Lesson Ten: “Fed Up”

"Ok, you two, shake hands."

"No. I don't like her."

"That's not a kind thing to say about a friend," said King Mateo.

"She's not my friend. Not anymore. She keeps winning and I keep losing. I’m done playing with her. "

"Ahh, I see. You know, you're right. Losing isn't fun. And congratulating the winner… even less fun. But do you know why we shake hands after a game?

"No idea. To be annoying?" Ari crossed her arms and scrunched up her nose.

"Not even close. Try again," said King Mateo

"I don't know. To be nice, I guess," replied Ari.

"You're getting there. Shaking hands means saying, ‘Thanks for playing. I saw your effort, and I respect it. Win or lose.’”

“Fantastic. Except, I still don't want to shake her hand," she said.

What if I told you, you can still win, even if you lose?"

"You’re joking. This is peak delulu."

"Hear me out. Because doing the things you don’t want to do? Well, that’s the easiest way to gain a superpower."

"How is that a superpower?" Ari shook her head in complete disbelief.

"It's true!" said King Mateo, grinning. "I can prove it. Let's take a look at your brain.”

King Mateo tapped his tablet. An animated diagram of Ari’s brain lit up the screen. But there, among the bumps and groves at the front, was a glowing lobe: the prefrontal cortex.

“Whoa!” the puppies gasped.

"See this front section of the brain? That's the pre-frontal cortex. It's the part of our brain that loves a good challenge. It loves achieving goals. When we do the boring or annoying bits that help us reach those goals, our brain lights up with self-belief and confidence, transforming it from a regular brain into a superbrain with superpowers. And when that happens, amazing things follow."

"Ok, but my brain was feeling pretty super and I still lost the game. So, I'm not convinced."

"If you expect to win every game you play, you might be disappointed. Because even computers aren't always right. Take AI for example. To give us the right answer what does AI need?”

"It needs information. Data."

"That's it! It can't do anything without data.  And even when it has data, it gets things wrong from time to time. Now, the human brain is similar. It’s the smartest computer ever, but it still needs to learn from our experiences, win or lose! And if we're willing to do the hard things and learn from our experiences, then our superbrains become unstoppable.”

Ari sighed, then slowly extended her hoof. “Alright. I’ll shake her hoof. But just because my superbrain wants me to.”

Neema met Ari’s hoof with her own and said, “ Tell your superbrain I said thanks. Can’t wait for the rematch!”

Just then, Harry raised his little voice.

"King Mateo, what do I do to make my superbrain faster than his?" Grinning, Harry points at one of his brothers.

King Mateo squeezed his lips together, as he tried to hold in his laughter. ¨There are loads of ways we can train and strengthen our superbrains. Let’s start with a few powerful ones:

• Always do our best. That means giving it our all, even when things get tricky.

• Never give up on ourselves. It’s okay to need a break, but we don’t quit. Our super-brains get stronger every time we try something hard.

• Show respect. This means we're quiet and patient when we play. We don’t distract or rush our opponent. If someone needs time to make a move, we quietly build our finger tents - which gives our super brains a little boost as we plan our next moves.

• Handle mistakes like a pro. If we move a piece by accident and regret it, we don’t panic or make a big deal about it. We feel our feelings, and then ask, “What can I do next to turn this around?”

• Win or lose, be kind, and keep cool. We never make fun of anyone—especially if they lose. And we don’t beat ourselves up if we lose. It happens to everyone! Losing can sometimes teach our superbrains lessons we'd never learn if we always won. So instead of getting upset, we ask, “What can I learn from this?” And, if we win, we celebrate with grace, not with boasts or brags. And if we lose, we try to be the kind of person we’d want our opponent to be if the tables were turned.

"Ok, but what happens if my brain feels angry and overrides my super-brain?" asked Ari.

“That’s a great question! First, we do what you just did, give our feelings a name. Be it, anger, frustration, sadness, or something else all together. Then, we take deep breaths. Let’s try it together. Breathe in for four seconds, hold it for four seconds, and then breathe out, or exhale, for eight seconds.”

"What if I forget to breathe? What else can I do?” she continued.

"Good question. I learned this recently... it sounds easy because it is... we can play a counting game. But to play we need to know everyone's favorite number."

All the animals began calling out their favorite numbers.

"So, the Puppy Pawns like the number One. The Bull Rooks' favorite number is 5. The Bishop sisters like 3, and... what was that? The Knights say that 3 is also their favorite number? Ok. Can someone write all that down? Perfect, thanks. Now that we know everyone's favorite number, let's play a little counting game. It goes like this...

Each time a piece is captured, they exit the board and cheer for their team from the sidelines, right? Well, what we want to do is look at each team's captured pieces, and figure out how many points they are worth, according to their favorite number. For example, I've captured, Nema the Bishop whose favorite number is 3, Harry the Puppy Pawn who's number 1, and Pony Boy Knight who also likes the number 3. So what does 3 + 1 + 3 equal?"

"Seven!" yelled the puppies.

"That's it! Well done!”

"Yay!!"

Counting is a great way to bring our brains back online if we’re feeling overwhelmed. And you know what, how about we practice with a little contest? This is what we’ll do. After each game, before we reset our boards, both sides will count the value of the pieces they’ve captured. Anyone with more then 10 points at the end of today’s games will earn a special prize!”

"Ok, ok. I'm in," said Ari with a glint of determination in her eye. "But one last thing. Neema keeps using her force fields to catch me! That's why I keep losing! How do I stop her?"

"Oh, that's a tricky one. You Bishop Sisters love to move fast along either the white or black diagonals, right? I'll let you in on a little secret. Sometimes our strengths can also be our weaknesses. For you, speeding along the diagonals is a strength. But it can also be your weakness, because the moment anyone steps into your path with a little backup, you have to find a new way up the mountain, right? So all of us will want to keep our eye on those diagonals and look for spaces where you can block the sister’s path!”

“Hey! You weren’t supposed to tell everyone our weakness!” she grinned. “Either way, I’m going to beat Neema this time! My super-brain is ready to go!” Ari declared happily.

“That’s the spirit,” said King Mateo. “Let’s see that superbrain in action— now off you go!"