Coronavirus: A Call to Consciousness

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March 17,2020

** Many other great resources can be found on 

Colleen's website by clicking HERE

I invite you to slow down for just a moment to consider-- from a Spiritual Perspective — what purpose the Coronavirus might be serving.

Because from a Spiritual Perspective, everything in life, no matter how dire or tragic, is calling us to become more Loving, Happy, Healthy, Kind, and Aware human beings.

So, what IF this event is simply a call beckoning us to Higher Consciousness? Ultimately in service to helping us live our best lives?

COVID-19 is a serious health issue. No doubt about it. And right now, being mindful is key-- with a willingness to approach this issue with thoughtfulness, wisdom, and a bit of higher perspective.

So, before we continue, let’s lay out the feet-on-the-ground facts:

1. This virus is one of the most widespread diseases in history, affecting over 100 countries and territories so far. A global issue. 

2. The elderly (80+) and people with compromised health are most at risk (appears more common among people with diabetes, cardiovascular, respiratory issues, or high blood pressure).

3. At present, the mortality rate is averaging around 4.0%. 

[Which is actually really low compared to some of the other virus outbreaks we've had in the past such as Ebola (average 50%), the bird flu (about 60%), MERS (35%), SARS (9.6%), etc.] 

4. About 80% of the people who get the virus will get what feels like a bad cold and recover at home. 

5. Many people who contract it may not even know they have it. 

• You can transmit the virus even if asymptomatic.
• This virus has an incubation period of up to 14 days.
• This virus can live on surfaces for several days.

6. China has contained the virus. New cases have substantially dropped, which is great news. 

This is not a time to be complacent-- containment of this virus is of utmost importance. It is a time to pay attention, be proactive, and take necessary and wise precautions (which you can find at https://www.cdc.gov/) to care for ourselves, our families, friends and those we don’t even know.

Cultivating more consideration and respect for others (and ourselves of course) is a very large call to action. In the simplest sense, a conscious call to:

• Keep our hands thoroughly washed and off our face.
• Stay home-- now a mandatory order in California.
• By all means not cough or sneeze on someone else.
• Practice physical distancing--not out of fear--but out of respect, with the spirit of “You  are important and I care about You.”
• Educate ourselves about taking our health and well being into our own hands.
• Realize that we need to be protective of spreading this virus to others unknowingly, instead of just focusing on the fact that we feel fine.

Realize that there is more to this issue than just worrying about ourselves.

These things may seem like common sense, but I’d venture to say there is an unprecedented opportunity here... to be more personally & socially responsible, caring, loving, conscious human beings.

This widespread hoarding of health supplies and food that we ALL need is a clear demonstration of the unconscious fear, panic, and selfishness we currently face on this planet. It is insanity. This me and mine vs. themkind of thinking is the crux of all issues around the globe. These are unconscious reactions. What we need is to respond from a Higher Consciousness of love and respect for others. Sharing and caring.

This virus is an opportunity-- a wake-up call of literally global proportions. And if we don’t start listening and responding, these wake calls will continue to become bigger until we do. No one is exempt. We need to realize we are all in this together. We are in fact, All One.

It’s important to recognize that being proactive and paying attention is very different than operating from a place of fear. Fear suppresses the immune system. Positivity, peace, and feelings of love, strengthen the immune system.

And from a Spiritual Perspective, the biggest issue we currently face on the planet is the pervasiveness of fear. Fear is at the root of all stress and worry, selfishness and greed... which all bring out the worst in human nature. Living in fear signifies a deep disconnection from our true nature and source. A Spiritual Hunger.

I challenge you to view the current pandemic in new ways. Find positive outlets on the internet to witness the beautiful demonstrations of Love happening around the globe. There are amazing acts of human kindness and words of profound wisdom arising from this call to consciousness. This wave of higher love is SO uplifting, inspiring, and heartwarming. Please look for, focus upon, and share THESE demonstrations of Love and calls to Higher Consciousness, for this my friends IS the purpose and the why of this event! This is our True Nature being called forth!

