Good Thoughts Podcast

Gary Epler

Good Thoughts Podcast is about living your life with good thoughts from your heart with kindness and the mind with enduring joy. Listen to Dr. Gary Epler and host Joan Epler. Good Thoughts Podcast is based on the Eplerian Philosophy of "Know who you are moment by moment." This means knowing where you’re thinking from and that’s who you are. There are five locations to think from: your head, heart, gut, body, and the mind, which is outside the body. Think from your heart with kindness, giving, and being grateful. Live in the mind to help others and live an extraordinary life brimming with high energy, peak performance, unstoppable creativity, and enduring joy. Discover a life-changing path to exhilarating living. It all starts with good thoughts. read less
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Episodes

Eplerian Life Philosophy for Building a Global Civilization of Kindness
Dec 22 2023
Eplerian Life Philosophy for Building a Global Civilization of Kindness
Eplerian Life Philosophy for Building a Global Civilization of KindnessThink like a human from your heart with kindness and the mind to help others. Don’t think like a non-human from the primitive brain with anger and stress. Primitive brain thinking is about yourself. Human thinking is about everyone else. What's the primitive brain? The brain starts as a pod of cells and develops into a primitive brain, which is needed during infancy for instinctive survival. The brain continues to develop for 25 years ending in the advanced human prefrontal lobe. The primitive brain remains active for instinctive lifesaving reactions, but after infancy, thinking from this primitive brain with self-centered thoughts causes stress. This is a built-in warning system to stop thinking from the primitive brain. Thinking from the primitive brain causes anger and stress.Break the primitive brain thinking habit. Understand the negative consequences of primitive brain thinking. Recognize primitive brain thinking and stop. Human thinking is from the heart with kindness, the gut for nutrition and risk management, the body for strength, and the mind for creativity to help others. Primitive thinking destroys close personal relationships. Think from the heart with kindness with no thoughts about yourself for long-lasting close relationships.Here’s what I would like to have you do. Look around and observe primitive brain behavior, don’t say anything, but you stop doing this behavior, or feel good about yourself because you don’t do this behavior. If everyone stops primitive brain thinking, then we will be living an extraordinary life in a global civilization of kindness. Dr. Gary Epler / Eplerian Life PhilosophyCopyright© 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.
7 Health Habits of People Who Rarely Get Sick
Oct 24 2023
7 Health Habits of People Who Rarely Get Sick
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
Sep 22 2023
Making Decisions in 10 seconds or Less
Making Decisions in 10 Seconds or LessKnow 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
Love Yourself! Be Yourself!
Aug 16 2023
Love Yourself! Be Yourself!
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
Jul 21 2023
Turn Off the Stress Switch
Turn Off the Stress SwitchStress 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 PhilosophyCopyright© 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.
Neuropathway Bypass to Deal with Negative People
Apr 17 2023
Neuropathway Bypass to Deal with Negative People
Use the neuropathway bypass technique for eliminating stress from negative or difficult people in your life. A neuropathway is a highway of neurons in the brain with a beginning and an end. Neurons transmit information from one brain cell to another. Neuropathway is started from a person or an event and ends with an emotional response that may be negative, neutral, or positive.  How to build a bypass around the old stress neuropathway. Build a new one with a positive beginning and a positive ending.In the morning, visualize the image of the negative person in your life and let it trigger the stress feelings in the pit of your stomach. You can do this during your morning routine, exercise program, or during your morning run or walk. When the feelings of discomfort develop, begin saying two soothing words to yourself repeatedly such as “love and peace.” Say the words over and over until the feeling of anger subsides, usually in less than two minutes. If you find yourself upset and in a negative-feedback loop about a person that causes stress, use the neuro-bypass technique to eliminate the stress. It's simple to use, visualize the person, feel the stress, and repeat "love and peace" to yourself over and over until the feeling of stress stops for one to two minutes. After one week it will be difficult to feel the stress, after two weeks, there will be no feeling of stress. If successful, it will eliminate the stress triggered by the negative people in your life.Dr. Gary Epler
Power of Feelings over Thinking
Mar 31 2023
Power of Feelings over Thinking
