Merle's Musings

"Merle's Musings -- Rise to Win" celebrates the discovery of the heart's light and healing in the broken places of body, mind, and spirit. After overcoming a motorcycle accident and cancer in early adulthood, Manser was further challenged near retirement with divorce, depression, financial uncertainty, and literally unhoused for three years during the pandemic.

More than a motivating and authentic story, it's an invitation to observe, listen, and connect the dots to form a deeper understanding for navigating your own story. Manser invites readers to punctuate their lives with grit, fortitude, and unquestionable belief that we all have a divine spirit within us that calls us to evoke the heart's light of goodness and service. To be unshakable witnesses in conquering adversity, running the race as beacons of hope, purpose, and promise.

James Merle Manser, Jr., known as "Jimmy" lives in Lane County, Oregon. Although raised on the east coast, Jimmy's passion for nature and outdoor activities favors the Northwest Pacific. He retired in May 2015 from a thirty-three-year health care career with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Jimmy's undergraduate studies at Springfield College from 1969 to 1973 focused on human philosophy, education of the whole person, spirit, mind, and body in service to others. Drawing upon those roots, combined with parental Christian teachings, he envisioned robust volunteer adventures in retirement. This journey took shape through the creation of an internet platform, "LovesIntention", launched fortuitously on Valentine's Day, 2016.