Eplerian Life Philosophy

The Eplerian Life Philosophy is a modern-day healthy life philosophy defined as “Know who you are moment by moment.” This means know where you're thinking from and that's who you are. You can only think from one location at any time. There are five locations you can think from that include your head, heart, gut, body, and the mind, which is outside the body. Think from your heart with kindness and giving. Think from the mind with solving problems and helping others. 

Your Head: There are three major brain regions you can think from moment by moment. These are the amygdala anger center, the cingulate self-thinking stress center, and the accumbens addiction pleasure center. You need to limit your thinking from these three regions for 6 to 8 seconds. The function of the amygdala and cingulate is to save your life by instinctive behavior in a life-threatening situation. This primitive crocodile brain acts by instinct requiring no conscious thinking. In non-life-threatening situations, thinking from the anger center or thoughts about yourself from the stress center are not needed because these thoughts cause anger and stress which is unhealthy to you and everyone else. Learn to limit your time thinking from these regions to 6 to 8 seconds. Instead, think from the heart with kindness and giving; and think from the mind with courage, creativity to solve problems and help others, innovation to improve people’s lives, and success. 

Your Heart: The function of the heart is to keep itself healthy. The heart will do anything to keep healthy. This is with feelings and decision making. The feelings include kindness, empathy, giving, and appreciation. Other feelings include being grateful and forgiving. All these feelings provide a healthy outcome for you and for others. Listen to your heart for important decisions, and you’ll receive a single answer that is best for your health and best for your life. For example, you have a new job offer with a big title, money, and prestige. If you think from your head, then you’ll spend hours and hours of conflicting negative and positive answers, not from the heart. There will be one clear answer, the right answer for your health. 

Your Gut: Take advantage of your gut, referred to as the ‘belly brain’ for healthy nutrition and risk management. Listen to your belly brain for eating the right foods in the right amount at the right time, and prepared in a healthy manner. This will result in eating foods with no added sugar, no added salt, and no processed foods containing omega-6 fats because the gut knows these foods cause inflammation. The purpose of the thinking neurons in the belly brain is to avoid drinking or eating poison. This expanded to a risk management function by using the feeling of fear to avoid danger and life-threatening situations. Learn to listen to nutrition and risk-benefit feelings from your gut’s belly brain. 

Your Body: The thinking feelings from the body include the good feeling from working the muscles during exercise. Visualize the muscles as you strengthen them during exercise. The reason for this feeling is that daily excise of each muscle group is needed for healthy posture and supporting the vital organs and the brain. The feelings of muscle ache and fatigue are feelings associated with sufficient exercise.    

The Mind: This is the most dramatic place to be. Need to solve a problem? Need to help someone? Need to make a new discovery? Use the mind. The mind is outside the body, and its function is creativity and innovation. Courage is one of the feelings associated with the mind. You’re feeling low or out of energy? Use the mind. Positive feelings associated with the mind include serenity, total calmness, and unconditional love. The mind is outside the body, so, to use creativity and experience these feelings, you need to be in the slow alpha-brainwave state. This is daydreaming. It’s medication by traditional eyes-closed, cross-legged meditation, or eyes open while on a treadmill or an elliptical, going for a hike, or a long swim. Eventually learn to be in the alpha-brainwave state spontaneously to use the mind on an as needed basis. 

Be Your True Self: This means limit thinking from the anger center and self-thoughts stress center to 6 to 8 seconds. Think from the heart with kindness and giving; and think from the mind with courage, creativity to solve problems and help others, and innovation to improve people’s lives. Being your true self brings instant trust and likeability. People want to be near you. You’re kind and giving. You solve problems. You help others. You improve people’s lives. There is no need for complaining, criticism, or blame. Be your true self and take the consequences, which are positive in almost all situations. You deal with unpleasant consequences by thinking from the heart and from your mind. You make instant decisions that allow you to fix bad outcomes fast before severe damage. You enjoy responsibility because it feels good and you’re able to resolve bad results. You’re committed and if you say yes, you will follow through at all costs. You’ve learned the discipline to say no to friends, family, and coworkers because you don’t have the skills, interest, or resources. Be your true self. Strive in your uniqueness. 

Know who you are moment by moment. You can know who you are moment by moment because there are five locations where you can think from. You can only think from one location at a time. Learn to limit thinking from your anger and stress centers to 6 to 8 seconds because if you’re thinking from these regions, then you can’t think from your heart with kindness and giving; and you can’t be productive or creative. Be your true self. This is a new way of life for extraordinary living. 

Dr. Gary Epler / America’s Health Doctor  

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Listen to the 'Good Thoughts Podcast' about health awareness of the Eplerian Philosophy on Captivate / Spotify / Apple Podcasts / Amazon Music / Google Podcasts. You can also listen through Alexa and your smart TV. 

References:

1. Epler GR. Eplerian philosophy model for managing stress at home and in the community. Preventive Medicine and Community Health. 3: DOI: 10.15761/PMCH.1000139. March 2020. 

2. Epler GR. Eplerian philosophy for health, vitality, and happiness. Open Journal of Philosophy; 10:187-191. DOI:4236/ojpp.2020.102013. April 2020. 

3. Epler GR.Eplerian philosophy model for empowering women for improved health, productivity and innovation. Journal of Health and Medical Research. S(5), page 6. September 2020.

4. Epler GR. Eplerian philosophy for a new way of life. Open Journal of Philosophy; 11(1):171-177. DOI 4236/ojpp.2021.111013. February 2021. 

Copyright ©2019-2022 by Gary Epler, M.D. All rights reserved.