Be Relentless! On Cake Calamities and Compassion

 

Last Monday I was planning to participate in Dr. David Hamilton's Personal Development Club Monthly Live Q & A. I got out for my run later than I had planned to because I wanted the day to warm up a bit. When I got home I debated about whether or not to attend the Zoom meeting since it was after the starting time and I needed to eat lunch. Yet something tugged at my soul to log on. I came in the middle of David sharing a part of his journey talking about listening to our intuition.

Someone posted a question privately to David. "I am doing meditations. I've let go of relationships that no longer serve me. I'm doing all the right things with nutrition and hydration but it's so hard to deal with the negativity and divisiveness that's going on in the world. Do you have any suggestions?"

David replied in his signature Scottish accent,  "I focus on being relentless with loving kindness and compassion. I do a meta meditation several times a day. When we do this meditation wishing well for ourselves and others not only are we sending out good energy into the world but we are changing our own chemistry so that it becomes easier to see the positive things in our lives and in the world."

A woman asked a question in the chat about how to manage chronic pain due to arthritis. I had the opportunity to share with her my journey and healing resources as David talked about his recommendations for healing and management of chronic pain. I went on to share my journey with compassion saying how easy it is to feel hopeless and helpless when we are in pain but when we share healing stories, they uplift and inspire us.

So much compassion, love and kindness flowed among the members gathered that transcended being in cyberspace. As David teaches, consciousness transcends location and we can experience the flow of beautiful energy through our hearts as we express gratitude and compassion. Tears overflowed from our hearts as we wished everyone a happy Christmas and New Year.

Fast forward to Christmas Eve. Tom went to pick up my birthday cake. When he got home and we opened the box, we saw one of the ugliest cakes we had ever seen with writing that went around and down the side of the cake. At first I was angry and then I cried. I wanted Tom to take it back but then I took a pause. What if the regular cake decorator was out ill or they were short staffed during the holidays. We have bought other cakes from this store before and they were never like this. Tom and Ruth Anne said they would go to another store and find a birthday cake for me. They were in short supply but they found one cake that they thought would be suitable and asked the person behind the counter if he could write on it. He proudly said of course he could. Tom and Ruth Anne picked up a small vegan chocolate cake that we have enjoyed before as a 'back up.' 

They did not have the heart to say anything to the young man and when they brought the cake home I did not know whether to laugh or cry. He used a baby blue gel to write Happy Birthday Mary. He was clearly not a cake decorator nor someone who was able to properly write on a birthday cake. Tom and Ruth Anne said that it didn't look 'that bad' under the store's lighting. The small vegan chocolate cake would do just fine to celebrate my birthday.

When it came time to put the candles on the cake, they kept breaking because there was a hard chocolate shell rather than icing. We laughed so hard as the cake crumbled a bit until they found a festive red candle to put on the cake.

It was perfect for Tom, Ruth Anne and her twin brother Autumn and partner Michelle via the Signal app to serenade me with Happy Birthday on Christmas.

While we could have focused on the cake calamities and certainly could have taken the cake(s) back to the managers with our complaints. Instead we focused on the joy of celebrating Christmas and my 68th birthday. How wonderful it felt to greet the calamities with gratitude and compassion hoping that the young man at the bakery counter felt he made somebody's day special with his light blue gel artistry.

Desmond Tutu made his transition on December 26th. May we all be inspired to live his legacy especially during these times when we need to find our way back to healing and unity.

 

From my heart to yours

In health and wellness,

Mary

Be sure to visit my website at https://marymcmanus.com to learn about my journey to health and wellness in the wake of paralytic polio and trauma

Visit the News and Events tab to listen to my inspiring and uplifting interviews

My books to motivate, uplift and inspire you are available on Amazon

 

Emerging From 2021 and Getting Ready for 2022

 

There are so many quotes about letting go, moving forward and embracing a New Year. Many of them have negative connotations such as you can't reach for something new if your hands are full of yesterday's junk. Louise Hay's above quote is a much gentler and kinder way to look at letting go of what no longer serves us and opening ourselves to embracing the new.