Feelings over thinking. Feelings from your heart include kindness, love, giving, appreciation, forgiveness, and gratitude. When you realize that you’re angry or stressed from thinking about yourself, think from the heart with kindness and giving. Give your help. Be grateful for everything you have and the positive people in your life.Fear is the feeling from the gut. Unlike negative thinking from the head, fear is a healthy positive feeling because it tells you about the potential risk to your health. Your gut or belly brain sends you a feeling not to eat unhealthy foods or too much food. In addition, your gut feeling will help you make a decision about potentially risky new opportunities or investments.Feelings from the body include strength from the body and the feel-good feeling in the muscles from exercising. Feel the strength from a healthy standing tall posture.Feelings from the mind while in a slow brainwave state and include serenity, total calmness, universal acceptance and belonging, and unconditional love. These feelings include new feelings outside the body, such as not always needing to do something. This is a feeling not experienced while in the normal waking brainwave state. Additional feelings from the mind include courage, attention, accomplishment, and success.Feel kindness and giving from the heart. Feel fear from your gut to avoid unhealthy risks. Feel energy from your muscles. Feel courage from your mind to be your true authentic self for living an extraordinary life.Dr. Gary Epler
Keep Your Cellphone Out of Sight / Engage in Life!
Feb 14 2023
Keep Your Cellphone Out of Sight / Engage in Life!
Leave your cell phone out of sight when talking with family, friends, coworkers, and in public. Be engaged in life. It’s one of life’s pleasures. You have healthy interactions and experience wonderful moments. This means paying attention to life in front of you. It’s having purpose in life. This means knowing what you want, what you’re doing, and where you’re going. This means being your true authentic self. Cell phone dependency is out of control taking away positive social interaction and enjoyment. Stage 3 cell phone dependency is having the phone in your hand at all times in all places, and placing the phone face up. The percentage of these phone-dependent non-engaged people is increasing at an astonishing rate to where people don’t talk to each other and have lost healthy conversations, especially deep meaningful conversations. It’s an unwanted intrusion. Ghosting has become an easy way out leaving the other person confused, stressed out, and not able to go forward.How to stop cell dependency? First, understand and acknowledge the negative use of the cell phone and its unhealthy effects for you and others. Second, negative phone use reflects people thinking about themselves from the stress center. Be your true authentic self. No thinking about yourself, think from your heart with kindness to others. Think from the mind with solving problems and helping others. Being your true authentic self will instantly eliminate all negative cell phone use.Dr. Gary Epler
Eplerian Life Philosophy for Health and Happiness
Dec 1 2022
Eplerian Life Philosophy for Health and Happiness
Follow the Eplerian Life Philosophy for Health and Happiness: “Know who you are moment by moment" This means know where you’re thinking from and that’s who you are.The benefits of knowing who you are include freedom from telling you who you are. You’re your own person. You’re happier and more productive. You have high energy. You’re creative and innovative. You’re engaged in life. You enjoy living in the moment. You’re trustworthy. People want to be with you.There are more than 30 applications of the Eplerian Life Philosophy. These applications include eliminating the harmful effects of stress and anger, and eliminating trying to be someone else and trying to please others. They include discarding thinking about yourself, thinking about the negative past, and thinking about the negative future. The applications include managing fear and sadness, and eliminating self-criticism and self-pity; and increased productivity, creativity, and innovation. Additional applications include eliminating resentment, jealousy, revenge, judgment, complaining, criticism, blame, and eliminating worry and guilt. The applications include personal leadership, making instant decisions, enjoying responsibility, and unwavering commitment. They also include developing a healthy sleep program, healthy nutrition lifestyle, a daily exercise program, and healthy posture. Live in the moment and be your true self. The Eplerian Life Philosophy is for people to live their best lives at home, at work, and in the community.Follow the Eplerian Life Philosophy for an exhilarating life filled with high energy, creativity, enjoyment, positive experiences, and extraordinary people. Know where you’re thinking from. Be your true self. Think from your heart with kindness and giving. Think from the mind with courage, solving problems and helping others, and innovation to improve people’s lives. Be exceptional by being your true self. Thrive on your uniqueness.Copyright© 2022 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.