Did you know that the Coronavirus is not really alive? Viruses require a host to function by passing on DNA or RNA information to the next round of viruses. Humans, among other mammals, may serve as the host for the Coronavirus. I know for sure that I do not like to host the Coronavirus. I feel threatened by it. I am crawling into my home cave to meditate and my door stays closed. The groceries are delivered via an online shopping service so that I do not even need to go out. Yeah, the virus can kill me! I know the virus is right in our communities and has spread around the globe. The Coronavirus is here to stay, at least for a while. I feel helpless and vulnerable and tears are in my eyes; even thinking about having to live with the virus makes me mad and sad. I could deny it, and ignore it even exists, while enjoying a day at the beach, in a nice restaurant, or a crowd of people. Yeah, have fun, laugh, and feel fully alive. Forget about the virus. It’s Me-time now. It makes me feel selfish and guilty. What about the Coronavirus patients in the hospital hanging on a ventilator? My stomach contracts and I feel small. Where is my mask? I don’t want to hurt anybody; I cannot bear the idea that I may accidentally transmit the virus to an innocent other. Social distancing matters! Let’s be rational and take a closer look at the case and death numbers of the Coronavirus. Millions of people lost their jobs. Hungry, angry, and devastated. Melancholy dwells up. So many people have already died. They are my fellow neighbors in the global village, and I am part of that village. And in this village are kids, neighbors who walk their dogs, homeless people, single moms, my friends, essential workers, warrior health professionals, schoolteachers, and joggers. Grrrrr, I literally saw the droplets flying in the air while a jogger passed by – too close – that’s the world I live in. How can I help to make this a better world?
I contemplate how a tiny virus has caused so many disruptions in my live and globally. It makes me pause. If I allow to feel what is present, the paradoxical feelings and sensations flow through my body in waves. Every breath gives birth to something, and on and on it goes. I sense that there is transformation — as small as the virus — hardly noticeable. When I am completely immersed in stillness I can hear the virus speak and a new moment is born. Moments of sadness, indifference, anxiety, beauty, joy and …… I fathom that I am not any of those feelings. I just feel very human.