So, from the Highest Perspective, this is most definitely an exciting time... pregnant with purpose. We have the potential to co-create unprecedented, exponential positive change. Let’s each do our best to ride this wave, uplift the consciousness of humanity, and be a part of the solution.

We can help this process along by choosing where we place our attention. Staying educated is important but swallowing too many predictions about where this virus might lead will grow our consciousness in the exact wrong direction. If we have mass consciousness focused on certain predictions, we are much more likely to make those horrors come true. But of course, this works both ways.

With that said, I encourage you to engage in the global prayer & meditation opportunities that are beginning to emerge, which are proven to affect mass consciousness in positive ways. We are SO much more powerful than we realize!

The truth is, the more we listen and respond with conscious awareness and care, the gentler the process of our evolution will be--individually and globally. And let us endeavor to implement what we’ve learned after the dust has settled... when things return to “normal”... not just for now as a stop gap in a time of crisis.

I encourage you to always appreciate the days, the moments, the magic, and all of the beauty and love and loved ones in your life... to courageously go after your dreams and deepest heart’s desires... so when your day does come, you will have lived your best, most fulfilling life.

Please take excellent, educated care of yourself and your family and please leave plenty of room in your heart for others. And in these days ahead, may you allow yourself to smile and laugh, express love and be joyful, for the world needs your positive energy right now!

May we honor all of the lives we’ve lost by allowing this experience to carry us all to new heights of consciousness... so that we may all ultimately enjoy a happier, healthier, more peaceful world.

With Infinite Love, 

Colleen 

References:

1.https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51674743

2.https://www.newsweek.com/2020/03/27/past-pandemics-numbers-how-coronavirus-fits-1491794.html

3.https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

4.https://www.newsweek.com/2020/03/27/past-pandemics-numbers-how-coronavirus-fits-1491794.html

5.https://www.visualcapitalist.com/history-of-pandemics-deadliest/

6.https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ebola-virus-disease

7.https://www.who.int/influenza/human_animal_interface/avian_influenza/h5n1_research/faqs/en/

8.https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/china

9.https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/prevention-and-screening-articles/wuhan-coronavirus

Dear Friends,

We have a choice.
Epidemics, like earthquakes, tornadoes and floods, are part of the cycle of life on planet Earth.
How will we respond?
With greed, hatred, fear and ignorance?
This only brings more suffering.
Or with generosity, clarity, steadiness and love?

This is the time for love.

Time for Bodhisattvas. In Buddhist teachings, the Bodhisattva is  someone who vows to alleviate suffering and brings blessings in every  circumstance. A Bodhisattva chooses to live with dignity and courage and  radiates compassion for all, no matter where they find themselves.

This is not a metaphor. As Bodhisattvas we are now asked to hold a  certain measure of the tragedy of the world and respond with love.

The Bodhisattva path is in front of us. The beautiful thing is, we  can see Bodhisattvas all around. We see them singing from their  balconies to those shut inside. We see them in young neighbors caring  for the elders nearby, in our brave healthcare workers and the  unheralded ones who stock the shelves of our grocery stores.

As a father, if she called me, I would fly to the ends of the earth  to help and protect my daughter. Now she and her firefighter/paramedic  husband and my toddler grandson await the virus. His urban fire  department, like many hospitals and first responders, does not have  masks. Eighty percent of their work is emergency medical calls and they  all expect to get the virus. They will not be tested, because the  department can’t afford to lose the help of too many of their  firefighters.

What can I do? What can we do?

In this moment we can sit quietly, take a deep breath, and  acknowledge our fear and apprehension, our uncertainty and helplessness…  and hold all these feelings with a compassionate heart. We can say to  our feelings and uncertainty, “Thank you for trying to protect me,” and  “I am OK for now.” We can put our fears in the lap of Buddha, Mother  Mary, Quan Yin, place them in the hearts of the generations of brave  physicians and scientists who tended the world in former epidemics.

