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Get to Know Your Brain

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Review

■ What did we talk about in our last class?

■ What are the 5 primary emotions?

■ What is the purpose for each of the primary emotions?

■ How do you tend to experience each of the 5 basic emotions

■ What would we not be able to accomplish without our emotions?

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Primary Emotions

■ Fear■ Hurt■ Anger■ Sadness■ Joy

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Assignment Check-In

■ Refer to your assignment worksheet on emotions.■ How many of the 5 primary emotions were you

aware of experiencing last week?■ Which of the 5 primary emotions did you notice the

most?■ What did doing the assignment confirm about what

you already believed about your emotions?■ What surprised you? What did you learn about our

emotions that you didn't realize before?

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The Brain

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The Brain

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The Brain

■ Use 20% of your body’s energy■ Over 100 billion neurons – store information■ Neural pathways = the roads that connect

your neurons■ The brain in your most complex organ■ Connects everything

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Regions of the Brain

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Regions of the Brain■ Brain = our control center■ 3 Main Regions:

■ Primitive – automatic functions: breathing, heart beat, balance/movement, scanning for threats,

known as the LIZARD BRAIN

■ Feeling – source of our emotional and social impulses: anger, fear, etc., activated by threats

known as the MOUSE BRAIN

■ Thinking – most developed part of brain; stores memory, helps us plan, imagine, find solutions, communicate with others, can control feelings. The source of our likes/dislikes, hopes, ambitions

known as the HUMAN BRAIN

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Brain Plasticity

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Brain Plasticity

■ Also called neuroplasticity■ The lifelong ability of the brain to reorganize

neural pathways based on new experiences■ Habits = well-traveled neural pathways in our

brain■ The ability of the brain to change with learning■ Focus and build up the pathways we want to

strengthen■ Neural pathways we ignore (old habits) can

die off

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Your Teenage Brain

■ Your brain is developing until you reach your 20s.

■ You get 2 periods of “overproduction” of the brain’s grey matter:■ During your first 18 months■ During your teenage years

■ After this “overproduction” period “unused” neuron connections wither away

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Your Teenage Brain

■ Now is the best time to hard-wire your brain!■ If you “exercise” your brain you can:

■ Learn to order your thoughts■ Understand abstract concepts■ Control your brain’s impulses

■ What you do now will serve you for the rest of your life.

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Your Teenage Brain■ You can decide what you want to hard-wire your

brain for by focusing on those activities, such as:■ Sports

■ Playing a musical instrument

■ Math

■ Public speaking

■ Or, you focus instead on:■ Sitting on the couch and watching TV

■ Spending hours on Facebook and Instagram

■ Which would you rather practice for? It’s up to you!

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Homework assignment

■ Over the next week, identify the Top 10 things that you most want to develop in yourself and write them on the assignment worksheet.

■ When you have identified an area you want to develop, then write down one goal that would be a simple way to build those new neural pathways.

■ Then, take one step and do one activity to get started■ EXAMPLE:

1. Skill/Area: I want to become good at music

2. Idea for Improvement: Really learn to sight read music instead of guessing.

3. First step: Put aside 30 minutes and practice music theory.