There are many traditions that I've had to let go of during the pandemic. This time of year would be a time to prepare to celebrate the holidays and my Christmas birthday while getting ready for our annual winter trip to Bermuda. This is the 2nd year that we will forego that tradition. We will embark on a new tradition this year, hearing Voices of Hope Boston singing Christmas Carols at Jordan's Furniture Enchanted Village on December 18th.

Tom and Ruth Anne are training for the Providence Marathon in May of 2022 to benefit Victory Programs and Victory Programs ReVision Urban Farm. It's their first marathon training and fundraising endeavor since Tom ran Boston in 2011 for Boston Childrens Hospital. Since I ran the 2009 Boston Marathon, I have opted to be support crew.  A once and done marathon for me was a great accomplishment! I am so thrilled to experience the excitement of bringing the community together for great causes, to hear from people we've not connected with in awhile and to watch Tom and Ruth Anne run with heart to once again go the distance of the marathon. As of this writing, she is $408 away from her first milestone fundraising goal of $3000. Here is the fundraising link. It is heartwarming to experience the cheers and well wishes of our running family as we did when Team McManus ran the 2009 Boston Marathon. We are all hungry for feel good stories and Ruth Anne's miraculous journey is one that is embraced by our village.

We usually have a slate of races on our calendar as we bid farewell to an old year and head into a New Year including a Jingle Bell run. We have decided to forego the Jingle Bell run this year and stay focused on marathon training. We are not sure if there will be another Camp Hyannis aka Hyannis Marathon Weekend which was our last event before the pandemic in March of 2020 but are going to let go of that tradition in 2022. We are hopeful that the Falmouth Road Race and the Cape Cod Marathon will take place in August and October and are excited to return to our happy place for a race-cation, and are very excited about exploring Providence Rhode Island, a new race destination.

There are relationships that we released in 2021 as the pandemic helped us to discern who and what we want to have in our lives. All experiences were an important part of the tapestry of our lives and it's important to honor the importance they served at the time.

Other relationships have flowed into our lives that have brought wonderful rich, new experiences. I was blessed to be a guest on several podcasts to discuss Hope is a Garden: Poems and Essays From the 2020 Pandemic. Visit my News and Events page on my website to hear these inspirational interviews of how hope, and writing essays and poetry were critical to navigating the pandemic. Dan Thibeault, podcast producer for The Cardinal Cafe and Live Your Best Life, was inspired to reach out to me to create an audio book of my poems set to music. Together we were inspired to create, "Read Out for a Cure: Hope is a Garden - Forty Poems From the Pandemic to Uplift and Inspire You." 

In September, Tom realized it was time to retire from his position at Boston College and explore new possibilities. We are keenly aware now of what is important to have in work/life balance. With his technical skills, he will always find a place to work to generate a revenue stream during retirement. We even toyed with a non-technical job but by continuing to work in tech, he is able to do contract jobs and then take time off.

Ruth Anne experienced many different jobs in 2021. As we expressed gratitude for this past year and all we have learned, enjoyed and grown, Ruth Anne was most grateful to discover that she is totally capable of being able to work and to 'put up with a lot' in the work place. She is discovering her passion and purpose while she pursues her Masters Degree at Boston College. To help manage the symptoms of the traumatic brain injury that occurred as a result of an untreated infection, she was on a complicated medication regimen with many side effects. She is successfully tapering off of these meds and will be going into a New Year with a much lighter and smaller med box having so much more energy and vitality!

While every year brings an ebb and flow of letting go, transition and change, the pandemic has punctuated this cycle with a big exclamation point in 2021.

We don't know if fully vaccinated will mean having a booster shot although trends are heading in that direction. Masks are mandated at least through March of next year and while experts are keeping an eye on trends, testing and booster shots, Team McManus is keeping their eyes on health, well-being, doing good, letting go and letting in all the goodness and grace of the Universe in 2022. It's a milestone year as Tom turns 70 in March, we celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary in March, and the twins turn 35. My intention is to send out ripples of love, kindness, prosperity, abundance and healing from our hearth, hearts and home to the world.

From my heart to yours

In health and wellness,

Mary

Be sure to visit my website at https://marymcmanus.com to learn about my journey to health and wellness in the wake of paralytic polio and trauma

Visit the News and Events tab to listen to my inspiring and uplifting interviews

My books to motivate, uplift and inspire you are available on Amazon