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· FAMILY HOME EVENING ·

your amazing
brain
 OBJECTIVE:

To teach children about how their brains work and how this knowledge can help
them to feel happier and achieve more of what they want in life.

FOR THE PARENTS:

Thank you for spending time on these important topics with your children. I believe
this knowledge will serve them throughout their lives and it can truly help to prevent
some of the hardship and struggle so many adults face today.

Please make sure you review the concepts in this lesson prior to teaching them to
your children. While all of them will make sense to you, some of them might feel
foreign and you might realize you’ve been operating under a different belief system
all this time. It’s important that you do this work yourself either before or with your
children. These concepts are simple but mind blowing.

Relevant Scriptures:
1 CORINTHIANS 3:16 - 17
JEREMIAH 31:16
JOHN 14:27
ROMANS 15:1

JOD Y MO O R E .COM LESSON 1 Your Amazing Brain 2

 INTRODUCTION:

Today we're going to learn about the most amazing, most efficient, most high-
performing, most valuable tool on the planet. What do you think it might be?

(Allow them to take a guess. Have them think about the iPhone, Space Shuttle,
the most complicated computer and anything else that comes to mind. )

It's not any of those things. It's something that you posses. You didn't pay a
dollar for it but it's worth an endless amount of money.

It's your brain.

For older children: Have the children fill in question

#1 on the "Understanding Your Brain'' worksheet at
the end of the lesson. Tell them not to look ahead at
the other questions.

For younger children: Fill in #1 together as a family.

YOUR BRAIN'S MAIN JOB

• Heavenly Father created each of us and gave us each a

brain in order to become who he wants us to become.

• Your brain serves many functions but it's first and most
important job is to make sure you don't die before your time.

• This is a useful thing but can cause problems if we don't pay

attention.

• (For younger children): Your brain is like a monkey that

sometimes worries about things it doesn't need to worry about.

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 THE 1ST MAIN FUNCTION OF YOUR BRAIN: TO AVOID PAIN.

• Your brain (or the monkey in your brain) is looking out for danger. It doesn't know
the difference between physical danger (this might hurt my body) or emotional
danger (this might hurt my feelings). Often this is just your brain noticing things it
doesn't like.

FAMILY DISCUSSION: What are some things that your brain (your monkey)
notices it doesn't like?

• Because it is looking out for danger, it is easy to become negative. There will
always be things to notice that your brain doesn't like even though most of them
are not really "dangerous" for us. The monkey in your brain is always worried but
he doesn't need to worry because everything is fine. You are safe and loved and
everything will be ok.

• The things you think about will determine how you feel. You can decide to direct
your brain to focus more on what it likes and what is good than on what it doesn't
like and what is bad if you want to and you will feel happier.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT:

When you find yourself focusing on the negative, stop and ask:

• Is this a useful thing to dislike?

• Does it really matter?

• Is it really that big of a problem?

• Is there another way to think about this?

• Is there something I could focus on that feels better?

Complete questions 2-4 on the "Understanding Your Brain"

Worksheet at the end.

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 THE 2ND MAIN FUNCTION OF YOUR BRAIN: TO SEEK FUN.

• The second thing your brain is very good at doing is seeking things that are fun
and exciting. Your brain wants EVERYTHING to be fun and exciting. This is why your
brain loves TV, video games, candy and pizza, getting new things etc.

FAMILY DISCUSSION: What things does your brain love to get more of?

• When you get something new, your brain releases a chemical called dopamine
which tells your brain this is good and fun and then it wants more, more, more. (As
soon as the monkey has had that toy for a day it wants another and another and
another.)

• The same is true when we eat sugar.

• Or when we play video games.

• Heavenly Father has given us commandments like the word of wisdom to help us
moderate this part of the brain. While having fun is a good part of life, too much of
any of these things can cause problems for us.

• We've also been commanded to use our time in useful ways and to not value
earthly possessions over more important things like relationships with people and
serving God and our neighbors.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT:

• Decide ahead of time what the limit will be on things that your brain
has a hard time limiting.

• When your brain wants more than you've decided on, know that this is
normal but you don't have to give in to it (or to the monkey).

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 THE 3RD MAIN FUNCTION OF YOUR BRAIN: SAVE ENERGY

• Your brain is the MOST efficient tool on the planet. It wants to keep
doing what it's already good at.

• Your brain believes that things that are unknown could be

dangerous so it wants to avoid them to keep you alive. Once again,
we are not really in danger so you can tell your brain (or your
monkey) to just relax.

• This is why it can be scary to meet new people, try new things, or do
anything that feels very overwhelming.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT:

• Remind yourself that doing new things can be scary because your brain
is operating perfectly. Then do it anyway!

As a family, decide on a "dare" you want to take on during the

week to show your brain that doing new things is nothing to
worry about. As you do things (check with Mom and Dad to be
sure it is safe and appropriate) outside your comfort zone, you
will gain confidence and tame the monkey in your brain.

Some examples:
• Choose a funny word and try to use it in a
conversation at school.

• Talk to someone your age who you have never met

before.

• Ask for a favor from someone.

• Invite a friend to church with you.

• Choose something you want to learn to do and

focus on it.

For younger children: Have them fill in and color the coloring
page with help from an adult if necessary.

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 Understanding Your Brain
WORKSH EET

1 Think about your day today. What parts of the day stand out the most to you? Don’t try
to be selective. Just see what your brain recalls most easily:

2 Now take a look at what you wrote. How many negative things does your brain recall?
How many of them are positive? Circle the positive ones. Remember that this is not right
or wrong but it is good to gain some awareness of what your brain is doing.

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3 Now pick one “negative” thing that you wrote about and answer these questions: Is this
thing really a problem? What is the worst that could happen? If that happened what
would I do?

4 Now choose one thing you wrote about that was positive:
How do you feel with your focus on this part of your day? What if you decided to keep
looking out for things you like about yourself, about your life, about the people around
you etc…? What would be different for you if that was your main focus?

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 When my monkey gets worried about things, I can remind him that:

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