Going the Distance: The Power of Belief

On Monday, I wrote a blog post about what happens when someone believes in us. It's also vital that I believe in myself and believe that I can go the distance for a threepeat on the road to the Bermuda Marathon Weekend.

I absolutely loved reading Candace Pert's book, 'Everything you need to know to feel Go(o)d.'



The words settled into the very fiber of my Being. As a scientist and spiritualist, Candace takes us on a wonderful journey of exploration building the case for how our beliefs become our biology.

New sensations are arising in my body as I train for the Bermuda Half Marathon. I need to remind myself that these sensations are all part of the training and vital to building strength and endurance.

In Candace's book, she lets us know that how we interpret sensations in our body will determine our body's response to those sensations. I could either choose to fear injury and doubt that my body is strong enough to go the distance for another half marathon because, after all, I was diagnosed with Post-Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western medicine standards 10 years ago OR I can choose to believe that all is healed from paralytic polio and trauma, the knee injury I sustained in December of 2014 and 25+ surgeries.

This morning on Facebook, I changed my profile picture to my book cover:


along with the book description:

Mary McManus knew challenges since she was five years old beginning with contracting polio followed by enduring nine years of violence at the hands of family members. Those early challenges prepared her for taking on the challenge of the diagnosis of post polio syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease in December 2006 when she was at the height of her award winning career as a social worker at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Asking for Divine Guidance as she had throughout her trials and tribulations, she discovered the gift of poetry in her soul. Her first poem, “Running the Race,” foreshadowed her 2009 Boston Marathon run. “Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance,” chronicles Mary’s journey as a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma, as a runner and a woman who refused to quit. Eight years after her diagnosis, she was finally led to two healers, a chiropractor and a muscular therapist, who helped her reclaim her life and go the distance, a woman transformed who embodies the power of endurance.

I was deeply humbled and grateful for the comments posted by my friends and followers. One in particular jumped out at me:
"you, my friend, are SUCH an inspiration!!!!! Congrats on this, and ALLL you do to keep us all believing !!!"
When doubts creep in as is so often part of our human condition, I remind myself of how the power of belief has carried me these past 10 years on my healing quest. I always saw beyond appearances of using a wheelchair at times for mobility, being in a leg brace and using a cane, having difficulty swallowing and breathing and suffering from chronic pain and fatigue.

The power of belief manifested through my pen, my divining rod for healing as I wrote poems imagining myself as healthy, whole, free, splashing in puddles without my leg brace, running unencumbered and reclaiming my life from the thieves who tried to steal it all away from me, enduring 9 years of abuse and neglect. Writing poetry fanned the flames of hope within me until my beliefs became my biology.

Tomorrow Team McManus will run 7.5 miles; our longest distance to date on the road to Bermuda.

With the power of belief in my pocket, trusting in my training and knowing I've got this, I will enjoy the journey!

Go the distance with strength and courage!
~Mary

Be sure to visit my website by following this link.

My books are available on Amazon.

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:


And my latest and greatest book - Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):