Meriisms - A Weekly Message to Provoke and Inspire You

 
Meriisms are brought to you each Monday by Meri Howard as a message to focus on all week.  Some messages will inspire you.  Others will make you mad.  But they will all make you think and push you to a new level of understanding of yourself and the world around you.
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Meriism #38

World peace through inner peace. 

If you think about tackling world peace, as one person it is very daunting.  However, you can search for the peace within yourself.  As each person finds an inner peace, there is no longer any need for anything other than peace in the world.
 

Meriism #37

Your enemy is just your friend you don’t understand. 

Whether it is someone in your own neighborhood or an anonymous person in a foreign country, people become enemies because they do not understand the other person or persons and their motives.  It is much easier to hate someone from a foreign country who speaks a different language and practices a different religion and holds different values.  Imagine if you took the time to understand that person’s culture and saw how similar you are to them.  When you strip away all of the exterior things, everyone wants the same thing and that is to be loved.
 

Meriism #36

Fear is more afraid of you than you of it.

Live life fearlessly.  Worry won’t help you be more successful.  Just put your body in motion and go do it.  The more you do it, the easier it gets and the less scary it becomes.  This works for anything.
 

Meriism #35

Change your routine, change your life.

 How often to we say to ourselves that we would like more money, more love, and more happiness but we continue doing the same thing we have always done?  Did it occur to you that you could change your life for the better just by stepping out and doing something different?  It sounds simple and it is but it takes distinct effort at first otherwise you will go back to doing what you always did.
 

Meriism #34

Your thoughts can move mountains.

If you don't believe me, read the biographies of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jesus Christ. You can probably think of a few other people whose thoughts changed the world as well.

Meriism #33

Every crisis is a gift from God.

When you are confronted by a dilemma that is difficult to solve it gives you an opportunity to see how much courage, patience, love, tolerance, faith, and understanding that you have within you.  What seems like a disaster at the moment, usually is an opportunity for massive growth if you allow it.

Meriism #32

Smiling is contagious.

Make someone's day.  Smile at people. You will be surprised how the good feelings come back to you.

Meriism #31

Everything is energy.

Everything that you see and everything that you don’t see is made up of energy.  It seems obvious that living things like animals and plants have energy.  But so do so-called  non-living things like rocks, water, air, and fire. Energy can be transformed and can vibrate at a high frequency or a low one. You can change the energy in your body allowing the molecules to vibrate at a faster pace to remove negative disease causing energy.

Meriism #30

To enlighten means to let light in. 

It sounds so simple yet most people remain in darkness based on cultural mores or religious viewpoints which prevent them from opening themselves to the light both metaphorically and metaphysically.
 

Meriism #29

Eat only what you would kill yourself.

In American life, we have gotten away from the source of our food.  Most people don’t grow their own vegetables and meat arrives at the supermarket nicely packaged in a Styrofoam container wrapped in plastic already cut in pieces.  Most people never think about what had to happen before the food arrives at the supermarket.  As long as it tastes good, they are happy.  What if you had to kill a cow before you could eat its meat?  Would you still want to eat beef?  If the answer is yes, then please enjoy your steak.  If the answer is no, then consider how cattle are grown knee deep in their own feces and the agony they suffer as they are slaughtered one by one.  The fear is so strong that they poop on themselves in fright.  They are not sufficiently cleaned afterward which leads to the spread of E. coli.  Chickens are grown in dark crowded coops with no access to sunlight pumped full of hormones so their breasts will be big to please you but too large for their small legs to support.  When you eat most chicken at the supermarket or at restaurants, this is what you are putting into your body. If this bothers you, consider not eating meat at all. 

Meriism #28

Smoking is ugly.

