Get Merry

In this episode, we chat about this month’s theme inside the MerryBody Studio which is MINDSET. And really, this is the theme of each and every one of our podcast episodes in some way or another.

In this episode, we’ll take you through some of our major mindset shifts and how we go about them.

• Our journey from having government jobs that we hated to shifting our mindsets and creating the life that we have right now.
• Mindset is how we choose to see things. How we perceive our lives.
• Everything starts from a thought. Our actions, which come from our thoughts, create our future.
• It’s okay to not be okay. You don’t have to be positive about your situation if there’s really no silver lining and you’re going through hardship. 
• First step is awareness.
• Self-acceptance and gratitude, for us, have been the most life-changing mindset changes.
• What you read, what you consume, what you listen to and what you put in front of you make an impact on your life.
• Surrender is the ultimate mindset tool because it also means gratitude for what you have, acceptance and letting go.
• What about when your partner or someone close to you does not want to shift their mindset? 

Mindset is the time to go inwards and then express it outwards. Tune in and let us know what you think!

If you have any A-HA moments, questions, comments or feedback about this episode, send us an email at [email protected] or [email protected] or message us on our Facebook and Instagram accounts @themerrymakersisters.

Always merrymaking,

Emma + Carla

P.s if you ever need further help or guidance please contact Lifeline or Beyond Blue. Asking for help is pure courage.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes, we focus on the end result without realizing that the journey was actually the magic. It was actually the prize.

• We live in a goal-orientated world, and anything less than 'the best' is not good enough.
• "Follow your bliss." — Joseph Campbell. 
• In today's age, the obsession with that end goal can be the destroyer of the journey.
• It's very easy to let your desires take over, stress you out and make you feel that you're not doing enough.
• It all comes back to acceptance and presence.
• Find gratitude in the harder moments of your journey.
• When your goals are creating unhappiness, distress and suffering, then it's time to check in with yourself and remember the important things. Listen to 302: This one mindset shift will help you work towards your goals

The journey is full of ebbs and flows, dark and light, and your job is to navigate it to the best of your ability. 

We would love to hear from you. If you have any A-HA moments, questions, comments or feedback about this episode, send us an email at [email protected] or [email protected] or message us on our Facebook and Instagram accounts @themerrymakersisters.

Check out all the Get Merry Podcast episodes on iTunes and Overcast and Stitcher for Androids. Plus we are on Spotify over HERE!

Always merrymaking,

Emma + Carla

P.s if you ever need further help or guidance please contact Lifeline or Beyond Blue. Asking for help is pure courage.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re excited to dive into the topic of languishing. It was a topic inspired by one of our community members, Steph.

• The difference between a flourishing mindset and a languishing mindset from a psychologist’s perspective. Listen to Episode 231: Create a flourishing mindset with psychologist Ellen Jackson
• At the beginning of COVID lockdown when we were forced to slow down, it was kind of a good thing because we were given permission to do nothing and simply take a rest. Many of us got into this routine of inactivity and used the time to refill up our energy.
• Overcoming the feeling of languishing involves refinding a purpose to remotivate yourself and then move forward. 
• If you’re feeling stuck, take any step to get you out of the situation you’re in right now. 
• Self-awareness is the key to quickly move out of your languishing feeling. If you can recognize this feeling, you have taken your first step.
• Get the right kind of help and talk about your struggles with someone you can trust. Making a plan also helps to create motivation.
• Get a coach or an accountability partner to help you get things done.
• We talk about Kevin Basham and how he is helping us with an SEO project, we’ve interviewed him before on episode 317!

We would love to hear from you. If you have any A-HA moments, questions, comments or feedback about this episode, send us an email at [email protected] or [email protected] or message us on our Facebook and Instagram accounts @themerrymakersisters.

Always merrymaking,

Emma + Carla

P.s if you ever need further help or guidance please contact Lifeline or Beyond Blue. Asking for help is pure courage.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We received a message from someone talking about how triggering Facebook photo memories are. Can you relate? Maybe you see the picture and you see how young and ‘good’ you looked, you think ‘WOW, I looked so good, and I actually thought I was fat’ or something like that. Then you feel sad and disappointed. Then regret. And down you go into that self-criticism loophole.