When we do, we can feel ourselves part of something greater, of  generations of survivors in the vast web of history and life, “being  carried” as the Ojibwa elders say, “by great winds across the sky.”

This is a time of mystery and uncertainty. Take a breath. The veils  of separation are parting and the reality of interconnection is apparent  to everyone on earth. We have needed this pause, perhaps even needed  our isolation to see how much we need one another.

Now it is time to add our part. The Bodhisattva deliberately turns toward suffering to serve and help those around in whatever way they can. This is the test we have been waiting for. We know how to do this.

Time to renew your vow. Sit quietly again and ask your heart: what is my best intention, my most noble aspiration for this difficult time? Your heart will answer. Let this vow become your North Star. Whenever you feel lost, remember and it will remind you what matters.

It is time to be the medicine, the uplifting music, the lamp in the darkness.

Burst out with love. Be a carrier of hope. If there is a funeral, send them off with a song.

Trust your dignity and goodness. Where others hoard…..help. Where others deceive……stand up for truth. Where others are overwhelmed or uncaring…..be kind and respectful.

When you worry about your parents, your children, your beloveds, let  your heart open to share in everyone’s care for their parents, their  children and their loved ones. This is the great heart of compassion.  The Bodhisattva directs compassion toward everyone—those who are  suffering and vulnerable and those who are causing suffering. We are in  this together.

It is time to reimagine a new world, to envision sharing our common  humanity, to envision how we can live in the deepest most beautiful way  possible. Coming through this difficulty, what we intend and nurture, we  can do.

In the end, remember who you are is timeless awareness, the  consciousness that was born into your body. You were born a child of the  spirit, and even now you can turn toward the awareness, and become the  loving awareness that witnesses yourself reading and feeling and  reflecting.

When a baby is born our first response is love. When a dear one dies, the hand we hold is a gesture of love. Timeless love and awareness are who you are. Trust it.

Dear Bodhisattva, The world awaits your compassionate heart. Let’s join in this great task together.

With metta, 

Jack

Today, as we stumble out of bed, we stare into the COVID 19 Mirror. 

We see that our age has no relevance; our skin color is not a factor; our gender is merely a physical assignment. 

We know that while each of us stands alone in solitude, we have never been more connected; more reliant on our collective intent. 

As we brush our hair back out of our eyes, we see the soul searching for the right way to proceed.

In our eyes, we see the eyes of our brother and sisters looking back, questioning our understanding of the gravity of this moment. 

We, for the first time in a very long time, know the true meaning of personal responsibility, which equals social responsibility.

We hold each other’s heart, soul, and very existence in our own singular actions. 

As we step into our daily routine, the COVID -19 Mirror is always looking back at us. 

As we partake in breakfast, lunch and dinner we eat with our families in great gratitude; we now make certain not to waste.

As we step out onto our porches, decks or backyards, we hear the beautiful song of the earth in the silence of our cities; we realize that we can do much better as her keepers. 

As we look to the sky and breathe in the clean spring air we come to tears; our precious lungs fill our temples with life, each moment of the day, without so much as a thank you. 

As we move through the day which is much slower paced, we see all that is truly unnecessary; we are now drawn to priorities. 

As our priorities are satisfied, we come to the realization that what truly makes us happy as humans is helping someone else. 

As we sit in the dark at the end of the day, we feel our true feelings; we know that we all love and we all fear.

But, as we lay our heads down to sleep, we now dream; we dream our collective dream. We dream of our new world, one in which we all live to our fullest potential by nurturing each other through respect, honesty, and love of our common humanity. 

Tomorrow, as we stumble out of bed, and we stare into the COVID-19 Mirror, we will be ever more grateful and will live our lives remembering that we are indebted to our Mother Earth and that we are all REFLECTIONS of divine compassion and the light of God.

Blessings to all, 

Deborah