​The Power of Contagion
One thing you may learn from the current experience of the coronavirus is the enormous power of contagion. In the financial industry, contagion is the risk that financial difficulties at one bank will spread to another bank or one market to another market affecting the global financial system. Contagion is psychologically defined as the spread of a behavior pattern, attitude, belief, information, or emotion from one person to another. You have all experienced emotional contagion—when your emotions have mirrored another’s emotions. Think about how contagious crying and laughing can be sometimes. Someone crying can bring tears to your eyes, someone laughing can infect you with laughter. This synchrony of emotions between individuals is important to personal relationships. Most of the time it is unconscious, and all of the time the potential for contagious emotion is present. There is also cognitive contagion, when the dissemination of information, knowledge or beliefs occurs through the sharing of conscious or unconscious cognitive fields. And, of course, there is the contagion of physical disease. The contagion of physical disease has been illustrated powerfully with the current pandemic underway, and is probably the most common way you have thought about contagion.
In addition to the power of contagion between and amongst humans, there is also an ongoing synchrony representing the contagion between humans and planet earth. This alignment of energies, of you and seemingly everything else is One Life. We would suggest that One Life Awareness is an outcome of total and absolute contagion of all to everything.
Contagion is everywhere, all the time. From a One Life perspective, One Life would not exist without the power of contagion linking everyone and everything. Contagion is a powerful expression of connectedness, of truly being the One Life unfolding as All That Is.
As a human, now on this planet, you have the opportunity to not just understand this power, but to wield this power if you wish. Wielding this power might look like consciously infecting someone with your positive attitude. It might look like comforting someone who is ill or dying. I could simply be sitting in meditation and dedicating the merit of that meditation to all who may be suffering, or simply to all.
This is the time to realize the power you have to influence the experience of any and all outcomes unfolding. You can appreciate that influence occurs because of the power of contagion. It is the time to notice when you are becoming reactive or when fear arises within you. All of the aggressive behavior you may have seen in grocery stores or even in yourself recently is just the aggression that comes up when you are overwhelmed with fear. Fear can become contagious, and overwhelm can trigger both aggression and indecisiveness. Practice recognizing this pattern and notice that it is rooted in fear of the unknown, and can be halted with a simple check-in.
A check-in with yourself could include asking yourself these questions:
“is what I am expressing actually present right here right now, or am I projecting and futurizing?”
“is what I am expressing right now kind, loving and compassionate?”
“is what I am expressing right now necessary and essential for the wellness of all sentient beings?”
If you ask yourself these three questions and discover you are not where you wish to be, not contagiously emanating the loving kindness you truly are, remember the power of contagion and invite love to infect you. Take a deep breath and bring love into your heart and mind. Be one with What Is, be you, allowing the fear to be present, but not allowing fear to overwhelm the greater presence of love within you.
Basically, the lesson being learned right now is that there is no separation between any living thing on the planet. In all ways and at all times, all are connected. All humans, all animals all plants, all minerals, all the elements, everything that is the substance of the planet is connected to everything else. There is no way to isolate yourself from any of the things that exist on the planet. You are a part of it as it is a part of you, and that even includes the atmosphere, the space, the sky. It is all one living entity and at this point in time, this living entity is not breathing easily. It's not having the full capacity of life force that is necessary for the entire global system to sustain itself. It is in trouble, and the only way that things will change for the entire global system is from the inside out-- from the people inside the system, changing their relationship to the whole system in order to bring about a better experience for all. The power to invoke is the power being illustrated right now, the power of contagion. The change underway is a recalibration of all relationships, a coming together in One Life Awareness.
 