This is because we live in a world of Diet Culture that also (generally) celebrates youth and shuns age. Yay… urghhh not.

The good thing is that we are aware of it!

For us personally, because we’ve spent the last 5 years working on self-acceptance, we’re no longer triggered by these photos.

In this episode, we chat about why we may feel triggered and how we can move through the feelings.

• Self-acceptance is the most important thing. Accepting ourselves as we are right here right now is easier said than done.
• Your weight does not equal health. There’s so much more to health than losing weight.
• How did we overcome the comparison? For Emma, it’s looking at her past self and realizing that she’s so much wiser now and also the act of bringing gratitude for life now instead of comparing. 
• Take moments of reflection and link it to an everyday habit such as Yoga and Pilates. 
• The MerryBody mantra “remember, you are amazing right here, right now” solidifies the acceptance practice and it shows how important it is to have something that is consistent that you can rely on.

Take some time to reflect, be honest with yourself, take note of when you get triggered and have a practice of self-acceptance.

Dwelling on the past won’t bring any good, unless you learn something from it. 

We would love to hear from you. If you have any A-HA moments, questions, comments or feedback about this episode, send us an email at [email protected] or [email protected] or message us on our Facebook and Instagram accounts @themerrymakersisters.

Check out all the Get Merry Podcast episodes on iTunes and Overcast and Stitcher for Androids. Plus we are on Spotify over HERE!

Always merrymaking,

Emma + Carla

P.s if you ever need further help or guidance please contact Lifeline or Beyond Blue. Asking for help is pure courage.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Episode 320 of the Get Merry podcast and our first official episode for 2022! It took us a little while to get back into it but here we are!

Every month inside MerryBody, we have a collective theme, and it’s something that we’ve been doing since the beginning.

Sometimes, because life happens, we can find ourselves going through the motions without adding anything new or learning something different. Having this theme allows us to reflect, to discover something new about ourselves and other people.

So, on our 36th month (Happy Birthday, MerryBody!), our theme is COURAGE.

So, what is courage and how we can cultivate more of it into our lives?

Stuff we talked about…

Courage is not a lack of fear and anxiety nor a super mega confidence. It’s, instead, stepping forward regardless of how you’re feeling. It’s taking a step forward, even in the face of adversity, in the face of fear and uncertainty.

When we’re going through hard times, knowing that getting through it will build that resilience muscle. You know it sucks but you’re going to move forward, learn from this, and grow from this.

So often, people are like “I need to do this before I can do that. I need to get this ticked off before I can take that step forward.” And so often, self-doubt is louder than courage. But when we begin to practice moments of courage, that’s when it will grow and become a part of our lives.

Courage is really about living your truth which is often hard. But when you take that step and you feel stronger and better afterwards, you feel more confident and honest with yourself. And the more you do it, the easier it becomes.

How do we cultivate courage? A bit of self-reflection work is needed. Ask yourself what you want to welcome into your life and visualize that it’s already happening.

We’re not always going to feel courageous and fired up. Sometimes you need to slow down, go inwards and just think about something you’re grateful for. Life is all about the ebbs and flows, lightness and darkness, night and day, and you’re not always going to step forward with courage and that’s okay!

We would love to hear from you. If you have any A-HA moments, questions, comments or feedback about this episode, send us an email at [email protected] or [email protected] or message us on our Facebook and Instagram accounts @themerrymakersisters.

Always merrymaking,

Emma + Carla

P.s if you ever need further help or guidance please contact Lifeline or Beyond Blue. Asking for help is pure courage.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are back for 2022! YAY! We recorded this late in 2021 and we're so excited for this episode because the amazing Miriam Emad, clinical psychologist, is back on the show! During the episode, she offers insight on the before and after photo trend and how it can be unhealthy for all of us.

