Turn Off the Stress Switch

Good Thoughts Podcast #10 / Season Four

Turn Off the Stress Switch

Dr. Gary Epler – Know who you are moment by moment which means know where you’re thinking from. Think from your heart with kindness to yourself and think from the mind with creativity to help others. You don’t want to think about yourself because this is thinking from the stress center. You need to switch off the stress center.

What do you mean, the stress center?

It’s something new. It’s a term I use from the new philosophy. MRI science shows when people think about themselves, they’re thinking from a primitive region deep in the brain. I call this region the stress center because if you think about yourself, then you’re stressed. If you’re stressed, then you’re thinking about yourself from the stress center.

What do you mean, thinking about yourself?

There are many examples of this type of thinking. Some of them are obvious 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.

That’s a long list. What happens if you don’t shut down the stress center?

You can’t be your authentic self because if you’re thinking from the stress center, then you can’t think from the heart with kindness or from the mind with creativity or innovation. The stress center is a primitive brain region. For example, a university commencement speaker told students in order to be kind, you have to shut down the animal instinct of cruelty and judgment when meeting someone, and force your brain to travel a different pathway with empathy and compassion from the heart.

Can you give an example of shutting down the stress center?

It’s about the ancient two-arrow story. I call these social arrows. The first arrow always hurts. The second arrow doesn’t have to. You’re insulted, criticized, or ridiculed. That’s the first arrow, and it hurts. You respond with anger. This is the second arrow, and it hurts. You need to find a way to stop the second arrow. For example, during my early morning run, I enjoy saying hello to runners coming from the other direction, but sometimes it’s returned with an angry face. This isn’t pleasant. How can I stop the second arrow? There are several ways. I can avoid looking at people or have them say something, but these don’t work. I found a permanent solution. The eyes and face tell the world who you are, so look at the eyes. Only say hello to friendly eyes. Try it, this applies to many other social situations.

Shut down the stress center and stop the second arrow. Guilt is from the stress center. How is guilt used to disrupt a society?

It’s about disinformation, which is the intentional spread of false information to mislead and control people. For example, an egocentric world leader can set up thousands of fake social media accounts where trained users deliberately craft messages to make people feel bad about themselves and guilty for fabricated past actions. This form of disinformation is hidden and ignored for many years. However, community leaders gradually believe they are bad people because of this manipulation. They become so guilty about something they didn’t do that they unknowingly divert funds away from keeping the community clean and safe. This can also happen with educators whose guilt causes groups of school-aged children to feel ashamed and bad about themselves.

How can this manipulation be prevented?

This can be prevented instantly by shutting down self-centered thinking and be your true authentic self. Instead of feeling guilty or bad about yourself, think from your heart with self-compassion and kindness to yourself. When you live as your authentic self, you cannot be shamed or manipulated by people who use social media to control you. Cyberbullying can be stopped by being your authentic self and resisting manipulation. You do need to know that being your authentic self means accepting the consequences that come with it. In almost all situations, the rewards far outweigh any transient discomfort. While there is going to be verbal abuse, especially from self-centered individuals, you must recognize these shallow words have no meaning to you.

What does social identity have to do with thinking about yourself and the stress center?

Social identity is who you are among social groups. This is when you must stop thinking about yourself because social groups will influence the way you think, feel, and behave taking you away from being your true self. Strongly identifying with a group can lead to dangerous behavior. For example, conspiracy theories based on disinformation can lead people to destructive actions such as people burning down cell phone towers because they were manipulated into thinking cell phones caused the Covid pandemic. People need to make decisions based on logic and facts and not on emotions from disinformation. Make decisions on logic, not emotions.

There are serious consequences from relying on stress center thinking. It makes sense to turn off the stress switch. How do you do this?

The first thing to do is learn to recognize when you’re thinking about yourself from the examples above. Second is to acknowledge the feeling of stress when you have these self-centered thoughts. The third step is to think from somewhere else.

How do you do that?

Here’s three ways to shut down the stress center. (1) Recognize when you’re thinking about yourself, stop and think from your heart with self-compassion and kindness to yourself or from the mind to work on a solution to help people. (2) Use the neuro-bypass technique by saying “love and peace” to yourself over and over for 30 seconds, and then thinking from elsewhere. (3) Use the distraction technique by listening to positive music, having a festive meal, laughing out loud, or having positive social communication with people. Shut down the stress center and enjoy your life. I have a question for you. How is this going to make people feel?

Joan – Be your authentic self. You’re going to feel good when you shut off the stress center switch because you’re not going to care about what people think of you, and you’re going to feel better about yourself. Do you have any closing comments?

Dr. Gary Epler – 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.