I can’t think of anything good about smoking that something else couldn’t do for you.  People who smoke like the way it relaxes their nerves.  The problem is that it affects everyone around you that has to smell the smoke in the air.  After you have had a smoke, we can smell it on you and it smells bad.  It makes you look at least ten years older than you are.  It gives you wrinkles especially around the mouth.  You are more likely to have a heart attack and die young if you smoke.  If you live long enough you may get lung cancer or emphysema.  Heavy smokers have deep voices and hacking coughs.  Smoking is just plain ugly. 

Meriism #27

Tithe.

The Bible had it right. It is the law of the universe that the more you give, the more you receive.

Meriism #26

When you hold on to the rope with all your might make sure that it is tightly secured to a strong foundation.

In life we hold onto principles, ideas, religions, cultural mores, jobs, relationships, and many more things.  Even if they are not serving us, we are afraid to let them go because we are afraid of the unknown.  It is okay to hold on to these things but make sure that they have a strong foundation.  If not, letting go and free falling may be the best thing you ever experience. If they are not tied to a strong foundation, you may end up free falling anyway while you are still holding on.  I know a guy who worked for a company where the writing was on the wall that they were going out of business.  Instead of looking for another job, he kept deluding himself that things were going to turn around.  It wasn’t until the movers came and took away the furniture that he finally had to realize that it was all over.

Meriism #25

 Breathe.

 This sounds simple but when we are stressed we tend to hold our breath and get tense.  By concentrating on our breathing, we can consciously learn how to relax under the tensest situation. 

Meriism #24

Find an exercise that you love and do it regularly. 

The key is to find something that you do because you love it and not because you need to exercise.  You will stick with it much longer then.  The exercise that I love is running.  I have been running regularly for 30 years.
 

Meriism #23

Service is appreciated.

I know that I am not the only one who would like to talk to a real person instead of a computer. Unfortunately, the more of a monopoly a business has, the more likely I am to have to answer 10 or more questions by a computer before I get to talk to a living breathing human being.  It used to be that when you fly you can talk to an agent at the counter.  Now, they want you to punch numbers into a computer and just hand them your bags.  What if you have questions or need to change something?  This is very frustrating.  That is why I like GoDaddy.  They have real people to help with any question I might have 24 hours a day.  It is one of the few businesses left that believes in customer service.

Meriism #22

You leave a little bit of yourself wherever you go.

Your energy remains with the people you meet and the places you live, work and visit. You can have a positive or a negative effect on your environment.  It is your choice.
 

Meriism #21

There is always room for another person with a great idea.

It is easy to believe that every great idea has already been put into someone’s brain.  Yet in my lifetime, technology alone has changed society as new creations replace old ones. We can transmit a document to someone across the globe using a fax machine or through email. The post office is struggling to stay in business as a result of the new technology. We can see our friends and family on the phone across the globe using Skype.  The internet has made information available at our fingertips immediately replacing phonebooks and encyclopedias.  Children today will only see a typewriter in a museum or antique store as they are raised on computers.  MP3 players replaced CD players that replaced tape decks that replaced record players.  Laser and laparoscopic surgery allow doctors to perform delicate and dangerous surgeries with less trauma to the patient.  MRIs and CAT scans have allowed doctors to diagnose problems before they even become aware to the patient. These are just some of the amazing ideas that have changed society in recent years.  What will be next?
 

Meriism #21

Give up an hour of television a day and use that time to build your dream.

You will be surprised what you can accomplish with one hour a day.  You could write a book, read a book, investigate investment strategies, take a class, meditate, start a business, exercise.  The possibilities are endless.

Meriism #20

True wealth is not just how much money you have but if you would know how to earn it all back if you lost it all.

Meriism #19

You own your body!

