[MUSIC] The adolescent period is absolutely amazing. People often give it a negative approach saying, it's a time where adolescents are going to lose their mind or their just immature or raging hormones drive them crazy. These are all not only wrong, but they're myths that mislead us and actually disempower us whether we're adults or adolescents. They actually give us the wrong message, and they make it so there's nothing we can do. So what is actually the truth? The truth is, that instead of raging hormones, what's happening is, we have remodeling in the brain, in ways we never could have predicted, we now understand two big things are happening at the brain. Things you as an adult can support adolescence in developing well. And if you're if you're an adolescent, you actually can use this to help your brain grow in an optimal level. What are those two things? The brain is pruning itself. So imagine that in childhood, you're growing like a tree and establishing all these branches and all these leaves are growing in the brain. That means, connection among the basic cell, the neuron called synapses are being established. And you're soaking in the knowledge of the world and that's beautiful, the tress is just growing, growing, growing. But then what happens that surprised everyone is the brain begins to prune itself, you start carving away some of those leaves, some of the smaller branches, even some of the larger branches. And the reason for the pruning is to specialize the brain. While the child is developing in ways that are really generalized learning everything they can about everything they can. An adolescent is going to to begin to find their passion. To actually find things they like, things that they really love doing, and to drive their development in that rate. So pruning is actually a use it or lose it principle underneath it. That if you don't use something, you're going to lose it. So if you like sports, or like dancing, or like music, do those things so you continue to establish those circuits. The second thing that happens in the remodeling adolescent brain is myelin formation. Myelin is a healthy sheath that allows connected neurons to communicate with each other in a much more effective way, how? It's a hundred times faster. The signal that's sent down a neurons, a community of another neuron, 100 times faster and after it fires off, it's 30 times shorter the resting period that happens. 30 times 100 is 3,000, so when you've put down Myelin, you've made your neurons communicate 3,000 times more effectively. That's a great thing. Now the great thing too is that, you as an adolescent can actually use the focus of your attention to be aware of your emotions. Aware of other people, to be engaging in activities, to be doing things with your thoughts, that actually reinforce the parts of your brain you want to hold onto. So the good news about the remodeling story is that, a field called neuroplasticity. How the brain responds to experience, shows us that what you do with your mind can change the activity, and therefore, the structure of your brain. So if you then come up with a statement that, the ultimate goal of brain remodeling is to make an integrated brain. To differentiate areas, that's the pruning, and myelinate them, that's the linkage, when you increase differentiation and linkage, you make the brain more integrated. And an integrated brain is the pathway toward wellbeing, and you can do mindsight exercises. These are exercises that increase insight, empathy, and integration. And if you do them as an adolescent, and you can also do them as an adult, you'll actually increase the integration of your brain, as your brain is growing. Not just during adolescence, but throughout the lifespan. And what's the outcome of integration? When integration is made visible, it's kindness and compassion. And so what we see through adolescent development is that our relationships become built on connections that are deep and filled with honoring each other's vulnerability, that's kindness. And supporting connections that are compassionate, filled with a sense of caring about other people and wanting to help them. This is the kind of world we can build as we move through life and support each other in our development. [MUSIC]