We've spoken on the podcast and across our social media about how we don't market MerryBody (our Yoga and Pilates App and membership) with before and after photos. And recently, we shared a post about it that got quite a lot of attention. So we asked for Miriam's opinions about this.

• Comparison is a part of the human being. Jealousy and envy are a very primal part of how we exist in the world. Jealousy is the emotion that tells us there is something to protect which involves noticing our surroundings, sometimes comparing. Envy is the emotion that tells us to strive to attain something.
• In a way, it's healthy to have some form of comparison, especially if it's objective. For example, hitting a target of financial savings for a particular reason. Sometimes subjective comparison can be helpful, too. If you have your own personal goal that does not involve anybody else, comparing your past self, present self and future self can be helpful because it helps you notice progress.
• What isn't helpful is the construct of comparison based on opinion such as the before and after photos. These are based on idea, neither objective nor subjective perception of what might be helpful in terms of comparison.
• We all have a social responsibility when we're sharing things on social media.
• Ask yourself, "if I'm looking at changing something about my body, what is the promise at the end of it? Is it to have my body function better, have a baby, etc.?" If the promise is something like I'll look like my friends or so it's more socially acceptable. It's coming from a place of misogyny and fat-phobia, and that can be very unhealthy.
• You cannot tell anything about someone's health just by looking at the person without any metabolic data. Health can not be seen on the surface level, it's deeper.
• Trying to lose weight is not in itself a bad thing. The before and after is very rarely about improved health. It's more often about the idea that smaller is better.

Connect with Miriam Emad over on her website! 

It really all comes back to self-acceptance. It is such a beautiful practice because you don't only begin to accept yourself but also those around you. 

We would love to hear from you. If you have any A-HA moments, questions, comments or feedback about this episode, send us an email at [email protected] or [email protected] or message us on our Facebook and Instagram accounts @themerrymakersisters.

Always merrymaking,

Emma + Carla

P.s if you ever need further help or guidance please contact Lifeline or Beyond Blue. Asking for help is pure courage.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is our last episode for the year 2021. And oh my! We feel like this had been the quickest year we've ever had. It really does feel like the older you get, the quicker time goes.

We've had a great year, but there's lots of heaviness, sadness and troubles around the world. And, as we wrap this year up, we reflect on business, our milestones and the biggest takeaways we've had for the year.

• Hug your friends and family a lot and make the most of the time together. 
• The new MerryBody app was launched in January and our mum started working for us in July this year. The hire Mum goal has been on our goal-list since we started. It took us longer than we wanted, but hey, we did it!
• November has been our biggest month in the business to date (9 years). We've experienced the importance of planting seeds, watering them and the persistence of showing up. Put the hard work in and you will definitely reap the results in due time.
• How we allowed joy to be our compass in our business growth. We didn't focus only on the financial gains but also on adding joy to life.
•  Learn new things, like what we're doing now with crypto and NFTs. Question your beliefs around something and trust the timing.
• Accept yourself and live life to the fullest without worrying about the things that do not define who you are, like your weight, what you look like, how much you've accomplished and how much money is in your bank.
• Let's collectively release our attachment to "diet". Enjoy the pasta. Enjoy the pizza. Enjoy the gelato. Go and eat whatever food you want, not every day... but you know what we mean.

Let's all welcome 2022 with the idea that we're going to savour the moments and experience life for all that it is. Don't rush and only focus on ticking off a to-do list. Start working towards the things that you care deeply about. Bring it on!

We would love to hear from you. If you have any A-HA moments, questions, comments or feedback about this episode, send us an email at [email protected] or [email protected] or message us on our Facebook and Instagram accounts @themerrymakersisters.

Always merrymaking,

Emma + Carla

P.s if you ever need further help or guidance please contact Lifeline or Beyond Blue. Asking for help is pure courage.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we have an amazing guest, Kevin Basham, all the way from UK and we’re so excited that he’s back on the show. If you’ve been with us since the beginning, you would have heard from him on Episode 45: How to Succeed When No One Else Believes in You with Kevin Basham. 

