Gratitude Prompts!

~From Anita Moorjani

Shortly after the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome now 13 years ago, I realized that I was at a crossroads in my life. I was withering away mind, body and soul. Despite being at the top of my game as an award winning social worker at the VA, I was in constant physical, emotional and spiritual pain. The years of dissociating mind from body to survive childhood paralytic polio and severe trauma finally caught up with me.

I turned inward and asked for Divine Guidance and outward to the works of wonderful teachers like Wayne Dyer and my dear life coach, Bernie Siegel, MD. They all emphasized the importance of gratitude.

Gratitude? Really? was my first thought. I lived through hell during my childhood and adolescence and now my body was betraying me a 2nd time with this diagnosis.

But I knew that staying in a state of anger and resentment would only make things worse.

And so I got still and asked for Divine Guidance ...

Poetry poured out of my soul. One of the first poems I wrote was:

The Gift of Polio from "Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life"
Thank you God for the gift of polio that brought me so close to you
while paralyzed I saw your face no matter what I’d do
Many wonderful healers you sent them to me at age 5
perseverance and triumph life’s lessons learned
but my Spirit could not yet thrive.

At age 53 the gift was sent to me a second time
having time to sit and feel to heal I started to rhyme.
The second time felt worse than the first
yet your love and wisdom I found
out of pain and weakness and fatigue a remarkable spirit rebound.

Reliving all the trauma of special shoes and such
I discovered remarkable healers who brought a loving touch.
I had no clue I had such strength and the ability to grow
no matter what the outcome deep gratitude I show.

This gift so precious I live a new life gratitude flows from me
my heart and soul are filled with grace each day’s a gift from thee.

I kept a gratitude journal and incorporated the practice of gratitude into my daily life.

The more I expressed my gratitude, the more things I had to be grateful for!

As I shifted from the role of victim and harnessed the power of my mind/body connection, along with intensive rehabilitation for my deconditioned state, I experienced transformation. I saw myself as I wanted to be rather than focusing on my physical state at that time.

From "Feel the Heal":
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.

When I received Anita Moorjani's Newsletter this morning with these Gratitude Prompts, I was moved to complete the prompts and share them with you!

Here are my responses:
A strength I am grateful for...endurance
Something money can't buy that I am grateful for... my health and wellness
Something that comforts me that I'm grateful for...Jamie our beloved cat
Something that's funny that I'm grateful for ... the words we try to make when playing Scrabble
Something in nature I am grateful for is...any body of water I can run near
A memory I'm grateful for is ... running the 2009 Boston Marathon
Something that changes that I'm grateful for....the seasons in New England
A challenge I'm grateful for is....living with a neuromuscular condition
Something interesting that I'm grateful for is ... the ever evolving science of the mind/body connection
Something beautiful I'm grateful for is...the ocean

May these gratitude prompts prompt you to live and be in a state of gratitude today and every day through the New Year.



From my heart to yours
In health and wellness
Mary

Be sure to visit my website at www.marymcmanus.com

Be inspired by my interview with Kendra Petrone on the award winning Exceptional Women Show by following this link

To experience an epic race weekend and hear me share my journey from a wheelchair to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond come to the Hyannis Marathon Weekend February 21-23 2020.