COVID-19 Wake Up Call-Part 1

Hoped for Healing at Weeklong Retreat Ends with Flu and Pneumonia

I want to share how February unfolded for me and my husband Sharbel. We were excited to be attending Dr. Joe Dispenza’s weeklong retreat from February 10 – 16.  My husband fell ill with fever and some kind of virus two days before the event started. With the help of some homeopathic flu remedy that we bought at Whole Foods, he managed to push through it. Nothing was going to stop him from attending this event in Indian Wells, CA, just two hours north from where we live. We had been so looking forward to it for several months and religiously reviewing Dr. Joe’s Progressive Online Course that was required before attending. To get a sense of the event and what we experienced, click on the video below.

On Saturday, the day before the end of the retreat, I received what’s called a “coherence healing” from six attendees at the event who formed a circle around me as I lay on the floor for what seemed like a relatively brief time. There was a big ballroom filled with many other “healers” and “healees” simultaneously giving and receiving “coherence healings.”

I had begun coughing earlier that day and was looking forward to possible relief. I felt some breezes blowing over and around me while on the floor, but not much more. Those who had been sending me love from their hearts and healing from their hands were all hoping for some kind of healing miracle for me, but, alas, I felt exactly the same after the healing ended.

That night, I started running a fever and could not attend any events the following day. I was in bed, under the covers, and very out of it. I hardly recall the ride home through the steep mountain roads. I was not much better a few days later and still had a high fever. By the end of the week, I went to see a doctor who told me I had an almost 104-degree fever. I tested positive for Influenza-A and a chest X-ray revealed that I also had pneumonia.

A round of antibiotics helped pull me out of the very bottomless pit I felt I was in. This combination of flu and pneumonia laid me very low. My cough was very bad and it took almost two months to get back to any reasonable semblance of health. A number of people at the event also tested positive for Influenza-A or were very sick for a few weeks. It was a kind of eerie foreshadowing of the pandemic to come.

While hunkered down on the couch with a fleece throw over me, I was watching the news of what was unfolding all over the world. I was actually quite grateful that I had gotten sick and seen a doctor before the surge of COVID-19 patients began showing up at medical centers and hospitals around the United States.

When I was feeling so sick, I felt numb to my own life. It was just about making it through to the next day. One day when the doorbell rang, it was hard for me to even get up and answer it. Happily, the florist delivered a large bouquet of beautiful white roses amidst other fragrant flowers. My husband’s office wanted to extend good wishes for my recovery. The flowers were a beautiful blessing and an oasis in the midst of a desert of illness.

Happily, the florist delivered a large bouquet of beautiful white roses amidst other fragrant flowers. Photo by Donna El Haber, 2020. All rights reserved.

COVID-19 Dramatically Impacts Life Across our Nation

Having felt the way I did with Influenza-A and pneumonia, and all the time it took for me to recover, I can scarce imagine what patients who are experiencing the more serious symptoms of the COVID-19 virus are going through. Chris Cuomo, news anchor of CNN’s “Prime Time” show, tested positive for COVID-19 and had no idea how he had contracted it. He had an ongoing fever and trouble breathing for several weeks. He was on air every night and kept battling through his illness.

He didn’t know when his fever would end or when he would ever feel well enough to be out of quarantine and leave his basement. His wife, Cristina, was infected as well a few weeks after he contracted the virus. They were not able to isolate together, however, because of the risk of her re-infecting him.

This vicious virus is very unpredictable and creates a variety of symptoms for each person, ranging from mild to life-threatening. His wife’s symptoms were much less severe than his. To check out what he shared about some of what he has been through, click on the video below.

Some victims, like Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom, test positive and begin resting at home. Then symptoms can shift so suddenly and become very severe. When that happened to him, he was quickly transferred to a hospital.

Others like CNN news anchor Brooke Baldwin can experience a roller coaster ride of symptoms. She wrote an article about her difficult journey through her COVID-19 illness and isolation. Speaking to CNN anchor Brianna Keilar, Baldwin described her fever, trouble breathing and the intense loneliness she felt. Finally, she said, her husband threw caution to the wind and just held and comforted her. Click on the image below to check out what she shared.

Although there have been numerous epidemics and some pandemics before, this one seems to have taken the world by storm and surprise. Perhaps it was the combination of China clamping down on the dire warnings needed to alert other countries and our own government’s initial minimization of the virus and the huge toll it might take. Whatever the reasons, and I am sure there are so many more, the United States was woefully unprepared for the onslaught of illness that would befall residents across the country.

The news has been flooded with stories about the lack of protective equipment for medical professionals and their daily struggle with an overwhelming number of acutely ill patients. Then there have also been countless stories about the shameful lack of ventilators for those patients who would die without them and the lack of test kits and labs to efficiently process the tests. This lack of efficient testing continues to be a serious issue that can complicate and impede the process of reopening the country.

