"To bed with the chickens and up with them," she says. Simple mornings with reading and journal writing.

Merriman taught high school art in Cheatham County (Tenn.) for six years. She loved her job the first five years but, in the sixth year, she grew weary of teaching and decided to simplify her life.

"I began getting to know myself through journal writing," Merriman says. "The better I got to know myself, the more I realized how much I loved simplicity, solitude and writing."

During summers, she found solitude and simplicity in the mountains. Her summer home was a remote location in the San Juan Mountains of Southern Colorado. Merriman traveled, alone, to her hideaway as often as her schedule allowed.

Her first solo trip came just after she and her husband returned from a summer vacation in Colorado. While on vacation, they had purchased a small plot of mountain land, and Merriman found herself reluctant to leave the peaceful spot when vacation ended.

"As an art and psychology teacher, I always looked forward to the beginning of each new year," Merriman says. "However, I realized the value and necessity of summers off--for renewal."

Back in her Clarksville home, she prepared for another school year, but school renovation delayed the start of the academic year for two weeks--and gave Merriman a chance to "renovate" her life. She took advantage of the opportunity, driving 1,400 miles one way for six more days in Colorado. She stayed in a tent near a mountain stream.

"The practical side of me knew it would be crazy to drive 1,400 miles to camp solo for six days, then turn around and drive 1,400 miles all the way back to begin teaching," Merriman says. "My inner voice said 'go for it.' Thankfully, my inner voice won out.

"Only a personal experience can evoke an understanding of the transformational power of such a solo sojourn," Merriman says."

The next summer she returned for an extended visit. In natural surroundings, she found the joys of solitude, simplicity and inspiration. With new happiness and a sense of self-awareness, she wrote. And the words she wrote at her mountain getaway became her first book, "Simply Happy."

"Simply Happy: How to Simplify Your Life and Find Happiness" offered common-sense approaches to simplification and allowed Merrimen to share her bliss.

After her second summer in Colorado, she returned to begin her sixth year of teaching. Each day grew more challenging. After the peace of the mountains, the noise of 1,500 high school students was unbearable.

"I still loved the kids, but somehow the job was no longer enough," she says.

On a cool November morning at her Clarksville home, she arose at 4:30 a.m., overcome by the thought of another unfulfilling day. She had reaching a turning point.

"I knew something had to give," Merriman says. "I walked out into the cold, dark morning and looked up at the stars. Tears welled up, and I cried out, 'God, I'm begging you--set me free!"

She says an answer came to her. The answer changed her life forever.

"As clear as crystal, a small voice said 'You are free,'" Merriman says.

She finished the school year and resigned. Shortly afterwards, "Simply Happy" was published. The release of her first book forced Merriman to desert the ideas of simplicity she advocated.

Her second book came quickly. "Simply Free: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living" documented her awakening and subsequent freedom. "Simply Free" was more spiritual than its predecessor, "Simply Happy."

Reader response spurred her founding of The Simply Happy Institute. The institute provided a monthly newsletter, and Merriman conducted author retreats. The retreats were held in simple, but exotic locales like Yelapa, Mexico.

"Yelapa is a tropical paradise that can be reached only by boat. There are no roads, no electricity and no noise--just peace and unbelievable natural beauty. A perfect place for a retreat," Merriman says.

Some called her a "happiness guru." But, between the retreats and exhausting speaking circuits, she found little time for solitude. The Colorado vacations--once months long--were reduced to a couple of weeks. The happiness guru grew unhappy.

The year 1997 marked another turning point for Merriman. She says, "What had promised to be a glamorous career lost its glimmer. I felt like a charlatan as I continued to teach about bliss."

A miserable Merriman realized she had imprisoned herself again. She wrote in her journal about her desire to get back to basics: "July 7, 1997. Here it is already July and I haven't even figured out when I am going to be able to get away to Colorado.  After all those years it took to find my bliss, here I am not following it...teaching others that life's too short not to...what a phony I am."

Merriman decided to re-simplify her life. "After realizing how weary I had become of teaching others how to find their bliss, it occurred to me I had misplaced mine," she says. "My soul was hungry."

Book three, "Simply God: Recovering the Part of You That's God," came after the re-simplification, which included shedding the burden of her growing institute with its retreats, seminar and speaking engagements. Her agent inherited all PR responsibilities.

Merriman turned inward again and is working on her fourth book. Book four, a collection of essays, breaks away from the self-help style of her previous three books.

"I am no longer concerned with whether my books sell," Merriman says. "I'm just writing more and more of what's in my heart, knowing this hunger to write is an indication it's what I'm born to do--at least, in this period of my life."