Before following your doctor’s advice to take that life altering drug, get that operation, take chemotherapy or other toxic treatment, look into your alternatives.  Get a second opinion.  Consult a homeopathic or naturopathic practitioner, or a chiropractor or acupuncturist.  Read books on alternative medicine and holistic cures. Change your diet, stop smoking and exercise.  A little work before taking the plunge could save you from lifelong agony caused by the drugs, disfiguring operation or scar.  Years ago, my doctor diagnosed me with rheumatoid arthritis.  He told me that he was going to give me gold treatments in my joints but would have to wait two months while he had an operation himself.  The idea of having gold injected into my joints was not something that appealed to me so I went to the health food store and bought the book, “There is a Cure for Arthritis” by Paavo Airola.  I followed the directions in the book and fired my doctor.  I had two grueling years going through this treatment but after that there was no evidence of rheumatoid arthritis. Doctors after that said that this doctor must have made a mistake. (Please don’t accuse me of making you do anything.  Remember, you own your body and only you can take responsibility for it.)

Meriism #18

Take a risk this week.

If you want to step out of your comfort zone to get to the next level of your development, you need to take a risk.  What does that mean to you?  It could mean talking to a stranger or speaking in front of a group.  It could mean riding a motorcycle or bungee jumping off a bridge.  It could even mean eating fire.  In a workshop I attended, all 1000 of us ate fire.  It sounded scary until we learned how to do it.  Once we learned, we realized it really wasn’t so hard after all.  I bet you can say that for most other things that seem scary to you.

Meriism #17

You can never completely protect yourself with security measures. 

Do you notice that there are some people who are scared all the time.  Maybe they have several locks on their doors and bars on their windows.  They worry they might be part of a drive by shooting even if they are not in a dangerous neighborhood.  They praise the government for having everyone who gets on a plane go through a machine where people can see our underwear.  They worry about terrorists coming to their town to harm them.  They feel that foreigners or people of another race are out to harm them.

 I believe that no matter how many locks you have on your door, if someone wants to find a way into your house, they will.  I have known of parents who move their family away from Los Angeles to get away from gangs only to have a child killed by a gang member in a smaller city.  In the past decade, there have been maybe two dozen people who have tried to blow up an airplane.  Also during that time, millions of people have flown.  I think our money would be better spent in other areas than checking the underpants of grannies and 5 year olds.  We can no longer bring liquids through security or keep our normal toiletries in our carryon.  No nail clippers or knitting needles.  How many terrorists are we stopping with this? No matter what security measures we use, someone will come up with a way to get around it.  Meanwhile, millions of people have been inconvenienced in the process.  If someone is a master of martial arts, if they choose, they can overpower the flight attendants with their bare hands.  But most of them never will try.  Instead of living in fear, I feel you can do more to protect yourself by projecting an invisible shield of protection around you.  Feel yourself guided by divine love for people who would normally frighten you.  You will be surprised how that turns a potentially bad situation around. If you are normally a fearful person, you may think this is a simplistic solution. But I can guarantee from personal experience that it is very effective.

Meriism #16

You are the manifestation of God’s divine love.

If you see yourself in this way, think of how it affects the way you view yourself and others and what actions you choose in your life.
 

Meriism #15

To achieve more, challenge yourself to do more and stick to it.

What do you want to achieve?  Set a goal and decide what you need to do it.  I am a runner.  I used to be satisfied to run 3 miles at a time.  Then I decided that I wanted to run 5 miles at a time.  At first it was a struggle and when my feet started to hurt and my legs got tired, I thought about going back to the 3 mile limit.  But I stuck with it and now I regularly run 5 ½ miles at a time easily.  It is time to set a new goal.

Meriism #14

Meditate every day.

Find some time each day to quiet your mind with meditation.  It will help you deal with stress.  It can lower your blood pressure and lead to your general well being. It can also lead to great inspirations.

Meriism #13

Even in the ugliest most painful situation, God is there waiting to be found.

When tragedy strikes, I often hear, if there were a God, why would he let this happen. It is hard for people to understand that God would allow bad things to happen to good people so they rationalize that the people must have done something wrong for tragedy to strike.  I heard this after the Katrina flood, after the Haiti earthquake and after the Tsunami in Asia.  When you take the judgment out of the picture, you will find an opportunity to become closer to God who was there all along.

