BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!October 2015 Character Education Lesson #3

DRSL’S

What: Believing in yourself

Why: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving, Lifelong Learning, Communication, Responsible Citizen

WHY DOES THAT HAPPEN?

You know what that voice in your head says… You can’t do it. You’ll never be good enough. You’re going to

fail. This voice taunts you at times – It mocks you when you set a

goal. It criticizes you when life gets difficult. It beats you down when you struggle to stand up against its running commentary.

Adapted from: How To Rewire Your Brain For Greater Happiness By Jane Porter

IT’S CALLED NEGATIVITY BIAS…

The brain reacts more strongly to stimuli it deems negative. There is a greater surge in electrical activity. Thus, our attitudes are more heavily influenced by downbeat news than good news.

Our capacity to focus on negative input so often most likely evolved for a good reason—to keep us out of harm's way. From the dawn of human history, our very survival depended on our skill at dodging danger. The brain developed systems that would make it unavoidable for us not to notice danger and hopefully, respond to it.

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!

Try not to overlearn from your negative experiences. That means if you get feedback from your teacher, or family member on a project for example, and you are told countless positive things about your work and one bit of criticism, don't obsess (as we often tend to) on the one negative thing. "The brain is like a garden, except its soil is very fertile for weeds,".

Rick Hanson – Neuropsychologist & Author

DON’T JUST THINK POSITIVELY… THINK REALISTICALLY!

There's a lot of good stuff happening in our lives, but we don't always let ourselves stop and notice it. Rewiring your brain for greater happiness isn't just about positive thinking, says Hanson. "I believe in realistic thinking."

Realistic thinking means noticing the good things that happen to us as they occur and letting ourselves experience them. "We tend to not even notice a good fact when its there," he says. “Your teacher actually said 19 good things about your assignment, but you're obsessing over the one bad thing."

KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE BRAIN…

Say you get acknowledged for something you've said or called out for the great work you've done. In that moment of being valued, neuroscience tells us a pathway begins in the brain, an activation of billions of synapses," says Hanson. "As they fire together, they start wiring together."

When those synapses are firing, they become more sensitive and new synopses start to form. That means the next time you feel valued, the positive feelings experienced in that moment will be a little stronger. Every time you feel valued… it gets STRONGER!!! (This is why you should hang out around people who value you and treat you well… You don’t want the negative pathways getting stronger).

FOLLOW THE 10-SECOND RULE!

It's important to let yourself linger in the moment of a positive experience—not just because it feels good (though that should be reason enough), but because you're actually helping rewire your brain in that moment. For most people, it's hard to have positive experiences for more than few seconds. Think about how quickly you push away a compliment rather than letting yourself really feel good about it. But brushing aside positive experiences rather than internalizing them literally doesn't allow you to transfer the positive feelings associated from your short- to long-term memory, says Hanson.

10 seconds is required for the transfer to occur from short-term memory to long-term storage," he says. "Really get those neurons firing together so that they wire this growing inner strength in your brain."

THINK OF YOUR BRAIN LIKE A RECORDER

Making a change in your brain is a two-stage process and it doesn't happen overnight. You first have to allow yourself to have certain positive thoughts or experiences, and play them out fully in your brain. “Your brain is like a recorder. You record the song by playing it."

The changes associated with this are gradual, but adding up small pieces of a positive experience every day over time can make a big difference," says Hanson.

TRAIN YOUR BRAIN…

To build confidence and happiness in your life, train your brain! Create positive experiences for yourself, and BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!

Strengthen the pathway by constantly and consistently believing in yourself.