What makes you YOU?

In our head, we have a brain.  People also call it our mind.

There are lots of different parts to the brain and lots of different jobs that our brains do.  They remember things that we learn, they decide how we feel – happy, sad, curious or worried, for example, and they make us who we are and keep us safe.

There is far more to you than what you learn at school: everything you learn helps to make you who you are.

We are going to look at 2 parts of your brain:

The first part is a very sensible part.  Some people say it is like a wise owl. Maybe you’d like to draw your owl.

It thinks a lot; it can come up with great answers to questions or problems.  It sits up in its tree-top house and can see everything for miles around.  If there is a problem travelling down the road the owl sees it coming and it has time to think about how to solve it.  The owl is a happy bird that likes to smile and laugh.  It is a very happy part of the brain. That part of the brain is here – behind the left hand side of your forehead.

This is the part that makes you YOU!!

The second part of the mind has a different job to do: It is there to protect you and keep you safe.

Some people think of this part of the mind as being like a cheeky monkey.  It cares about you but is also a little bit naughty and needs training because it’s not as smart as you and often gets things wrong.

This part of the mind is very useful if you are in some sort of danger.

Maybe you could draw your money here:

If you suddenly bumped into a ferocious tiger, or something scary that thought you looked good enough to eat, your monkey would scare the owl away (because we don’t need to think about the tiger, we just need to get away from it before it eats us) and it would make sure your body was ready to run away.

The monkey would make the owl fly away …..

…. and your heartbeat would get faster, you may feel hot and your stomach might feel funny.  Your cheeky monkey would send you running away from the tiger very very fast!  You would be very pleased your monkey took over because it saved you from the dangerous tiger.

Or he would make you super strong so that you could hit the tiger harder than ever before.

Or he would make you hide, and wait until the tiger had gone away.

Your monkey is always on the look out for danger – it takes its job of keeping you safe very seriously. If he sees a problem;

Another child saying bad things

A school test

A teacher that is shouty

Going to sleep on your own…… anything that you think is a problem for you.

It is strong and powerful but not very sensible or clever like the wise owl.  It does funny things but never sees the funny side to anything and so it can be quite sad and angry when it doesn’t understand.

Your monkey will deal with any problem the same way that he always has; making you feel worried, sad or angry, or all three.

He will only ever make you do the same as last time because he can’t learn a better way.

Your owl mind can decide if something really is scary, worrying or dangerous and the truth is that most things aren’t.

Your cheeky monkey mind makes mistakes and thinks things are worrying or scary that just aren’t.  Really it should check with your owl mind first, but usually it forgets, so sometimes it will make you feel worried about things that you don’t have to be worried about at all.  It can also make you angry and sad.

When you feel worried, scared or angry about something that’s when you know it’s your monkey mind in control.

You’ll start thinking things like:

‘I don’t want to go’

‘I won’t like it’

‘I just want to stay at home’

“I feel scared”

“I can’t”

Your heart might start beating faster, you might feel hot or your tummy might feel funny. These are all things that tell you that you are thinking with your monkey mind.

If you were thinking with your sensible, clever owl mind you would be thinking things like:

‘That sounds exciting / interesting’

“I’m not sure but I know it will be ok”

“It’s ok if I get it wrong, I can get it right next time” (think of something that you are good at; walking maybe. Once upon a time you couldn’t and you fell over many times but now you just do it and it’s easy)

‘I’m going to ask my Mum more about it so I know what’s happening’

‘I want to go now!’

You heart might still beat a little bit faster, you might get a little bit hot and your stomach might still feel a little bit funny but this time your owl mind will be making you feel excited not worried.

Now it’s up to you which part of the 2 minds will you choose to think with.  It is your mind and youare in control of it, you can choose whether to worry, or be happy.

HAPPY OR SAD. YOU CHOOSE!

It takes practice to get your cheeky monkey to behave and do as you ask,  BUT you can control it and get it to behave and work for you. And when this happens you can be happy in the knowledge that it is there to look after you when you need it.

You can control your monkey.  It’s a bit like training a dog: it will take practice, but you can do it.  And when you do you will be very happy!!

If your monkey feels safe then it will behave.

The way you think is really important to how you feel.

If you feel happy then you are in your owl mind and you can solve problems or worries and feel happy about things like meeting new people because when you think with your owl mind you will be expecting to have fun and be happy.

Here are some ideas that may help you to be in your owl mind:

• Think what’s been good about your day
• Think of something that makes you smile
• Pretend that you have candles on your birthday cake: how many are there? Practice blowing them out one by one.
• Make someone else smile or give them a hug
• Run around the garden 5 times
• Get a good night’s sleep
• Eat healthy food that is yummy

Think about the good things.

When you do this you’ll start feeling great which means you’ll be using your owl mind and you’ll be keeping your cheeky monkey quiet and happy too!

It is really important to be positive about things.

If you feel your monkey creeping in just think about good things, blow out those candles, smile at him and tell him things are OK.

If your monkey is naughty and you need help handling him just ask.  You are not on your own.  If you start to worry or feel angry or sad you’ll be able to spot the signs – increased heartbeat, getting hot, your stomach feeling funny.  Ask yourself, ‘What should I do?’ and if you’ve forgotten, maybe your grown up can remind you too!

Be Positive to be Happy!!