Meriism #12

When given a choice between an escalator and the stairs, take the stairs.

In our busy world, it is sometimes hard to fit in an exercise routine.  But we can do little things to keep in shape and little things add up.

Meriism #11

The internet is anarchy at its very best.

I love the internet. It evens the playing field.  If you have something important to say, or you want to share your creative pursuits, you can do it and find an audience without spending millions of dollars in advertising.  Corporations still try to control what we watch through their advertising, but as much as they would like to, they cannot control the free trade of ideas on the internet across borders around the world.  Not only can we use email, social media, or blog posts, we are even using it now to talk to people over the phone using Voip and Skype and Magic Jack and we can watch our favorite televison shows as well. Who knows what lies ahead. 

Meriism #10

You will accomplish more if you have a higher tolerance for chaos then if you only proceed when everything seems perfect. 

People who can work undaunted in an environment where there are many unknowns and thrive will be willing to step out of their comfort zone to take risks that can take them to greater success.

Meriism #9

Action creates more success than thought.

You know that Nike slogan “Just do it”.  There is a lot of truth to that. How often to we sit around thinking about doing something mulling over the best way to make something happen when if we just did it, it would be done.  Normally, the things we think about instead of doing are the things that we don’t want to do.  If we do those things we don’t want to do first, they will be done and we can do the things that we really want to do.  We may find that by doing those things we don’t want to do, that we end up not minding them or even enjoying doing them.

Meriism #8

An obstacle is an illusion which keeps you from your destination. 

The important word in this statement is illusion.  How often do we say we can’t get to where we want to go because of some obstacle.  We can’t get rich because we don’t have an education or we have bad credit.  We can’t find true love because we are overweight or too old. We are fixating on the obstacle instead of focusing on the destination.  I had a revelation when I took the Turning Point Workshop with Marshall Sylver, a hypnotist and human development coach.  He taught us to use the chi energy that martial artists use to break a board with our bare hand.  The way it works is that you focus on the destination of your hand.  The board is in the way but you don’t concentrate at all on the board. As you move your hand to your destination, the board breaks effortlessly.  In fact, my board was broken before I knew what had happened and I didn’t even feel a thing with my hand.  I was stunned how simple it was.  You can use this same principle with anything else you do in your life.  You will be surprised how powerful this concept is.

Meriism #7

You are limited only by your perceptions.  Change your perceptions and you will change your limits.

If you are like most people, you have been conditioned to limit what you can do or to believe that you can only accomplish things if you meet certain criteria.  For instance, if you want to be successful you need to finish high school and graduate from college.  While I would generally want you to do your best and accomplish what you can in these areas, not doing so does not mean that you are doomed to failure.  Many of the richest people who ever lived never finished high school.  Bill Gates never finished college.  What I am saying here is that there are many ways of accomplishing the same thing.

Let me take it one step further.  There are many people who believe that you can heal yourself from any ailment.  Just because you get a diagnosis, does not mean that you can't change it. There are people who live normal lives who eat nothing but fruit.  Others who consume only milk.  Others who get their nourishment from sunlight alone.  They do not eat the three square meals a day but manage to be very healthy.  I am not recommending that you follow this path.  Just be willing to think outside the box.  Challenge all of your beliefs.

Meriism #6

Building a Business is Like Growing a Garden

When you start a business, it begins as an idea or seed. Have you ever grown a garden?  If not, did you grow a bean plant in grade school?  I like to think building a business is like growing a garden starting with one bean plant.  You take the seed and you place it in some soil.  If you did this in grade school, you probably planted the seed in a paper milk container.  You added some fertilizer and some water and every day you watched it to see if the bean would pop out of the dirt.  You always expected that it would eventually pop out through the dirt if you gave it warmth, water, and fertilizer.  Then one day, there it was, a little bit of green leaf sticking out of the soil.  You put it in the sunlight, and day by day it got larger and larger until one day it even had beans growing on it which you could pick and eat. Or you could take some of the beans and plant them again to grow more beans.  You could plant more seeds until you had a garden filled with a number of different vegetables.

