My Team at the Boston VA Outpatient Clinic thought I had gone over the edge when I told them I was going to leave my award winning career as a social worker just 3 years shy of when I was eligible for retirement. I told them I needed to heal my life and follow my bliss as a poet and writer. Truth be told I had no idea of what any of that meant. I followed the promptings from my heart and soul.
I wrote these two poems: {From "Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life"}
Dare to Dream
Step out of all the muck and mire
Dare to set my soul on fire.
Dare to live and feel my dream
Forget what is or what may seem.
Pull the impossible out of thin air
Of God's inheritance I claim my share.
To dare to shout and spread the word
To dare to share what I have heard.
To live in Love and Faith and Trust
To love myself – that is a must.
Dare to live a passionate life
To easily maneuver through any strife.
To hold my dream close to my heart
And live with God one from the start.
Not slave and master but equals be
To live a life in harmony.
To dare to dream a life of peace
And know that wars can all now cease.
Disease no more but health now reigns
And Love erases all life's pains.
Living in love and loving in life is my heart's one desire
Dare to dream and live this dream to snuff out the funeral pyre.
What is so striking to me is that a poem I wrote in 2007 is now manifesting in physical reality. I write about the tremors being healed and having a strong core; creating myself anew and playing my game my rules (to quote Boston Marathon Race Director Dave McGillvray's favorite phrase that I only heard last year). At the time, I had not yet been discharged from Spaulding Rehab's outpatient care. I was told that I would need to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair. I was by all appearances weak, deconditioned, wearing a leg brace, experiencing chronic fatigue and pain. Tremors were very evident at the time and yet, yet I wrote this poem that talks about the body falling away healed as I prepared to leave my award winning career as a VA social worker:
A Date With Destiny
Don’t wait til you die to let your soul fly free
please listen and hear what happened to me.
My body was broken every imaginable place
yet to the world always a smile on my face.
My soul trapped inside feeling it was broken too
God brought me out of darkness my light I shine on you.
She showed me the way through people I met
it took awhile a message hard to get.
The kingdom of heaven is right inside me
take the leap of faith fulfill destiny.
While I did my soul work and let my soul fly free
my body transformed changes did I see.
My head now aligned the tremor no more
my body aligned such strength in my core.
When once head detached from my heart and my soul
they all work together amazingly whole.
The rules that I live by are my rules alone
I found strength and courage the past now has flown.
I followed my heart to create myself anew
to feel simply Divine despite all I’ve lived through.
Take the leap of faith into grace I can fall
but I’m floating on air answering God’s call
Don’t wait til you die to let your soul fly free
there’s no reason to live a life in misery.
Follow your passions and I will tell you this
the body falls away healed when you follow your bliss.
On Saturday we had the Book Launch Party for "The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953." It was an Extraordinary Book Launch Party!
Follow this link to hear my inspirational talk and reading from "The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953".
Here are photos from the Book Launch Party:
It's quite incredible that I transformed my life and transcended my past healing the effects of paralytic polio and trauma.
I dared to dream and did not wait until I died to let my soul fly free.
What is your date with destiny?
To your health and wellness,
From my heart to yours
Mary
Be sure to visit my website by following this link.
My books are available on Amazon.
“The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953” takes you on Mary McManus’ healing odyssey from a wheelchair to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond. After the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome in December 2006, Mary got still and asked for Divine Guidance tapping into the powerful connection she experienced to the Divine from an early age. She harnessed the power of her mind to heal her body, feverishly writing poetry in which she imagined herself healthy, whole and free from the shackles of her youth. Mary’s quest to heal her life led her to the sport of running. Her story is one that will leave you cheering for the underdog, discovering the meaning of different ability and experiencing the stunning view from the back of the pack of a race. You will have the privilege of bearing witness to how Mary overcame every challenge that life presented to her. The sport of running provides the backdrop for her journey of transformation from a survivor of childhood paralytic polio and severe trauma at the hands of family members to a woman who embodies faith, grace under fire, courage, determination, endurance and resilience. Running became a way of life for Mary that tested her mettle while forging friendships to last a lifetime. As you’ll discover in “The Adventures of Runnergirl 1953” nothing, not even a serious knee injury in December of 2014 could stop her on the roads or in her life.
Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life
Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing Hope and Possibility that chronicles the first 7 years of my healing journey:
Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):
My healing journey using the power of visualization is featured in David R. Hamilton's book, "How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body-Anniversary Edition." It's available on Amazon.
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