As the weeks wore on, some auto makers like Ford and Tesla stepped up to transform their plants from those that made cars to those now making ventilators. General Electric Corporation is also now making ventilators. Many private companies also began creating coronavirus tests. And the high curves of illness are beginning to lower in a number of places.

There is news of another even more severe wave of the pandemic coming in the fall at the very same time a flu epidemic is likely to hit. Some states, like Georgia, are opening businesses and public places before their “curves have flattened” and before the proverbial viral coast is clear.

Time of Great Uncertainty

It is a time of great uncertainty with no one knowing whether he or she might be infected sometime in the future. What makes the future especially precarious is how easily the virus can be transmitted and how long it is able to endure. There is also the significant economic, financial and emotional fallout from all that has occurred since the virus hit the shores of the United States.

There has been great suffering and hardship for so many. Not everyone has been infected, but everyone has been affected. We are all in this together, not only with those in our country, but with those throughout the world.

Making matters worse, there is no real clear end in sight. Indeed it is possible with states and cities opening earlier than scientifically recommended, many more people may be unnecessarily infected. It is easy to see why at this time there has been a push for the start of opening some businesses to begin an economic recovery. The cost, however, of decisions to open sooner than the dates noted by the scientific professionals, will become clear in the near future.

We all can only follow our own inner guidance and decision-making process based on what we know and believe, who we are listening to and what our local governments advise. The scientists who have studied epidemics and pandemics seem to have some clear guidelines as to when a “staying in place” order can be lifted. It will depend on each locality’s specific numbers of reported COVID-19 patient infections and deaths.

It is clear that “physical” distancing, careful washing of hands and wearing masks in public places will all to help keep the virus curves going down. This is especially important because a number of doctors interviewed on TV believe that the fall will bring increased levels of infection that will escalate at a time when flu outbreaks are also likely.

Careful washing of hands, wearing masks and keeping physical distances of six feet or more between people will help to diminish your chances of getting sick with the COVID-19 virus. Photo by Mim Wickett from www.RGBStock.com.

Blessings in the Challenges

It’s a very different world from the one we knew just a relatively short time ago. We have all been presented with many challenges. However, as I wrote in a previous blog post, there are always blessings in the challenges.

One big blessing for me is having my husband Sharbel working from home. That has enabled us to have lunch together and to also take walks with our English springer spaniel Harry every day here in Northern San Diego.

I snapped this picture of my husband Sharbel and our dog Harry as we were taking one of our afternoon walks in the California sunshine. It has been one of the blessings for us during this COVID-19 crisis. There are always blessings in the challenges!

It has also been a time for me to go deeper within and connect more deeply with God and the angels. I have been listening to many spiritual audios and videos on YouTube and will share some of them in my next post. Another blessing for me is that this physical distancing and “quarantine” with my husband has enabled us to meditate more often and to think about what we really want to create as we move forward on our Divine paths.

In this time of “cocooning,” I have also been able to finish a series of blog posts that I started last year called “Time to Awaken!” In the midst of this pandemic, with so many lives lost around the world and so many still suffering, I think these posts are especially timely and relevant.

I hope you get a chance to read them. I think you will feel deeply in your heart what I have been feeling in mine. Unfortunately we might not have all the time in the world to do what we came here to do or to fulfill our dreams and check off items on our bucket list.

It is this fragility and vulnerability of life that can help us appreciate it even more as the extraordinary gift it is. When we are taken out of our routines and busy schedules and asked to be still and stay in place, we are offered many great gifts. One is to meditate more and explore from this moment on what it is you want to create in your life.

I speak about that in my fourth “Time to Awaken!” post and provide a link to a tool you can use to create a movie about that desired future.

This pause can be a sacred time to think about “pivoting” to the next evolution of the life you would like to create. You don’t have to make any kind of grand change or take a huge jump outside your current comfort zone. You can just take some baby steps, leading you gently and slowly to your amazing new future.

You don’t have to make any kind of grand change or take a huge jump outside your current comfort zone. You can just take some baby steps, leading you gently and slowly to your amazing new future. Photo by Eric Nyrtsm from www.freeimages.com.

For those on the front lines at this time, risking so much for us all, I honor your amazing work and your strength and courage. For those who have lost loved ones in this crisis, you have my deepest sympathy. Know that those who have left us are always around in spirit, watching over us and just a thought away.

I look forward to sharing a rich array of resources to help uplift your spirit during these challenging times in my next post.

If I can help support you during this time, you can email me at info@lovehealingandmiracles.com. To check out my single counseling and healing sessions, you can click here. You can click here to schedule a free half-hour get-acquainted session.

I encourage you to continue to be grateful for all the blessings in your life; to be kind to yourself whenever and however possible; and to be in service to others, shining your brilliant light in the world. Stay healthy and well. Know that you can always call upon God and the angels and so many other beings of light. They love when you reach out to them for support and miracles and stand ever-ready to help you turn your challenges into victories.

With  love, healing and miracles and so much grace and abundance,

Rev. Donna