Likewise, with a business, you plant the seed.  You work really hard and the results of your efforts are not readily apparent.  They are still hiding in the dirt with the “fertilizer”.  Every day you continue your efforts until one day you see some confirmation that your efforts are working.  Customers start coming to your store on a regular basis.  People subscribe to your blog.  You get recruits for your network marketing business.  And as your business grows, one day you start seeing PROFITS.  You can either pocket the money or put the money back into your business to grow more profits.  You can diversify what you are doing to get multiple streams of income until eventually you are wealthy from your business like a beautiful bountiful garden.

Meriism #5

Getting rich is easy, just spend less than you make, save, make an investment plan and stick with it until you reach your goal.

You have heard of the janitor who left a legacy to a college and nobody realized he had any money because he lived so frugally.  You have seen the commercial where the man says he lives in a big house, drives a luxury car and is a membership to the country club and when asked how he does it, he says that he is in hock up to his ears.  To get rich, be frugal and don’t be hypnotized into buying items that you don’t need.  Use credit to build assets, not to buy consumer items on time.  Don’t become seduced into getting credit cards with high interest rates that you can’t pay off every month.  The interest rate will suck you into a hole that you will have trouble climbing out of.

Meriism #4

You are not entitled to anything.

Whether you believe this or not, if you live your life expecting not to be entitled to anything, you will be much happier.  Having expectations of rights causes anger when you think you are wronged.  It can be as simple as feeling that you have a right not to have someone cut you off in traffic or to have someone beat you out in a new line at the store when you have already been waiting for ten minutes.  How often have you heard that someone killed someone on the freeway because they cut them off in traffic?  Is a life really worth losing for that?  We can apply this principle to groups of people as well.  Wars are fought because people believe they have rights to a territory held by someone else.  It amazes me that in large cities like New York and Los Angeles, Palestinians and Israelis, Catholic and Protestant Northern Irish, Pakistanis and Indians and so many more ethnic groups live peacefully with each other yet in the country where they feel they have rights to territory, they fight each other. How many African Americans still believe that they deserve to be compensated by the American government because their ancestors were slaves and they didn’t choose to come here like all the other immigrants.  As long as they feel they deserve to be entitled, they will not change their circumstances.  If they feel they are not entitled, they will work to create the circumstances that they want in their life, because they realize it is up to them.

Meriism #3

Be Nice.

Whenever you feel angry, instead of letting your anger out, say to yourself, “Be nice!”  Do it in traffic.  Do it when your kids don’t do as you ask.  Do it when your spouse doesn’t follow through.  You will find that as you give others some slack when you would normally get angry, that you will find yourself smiling and you will be happier.

Meriism #2

Experience Joy Now!

How often do we say we’ll experience joy when the weekend comes, when we get a raise, when we get a better job, when our children grow up, when we have more money, when we find the love of our life, when…when…when!

After the passing of both of my parents, my husband, my five year old nephew, four other relatives and four close friends, I have realized that all we have is this moment.  It is in this moment that we can experience joy.  

What gives you joy?  Are you making time each day for joy?  Are you finding joy in the simple things  -  the sun shining, the birds singing, the flowers blooming, the extra time you have to meditate on joy while sitting in traffic.  Joy is everywhere. Reach out and claim it. Your life will be more joyful!

Meriism #1

Today is the first day of the BEST of your life!

There are those of you who think that your best days are over but you are wrong. As long as you are drawing breath you have the opportunity to make this day and every day forward the best you experience.  It is all in your attitude.

 

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Meri Howard is an Online Business & Marketing Coach.  She helps network marketers and internet marketers grow their businesses online using a step by step marketing system.  She works with her clients on a one on one basis to teach them to use all of the tools of the internet.
Her websites are:  http://www.netleadsexplosion.com
http://www.merihoward.com