attention on taking a breath and letting it go, we slow down demanding thinking and make room for unencumbered thinking.

Mental permissiveness is what later leads to a healthy request: rest, have a coffee without haste, sit down and enjoy the landscape, contemplate and observe the details, perceive information that, with the automatic pilot, you would not you perceive. Taking a breath is a manifestation of our right to stop and feel.

The protagonist lets go of control of time. In general, is it easy for us to “let go”?

This is one of the great themes that we work on in Psychotherapy and Coaching: letting go of responsibilities that do not belong to us, letting go of functions that Before they did belong to us but now they have lost their meaning, letting go of thoughts that blame us, letting go of primitive emotions, letting go of prejudices, etc

We cling to what we know and, sometimes, change is difficult for us for fear of how we will feel in the new context.

What message can we take from “Destiny”?

Destiny ultimately proposes an intelligent reflection on how we live in the moment. Many times destiny is explained as something that "is already written", that we cannot change. This short film raises different aspects that can help us live the here and now more fully and thus augur a balanced future.

That being said, we launched a message:

"How I manage my moment in life will have an impact on how I live that moment and future moments."

We may not be able to know what the future holds for us, but it is in our hands to propose what resources we believe will make our way easier.

Similarly, we remember the importance of seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting. It is worth putting all five senses into what we do if our goal is to experience it from satisfaction. From doing it to feeling it there is a long way. This is the difference between living in time and letting it pass.