Good Thoughts Podcast Gary Epler

Maximize Your Social Health
Social health is the capacity to create trust, develop meaningful connections, and make a positive contribution to society.
The seven indicators of social health include kindness from the heart, high level happiness, zero level stress, healthy nutrition lifestyle, eight hours of sleep every night, one hour of exercise every day, and daily meditation.
There are seven supplemental indicators. These include always being engaged in life, learning something new every day, gratitude and appreciation, positive social interaction, giving outside yourself, positive contribution to society, and always being your true authentic self.
How does it feel to have a 7 social health score? You feel like you can deal with anything that comes your way. You’re happy. You’re energized and full of life.
Here’s another one for 15 indicators: Maximize your social skills.
The social health score can be used for companies, communities, and countries. What’s your company’s score? What’s your country’s score?
Begin your quest for a 7 out of 7 social health score.
Dr. Gary Epler / Eplerian Life Philosophy

What are 7 healthy habits of people who rarely get sick?
(1) Healthy nutrition, (2) Sleep, (3) Exercise, (4) No stress and no other bad health habits, (5) Updated immunizations, (6) Cautious use of medications and surgery, and most importantly, (7) Always be your true authentic self.
I define a healthy nutrition lifestyle as “eating the right foods in the right amount at the right time and prepared in a healthy manner.” The right food are foods with no added sugar, no added salt, and no processed food.
Eight hours of sleep are needed every night because six of them are to recharge the brain energy adenosine and two hours of dream sleep are for restoring kind feelings from the heart and recharging the prefrontal lobe for optimal social judgment. Less than eight hours is a major cause of stress-related illnesses.
One hour of exercise is helpful every day because this gives you energy, keeps the body strong, and maximizes the immune system to keep you from getting sick.
Stress is the most important bad habit to eliminate because stress causes inflammation which is the cause of almost all diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Eliminate anger and stress triggers by positive conditioning with three steps.
One of the most out-of-control worldwide bad health habit is stage 3 cell-phone dependency. This means having your cell phone in your hand at all times and face up. This is a bad health habit because it causes level 5 to level 10 stress causing illness and disease.
Be like people who rarely get sick by having healthy nutrition, 8 hours of sleep, 1 hour of exercise every day, eliminating stress, and be your true authentic self.
Dr. Gary Epler / Eplerian Life Philosophy

Making Decisions in 10 Seconds or Less
Know who you are moment by moment which means knowing where you’re thinking from. Think from the heart for making important personal decisions and think from the mind for business decisions.
You might have a decision about a new job, a new house, or a new relationship. Thinking from the head will keep you up all night thinking about the positives and negatives with no decision in the morning. Instead of thinking from the head with indecision, think from the heart with an instant decision. The function of the heart is to keep itself healthy and has millions of neurons to do this. Therefore, you will receive a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ whatever is best for your health.
What are the problems of not making a decision? Frustration and anger are the immediate problems because people need action. They want to do something. Without a decision all action is stopped. For example, although short-term disappointment, an immediate ‘no” answer is helpful because people can go forward either by doing something to get a yes or abandon the request and move on to something else. In some situations, not willing to make a major decision can have catastrophic consequences. Irreversible events can occur during the delay or a forced, panic decision will have to be made with disastrous results.
How do you make an instant decision? Make instant decisions by thinking from the heart with kindness and the mind creativity. How do you use the mind? Remember the mind is not the brain. The brain is limited and negative. The brain is filled with failures, mistakes, and rejections. The brain is selfish. The mind is unlimited filled with all information and knowledge to make decisions. The mind is creative for finding solutions. Courage comes from the mind. The mind is inspirational. You need to be in a slow brainwave state to use the mind, which you learn through traditional eyes-closed meditation or eyes-open meditation.
After you make the decision, You need to give three reasons for making the decision. This shows you understand the situation and gives the person or team sufficient help to go forward. If you have no interest or don’t want to make the decision, then say “no.” Give the basis for your decision so the person or organization can act by getting more information, going to someone else, or abandoning the request or the project.
Instant decisions are needed at home and at work. This eliminates frustration, confusion, and inaction. Make decisions using the heart with kindness and the mind with creativity to find solutions and help others. Make decisions by being your true authentic self with no self-centered thoughts about yourself from the stress center. 
Gary Epler / Eplerian Life Philosophy