We love him and lately, we’ve been loving his Instagram content on living intentionally while building success.

• You can live intentionally and put your best foot forward. But ultimately, things happen in the world. So, the belief that when we have these goals and if we don’t achieve them, then we’re a failure. Is so stupid.
• What success means to Kevin. Success is about the endeavour and the adventure of moving forward and doing something meaningful, whether it’s in business, whether it’s in relationships, whether it’s in finances, health, wealth, etc. It’s in the doing more than the arrival point.
• What Kevin’s weekly structure looks like and how structure equals freedom. You have to really understand yourself to know what works best for you in terms of a work structure. Take your personality test at understandmyself.com.
• One of Kevin’s rules for “living a meaningful life”. Best relationships are those where you can give more than you take, and let others contribute to you as well. We have to fill each other’s cups up.
• How Kevin started to practice self-awareness and the turning points and awakenings along the way.
• Resilience and having a good mindset is something that you develop over a long period of time.

Kevin’s last piece of advice:

“The world is going through some things at the minute that are particularly difficult for people, and you need to really understand what’s going on at the deepest level and be as best as you can for your friends and for your family and stick up for what’s important. If you believe things are unethical or immoral, then you have every right to put your view forward.”

Connect with Kevin Basham:

Kevin on Instagram

Kevin on twitter

CryptoPulse Podcast

We would love to hear from you. If you have any A-HA moments, questions, comments or feedback about this episode, send us an email at [email protected] or [email protected] or message us on our Facebook and Instagram accounts @themerrymakersisters.

Always merrymaking,

Emma + Carla

P.s if you ever need further help or guidance please contact Lifeline or Beyond Blue. Asking for help is pure courage.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've had a big journey with this whole mindset around change, especially change to self, whether it's a body, mindset or a life change. When we first began, it came from a place of "I don't like who I am now so I'm gonna change and then I'll love myself." Then we realized, the only way to love yourself in the future is to love yourself now.

In this episode, we're talking about the full circle where, "ok, now I love myself but I also want to change" without going back to the old mindset of not feeling good enough.

Stuff we talked about...

• With the practice of self-acceptance, some people misunderstand it as you're not allowed to change. But really, change is inevitable in life and you are allowed to want to make a change.
• It's all about the reason why and how you're going to go about the change.
• We are allowed to desire things and make a change. But, how do we make sure that the journey from A to B is an enjoyable process?
• When you practice self-acceptance right here right now, the journey toward change is full of joy, gratitude and bliss.

Remember to always come back to the truth that you are amazing right here right now in every aspect of your life. It's okay to want to make a change. But, look at how the change is being made and the reason behind it.

We would love to hear from you. If you have any A-HA moments, questions, comments or feedback about this episode, send us an email at [email protected] or [email protected] or message us on our Facebook and Instagram accounts @themerrymakersisters.

Always merrymaking,

Emma + Carla

P.s if you ever need further help or guidance please contact Lifeline or Beyond Blue. Asking for help is pure courage.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are you trying to grow your business or get that job promotion and you feel like it's going nowhere? Does it feel like opportunity is going to all those around you? Everyone, except you?

We understand, we have been there and we've also been in situations where opportunities are flying left, right and centre. Hear us chat more about opportunities and what to do when it feels like you have none.

• Sometimes, it can feel like opportunity is not coming your way. But it could be there right in front of you. You might just need to take a step toward it.
• When you feel like no opportunity is knocking at your door, do a bit more research, approach someone and ask for help. Keep taking those little action steps and trying new things.
• We don't have to wait for an opportunity. We are the creators of it. Action creates opportunity.

If you go and take action out of this episode, tell us about it. We would love to hear from you. If you have any A-HA moments, questions, comments or feedback about this episode, send us an email at [email protected] or [email protected] or message us on our Facebook and Instagram accounts @themerrymakersisters.

Always merrymaking,

Emma + Carla

P.s if you ever need further help or guidance please contact Lifeline or Beyond Blue. Asking for help is pure courage.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.