(Art by Oceannavisions.com)

There is a huge opportunity we are faced with today due to this virus. It’s not just about coming together as a community even while held so apart, and it’s not even the need to start thinking differently. Or in waking up even more to the fact that humans are a largely mindless lot taking advantage of resources and each other for the sake of what we consider ‘profit’ at the expense of everything, and everyone, else.

This virus is capable of waking us up to the understanding that we have strengths we never imagined. And they don’t have to do with ‘fighting the good fight’ against another oppressor, whether it be the ‘fight’ against drugs or the next ‘us and them’, or treating the virus like the enemy. It is the fight against ourselves, not amongst ourselves. The one that crafts more consciousness and makes real changes in the world.

This virus has the potential to help us do the things we wished we could do, but couldn’t find the strength to get done. It can help us get strong mentally and physically. It can help us become more creative, more intuitive and accomplish dreams. It’s not the enemy. We are.

Our headlines tell us the best thing we can possibly do is wash our hands, wear masks and keep distance from one another while we fight the good fight. It is not a political point I"m making, it’s just a fact,  and my message is a personal one, not political. We are told daily that this is considered empowerment by coming together with these measures, when this attitude - while helpful - largely removes us from our own place of power due to entirely missing the point; Your immune system is your most important defense, there is much you can do about that, and it absolutely comes first before exterior protocols. Full stop. Mainstream media and our medical authorities (in politics, anyway) seem to have forgotten to stress that message, or even mention it at all and these are the people we take direction from on a global scale!

I just flew across the country for the first time since January. I haven’t been out of my small town in months and the main thing that struck me is how many ways - if one is trying to be certain not to come into contact with a contagious virus - we can get infected.

It was more an observation than a fear, more a reality than another thing to worry about. The fact is, there is no way to avoid coming in contact with this or any other virus. Despite all the precautions and the insistence that our chances are greatly minimized by following the protocols being suggested, you will bring things into your home or touch things out of doors that can carry any virus.

Many people are at risk of becoming as frightened as the germaphobe Howard Hughes, and unless we stop ourselves short of developing that crippling anxiety disorder, we will cripple the entire world.

This isn’t just about ‘keeping calm’, it’s about sourcing the strength being offered to us, and our headlines repeatedly give us a different message. We need to choose between fear or strength building, and to do so, we need to choose if we’re going to listen to the headlines, or to the virus.

Our immune systems are THE best defense. Social protocols come second, and are important too. I am exhausted with the shock that this is not our primary message. It is entirely inexcusable in this day and age of medical science. And I’m seriously furious about it.

I”m so angry and have been for so long that in realizing I need to channel that anger into something more healthy than adding to the problem, the virus continues to lead me into the strength I am capable of.

I am capable of overcoming the bad habits that weaken my immune system. I am capable of being less lazy about working out, going for a walk, getting healthier. I am capable of truly empowering myself to leap frog over the things that hold me back from the creative pursuits that translate to contributions that truly help not only myself, but others - of offering my best while I breathe on this planet because we need strength and action, not fear, weakness, my lazy habits or addictions.

This virus screams at us to close the internal doors that leak energy and weaken us, and strengthen the hell UP. Only then can we have strong immune systems, calm nervous systems, clearer minds, stronger actions, heightened lateral thinking we desperately need to make this world a better place, and accelerated intuition to think ahead, not just into next month.

Our media tells us to just focus on exterior actions. I remember reading, ‘Don’t be afraid, just focus on what you know you can do something about. You can focus on social distancing and hand washing, just stay focussed on that and you will feel better’.

Really. Is that the best we can do? We have superpowers we have only just begun to realize are there. This virus is asking us to Find Them.

Anger can be a hindrance or a propeller and I have to choose every day - and sometimes minute by minute when reading a headline - to follow the latter. I choose to alchemize the anger into something more inspirational, and the more I clean up my own internal weaknesses, the more I can be of service to others, the better my skills and crafts become. Oh, and the more I am resistant to disease and can recover more efficiently from them. What a bonus. 

For the first time, my anger is propelling my health, and not addictive habits I have resented myself for. This is the time in my life I’ve been waiting for, and it allows me to hear the message this virus is offering.

This virus offers more than death, it’s offering us Life.

Before a good friend died he told me that death was teaching him how afraid he had been to live. To me, this is a crucial message at this critical time.

Your best defense is, and always will be, a strong immune system and a calm nervous system that supports that immune system - one that also keeps fear in check. While toilet paper gets ripped off the shelves in a frenzy and sirens blare day and night whether we stay ‘open’ or ‘closed’, each and every one of us have a personal responsibility to find the power in the message that you are your best healthcare. For those who are inherently compromised by their immune systems, staying home is the better option and we need to support their needs.

As Patti Smith always said - not to mention thousands of years of sages - The People have the Power. So let’s listen to the virus offering us a direct road to our own powers beyond our imagination, and use this opportunity to really make the difference we have been getting ready for.