Like Yourself / Be Yourself!  
Feel good about yourself. Like yourself. This is fundamental for life in many ways. This gives you the confidence to engage in life with new experiences and new opportunities. You’re resilient to setbacks and disappointments. You have better close relationships with positive people, and you will not tolerate negative relationships. You’re not wasting time and energy with self-destructive and self-pity thoughts freeing you to be more productive and creative. You enjoy life and appreciate the good things in your life.
Stop negative thoughts about yourself by being your true authentic self and think from your heart and the mind. Accept yourself for who you are with all the good values and flaws. Stop comparing yourself to others. Stop trying to be someone else. Stop trying to please others. Eliminate self-critical thoughts. Take control of your life. Think from the heart with kindness to yourself and self-compassion.
Contribute to society. Contribute by thinking from the heart working for an organization or starting a company that improves people’s lives or makes lives easier, by volunteering, or improving your community. You can’t contribute to society by thinking about yourself all day. Instead of thinking from the head by complaining, criticizing, and blaming, think from the heart with kindness to people and think from the mind with creativity to solve problems and help others, courage to be your true authentic self, and inspiration to improve the world. 
Like the way you are and be your true authentic self. Think from your heart with kindness to yourself. Think from the heart with giving, gratitude, and appreciation for everything you have. Engage in life. Know what you want, where you’re going, and what you’re doing. Be yourself. Thrive in your uniqueness. 
Gary Epler / Eplerian Life Philosophy

Copyright© 2023 by Gary Epler, M.D.All rights reserved. This podcast is for general informational and educational purposes only and it is not a substitute for professional medical advice.

Turn Off the Stress Switch
Stress is activated by self-centered thoughts and thinking about yourself. This thinking is unhealthy and hazardous to people and society.
These self-centered thoughts include obvious thoughts such as thinking about your problems, feeling sorry for yourself, or negative thoughts about yourself. Other examples are less obvious such as trying to be someone else or your job title, trying to please others, and thinking about what people think of you. Other less obvious examples include complaining, criticism, and blame as well as jealousy, resentment, and worry. Feeling guilty is stress and means you’re thinking about yourself. Unknown examples include trying to gain power and control over people.
Be your authentic self to counteract social media and social group manipulation from disinformation. There are serious consequences from relying on self-centered stress center thinking, especially with guilt that can result in property destruction and unsafe communities. It makes sense to turn off the stress switch.
Turn off the switch of negative self-centered thinking from the stress center. Think from the heart with giving and kindness to yourself and others. Think from the mind with courage to be your authentic self, creativity to solve problems and help others, and inspiration to improve the world.
Gary Epler / Eplerian Life Philosophy
Copyright© 2023 by Gary Epler, M.D. All rights reserved. This podcast is for general informational and educational purposes only and it is not a substitute for professional medical advice.

Never be 'old'. Age is a state of mind. Some people in their 30s and 40s are old. They look old, act old, and think old. Many people in their 80s, 90s, and 100s are never going to be old.
The story begins at infancy. Infants need to use the primitive instinctive brain region to cry for food and a diaper change. After that, thinking from this brain region self-destructs and prevents people from being successful adults making positive contributions to the world. I call this primitive brain region the stress center.
People grow old because they don’t shut down the stress center. They continue with endless self-centered thoughts and thinking about themselves causing lifelong stress and old age.
Apply the principles of the Eplerian Life Philosophy by knowing where you’re thinking from. Shut down negative self-centered thoughts from the stress center. Think from the heart with giving and kindness to yourself and helping others. Think from the mind with courage, inspiration, and creativity to solve problems and improve the world.
Be your true authentic self. Shut down thinking from the stress center and you’ll never be old. 
Gary Epler / Eplerian Life Philosophy