As the Corona virus infection rages all over the world, with thousands getting infected daily, we pray for them, and we honour the courage, resilience and inner strength, of all those who are fighting the disease, and all those who are toiling day and night, to contain, prevent and cure the disease, and to those heroes who keep the supply lines alive.

Once we realise the gravity of the situation, and take adequate precautions of social distancing, self-quarantine, hand washing and wearing a mask, what’s the next step? The next step is to manage your thoughts, emotions and through them, your vibrations.

One thing that is spreading faster than the virus, is fear. The virus takes physical time, to spread from person to person, from country to country. Fear and panic don’t need time or space, to spread. One notification, one message, one forward, and fear infects millions in one shot. In comparison to the speed and intensity with which fear is spreading, the virus spread is nothing.

Medical science today accepts that fear and stress adversely affect our immune systems. An acute or long standing stress raises our levels of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. While adrenaline raises our blood pressure and blood sugars (both of which are being cited as unfavourable predictors of the outcome of this disease), cortisol directly reduces our immunity, a fact that is exploited by medical science when treating a group of disorders called auto-immune disorders (like Rheumatoid Arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, Lupus, etc)

So, common sense tells us that we need to be calm and cool. How can we do that, in the face of adversity?

Our current situation is what it is, and at an individual and collective level, we are doing whatever is possible. But what we need to do, individually, is to raise our vibrations and consciousness, so that we are able to send strong messages to our immune system, and keep it in top shape. The brain, through its nerves and homones, is constantly communicating with the immune system, either upgrading or downgrading it, as the need may be. This upcoming branch of medicine is called Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology.

There are many negatives and qhite a few positives of this pandemic. Negatives are obvious—suffering, lockdowns, deaths, lack of essential goods, lack of medicines, severe economic slowdown, recession, loss of pay and jobs, etc. But focussing on these as an individual only tends to depress us, and lower our immunity, making us more prone to picking up the virus and suffering serious disease.

But if we wish to, we can choose on the positives that this pandemic has ushered in. We can choose hope and faith, over fear. We can choose love and compassion over hate and anger. We can choose sharing and caring, over hoarding and storing. We can choose to re-examine our lives, our priorities and make different choices for the future.

Here is a list of positives I thought of, and on which I focus everyday of the lockdown, to keep myself and my family in good spirts and cheer, to (hopefully) to raise our immunity.

1. I am getting a much need physical and mental rest
2. I am spending lots of time bonding with my family
3. I am making all those phone calls to freinds and family, that I have been putting off, for months
4. I am eating good, home cooked nutritious food, and almost eating no junk
5. I am learning that I actually need very little, to be able to carry on and survive
6. All of a sudden, money, power, status, fame, name, achievements, assets, looks—things I might have prided myself on, have become meaningless
7. I have re-discovered the power and meaning of love, of honest communication, of sharing and caring, of going out of my way to help others
8. I realise that this world is not just about me, there are others who are different, but equally important to existence
9. I have realised that value of doctors, nurses, technicians, drivers, grocery store workers, the police force, and many such human beings whose work I took for granted.
10. I have realised that I always, always have a choice, to choose my thoughts, every moment. I can choose faith, trust, hope, love, courage, forgiveness and compassion anytime over hatred, anger, desire, lust, guilt, and dishonesty.

These are some of the good things I focus on, and let me tell you that I am in much better mood and vibrations than so many others I know, who have chosen to focus on suffering, deaths and disease, and who have let their minds run amok, imagining all kinds of probable future scenarios, about which we can do absolutely nothing, except agonise, lament, vent, and feel bad.

The benefits to our environment, to Mother Nature, to the animal and plant life is a totally different topic, which we now understand, and can see for ourselves.

Every moment, become aware that you have a choice of your thoughts (and through them your emotional and vibrational state), and choose hope over fear, everyday.