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Are you feeding the Emotional Brain?
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Sometimes our brains can become overwhelmed with feelings of fear, sadness or anger. Tides of big emotion can be mentally confusing, especially for children and adolescents. Having an understanding of the brain and what might be happening in these moments can be very empowering for both the young and old.
We all differ in terms of how much and what we need to emotionally whole. We can conceptualise ourselves ‘feeding’ our emotional self either ‘good food’ or ‘bad food’. There are lots of ways to feed the Emotional Brain. Positive friendships or connection with others are truly rewarding ways to feed our emotional needs, while 1000s of hours in front of the TV may not have the same long-term rewards.
When we engage in positive and truly satisfying emotional 'feeding', we feel full, complete and good about ourselves. But when we ingest emotional 'junk food' we can end up feeling depressed and flat; we can also begin to crave more and end up in a negative, addictive cycle. Excessive shopping, social media, food, drug and gaming addictions, abusive relationships and promiscuous behaviours generate greater hunger as we spin in this cycle of poor emotional 'feeding'. A well-fed emotional brain leads to the inner contentment that enables us to get on with exciting things in life.
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Many of the teenagers among us who lack strong and consistent social support, face a difficult time who are facing a difficult time emerging as adults. They may find themselves very emotionally needy and unsure and unaware as to how to have those needs met in truly nourishing ways. Discussing and modelling this and providing options for young people sets them up to make better choices. If we are ‘emotionally full’ from all of the positive input we have experienced we are less likely to gorge on poor emotional choices.
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How we choose to feed our 3 brains has an impact on how our brain behaves.
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TIPS!
- Explicitly teach students about the 3 Brains
- Greet each student as class commences and use the 5 Faces or other tools to create a morning ‘check in’ using your classroom self-regulation process.
- Explicitly teach about stress, triggers and the impacts these have on learning. Develop a list of de-stressing and brain break activities.
- Use a Hook (engagement activity) at beginning of each lesson to arouse student curiosity and spark motivation to engage with learning.
- Refer to ‘Feeding the Emotional Brain: Strategies to Calm Students’ – what strategies are you implementing in class to feed your students’ Emotional Brains?
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Reboot Resources
Visit the Reboot Resource Bank to access:
- Feeding the Emotional Brain: Strategies to Calm Students
- Hook, Line & Sinker ideas
- Lesson Plan (Yr 1-3): When I am in Emotional Brain
- Lesson Plan (Yr 4-6): Introducing the 3 Brains
- Lesson Plan (Yr 7-9): Feeding the Emotional Brain
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