The is going to take a lot of work on a lot of levels. There are the physical levels. There are the mental levels. There are the emotional levels. And there really are very deep and profound opportunities to work at spiritual levels. At this point, you need to respect your sense of connectedness. You need to practice the breathing in of everything and all that is seemingly dark, and the breathing out of everything and all that is seemingly light.  This is a practice to help to transform all of the “dark” energy into “light”, even though the terms dark and light are actually One Life, not separate at all. It requires feeling like who you are is a significant part of the dynamic and profound global system. You have to realize that you are significant, that you are important, that your actions are going to have consequences, that your practices are going to be supported and supportive, and that you are going to help to create the change that is necessary. This is not because you are special—everyone is significant. This is not because you are not special either. This is because you have the power to be contagious.
 
You have to know who you are, ultimately--this really means to recognize that as a being of light, you can have influence on the whole global system. Now on a mental level this means really looking at your thoughts; really looking into your own mind and seeing if you are feeding the fear, feeding the nonchalance--the sense of not being involved at all--or whether you can make a positive contribution to the whole with basically positive thinking.
 
Now this doesn't mean to create a struggle with yourself and be upset with yourself, if your thoughts go dark. This means when you have a positive thought, as you're feeling happy and in any way delighted with the nature of your existence, you hit the imagined “share” button. Remembering the preciousness of your life, let yourself expound on that. Let yourself on allow those thoughts to fill you, to bring big smile to your face and into your heart and make that your contribution. Very closely associated, of course, are your emotions. They are not separate from your thoughts or from your spirituality, or from your body, but they are something that you can focus on. You may not be able to look at emotions as separate from thoughts completely, but have some sense of being able to examine what are you feeling in the moment. If you feel fear--which everyone is going to feel fear from time to time--you can ask to simply relax into it and let the light flow and cleanse you. If you feel darkness, let the darkness come in with the in breath and let light simply emerge from you. All of these practices are going to help you be in touch with your own physical body, which is a microcosmic group of organisms that is a part of this macrocosmic global system. Each individual has to participate in the best way that they can to contribute to the healing of this entire global system, the planet and the cosmos. All depends upon it.
The power of contagion is great. Use its greatness to help you to step out of your more afflicted emotions and fears. There is always love, there is always the direct knowing of peace, there is always One Life expressing All That Is. Don’t deny any of it, just be aware of all of it, and choose to spread the deepest peace within. Be who you are, be all you are, and just be.
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​A One Life Tutorial on Corona Virus
 
The nature of this Corona Virus has much to do with changing notions of separation. First of all, the virus has come from an animal source. This means that the relationship between humans and animals is changing, that animals and humans are coming closer together—the boundaries between the two have become less rigid. This is a return to a more profound state of knowing the nature of all beings not as separate entities, but truly as One Life.
 
Secondly, people are practicing social distancing. This means that a great deal of attention is being placed on the space between self and other. We suggest that this space—the space between you and another—is being redefined. It is no longer the space that separates you, it is the space that connects you.
 
By this we mean that there is an intimate connection between you and all others that is being rediscovered. You are being reminded of how deeply and profoundly you are connected to everyone and ultimately everything. You are being reminded that your life actually depends on everyone and everything much more than you may have previously thought.
 
You are also having to examine all the things you take for granted, and all your behaviors that are habitual. What is it that you have been doing that is essential for your well being? And what have you been doing without presence, without consciousness? Many things have been thrown into the air so that they can be sorted out in a new way. You are being asked to look at your priorities and your vulnerabilities. You are being asked, "What matters?” and "What does not matter?"
 
What matters is deeply personal, and universal at the same time. There is an enormous shift underway as earth’s culture moves away from acquisition and indulgence as an aspiration for a good life, to the deeper understanding that what is really aspired to is connection, compassion, loving kindness. So in this time, if you recognize the opportunity to acknowledge from the depths of your heart, connection to all beings, connection to all life, you will reach a state of awareness we identify as One Life Awareness.
 
All healing is a movement into a more profound state of being. You are one with everything from the virus to the stars, and in that knowing lies profound peace and fearless acceptance of what is. That is the foundation of a joyful life, an amazing existence, and healing that is endlessly beneficial to all of One Life. Let yourself be mindful and aware, feel loved in every moment, for One Life is love of the highest order.
Be who you are, be well, and so be it.