And Humanity ground to a halt, shocked, they looked up from their smartphones and saw, for the first time in a long time…

They felt fear in their bodies and wondered what would happen next. The taste of desperation, omnipresent. They’d heard the warnings, but their filters led them to interpret the situation in their unique manner. But the more they listened, the more they heard.

Some heard the voice of the heart, softly pointing out the beauty that surrounded them. It whispered how the mind and its limits would potentially only see fear and how easy it would be to listen to its crippling alarm. But the heart saw beyond the fear and knew that good could come of it, if we chose to see it, of course.

After all, this virus had taken the globe by storm, silently making its way across different nations, each reacting differently. Fear was predominant everywhere it went, creating what some would describe as pre-apocalyptic reactions, hoarding in angst. This would not be forgotten for generations to come. We would remember this virus as our generations’ version of a war. Governments asked their people to stay home and prevent the spread of this deadly virus. Mostly, people listened.

Then citizens worldwide looked around and saw, for the first time, maybe ever, those who stood by their sides. Their families and loved ones. Gone was the pressure to get to work on time, rush the kids to school or daycare. Everything was closed. Even mortgage payments were postponed. Families now had time to be together. Really be together. Play together. Move together. Dance, sing, bake, cook together. Learn together. Couples had time to talk, interact with one another, actually be together, heart to heart. A Holiday baby boom was imminent. Those who lived alone had time to do all the things they’d always said they’d eventually get around to doing.

Humanity was given an opportunity to slow down and soon realized that a choice had to be made. Choose Quality of Presence and live each day in the present, welcome and embrace it as the present it is. Connect to everything that makes their heart vibrate, and allow for the daily grind and rat race to become a thing of the past. Perhaps this virus was the gift Humanity needed to become aware of its ways and change them before it was too late. The transition was uncomfortable for many, painful, and even devastating for others. But perhaps it was the necessary evil Humanity needed to make it to the other side and see that somewhere along the way; they’d lost their way. Maybe the antidote didn’t have to come in a vile, but rather in the shape of connection—heart to heart connection with others.

Fear was replaced by compassion, hatred by love, social distancing by social connection. People came together to assist one another in ways that had once seemed so foreign. They slowed down and finally stopped to smell to roses and enjoy their lives together rather than the rat race they’d once known. They realized that the pursuit of happiness was redundant since it had been there the whole time. They no longer felt the need to get to that next place, get that next thing, flash that flashy thing.

The aftermath of the virus left holes in people’s lives, loved ones gone forever. Grief transmuted into honoring the departed and applying the universal antidote to every experience moving forward.

The antidote had been available all along, but Humanity had been so busy with the business of being busy that they hadn’t noticed it. Love. This antidote led them to share and express love through every action, every thought. They recognized how each day was a present, a gift to be savored. The antidote brought about new ways of being—different choices. Lives were honored for both the living and the departed.

A profound connection had been anchored into a new reality, and Humanity was ready for this shift, it was ready to realign with this new heart connection and allow the mind to assist the wisdom that came from the heart’s guidance.