COVID19 is here. Across the world. In my country. Within my neighborhood.

And it’s knocking at my door…

…an uninvited visitor and most unwanted guest. Yet, despite the inconvenient interruption, I reluctantly open the door and immediately prepare the least disruptive accommodations to get through the coming days…

From a behavioral scientist perspective, the last three weeks have been a fascinating study in human behavior as I’ve watched — while failing miserably to objectify my emotional responses — how my global co-workers, neighbors, friends, family — and myself, respond to the current global health crisis.

With daily access to an international community, it’s been especially painful listening to stories across the world as the Virus unapologetically announced its tragic arrival in each time zone. And as I listen, a consistent pattern emerges through the shared stories of initial denial, then confusion and anger, followed by a heightened introspection and sense-making.

Not surprising of course, as ‘meaning-making machines’, we revel in our human ability to reflect on experiences in moments that matter enough to activate the introspective process of transforming memories into wisdom.

In my own meaning-making attempts this week, five insights in particular stand out as worthy of sharing:

1. It appears that in an imposed ‘pause’ in our established linear time-space continuum, this is followed by a natural emotional upheaval as we adjust to the loss of our established daily routines. Suddenly local times/ days of the week become insignificant as people work through weekends or join calls at 9pm, midnight, 4am or noon to accommodate and tolerate business as unusual. It also appears that we are much more agile than we give ourselves credit for. We are in fact demonstrating how quickly — despite the disruption — pivoting and surrendering into a ‘new normal’ — albeit a painful one.
2. The illusion of ‘separatism’ crumbles in the face of zoonotic transfer of global dis-ease and when this veil is removed, there-in lies an opportunity to forge a collective mindset shift, grounded in tolerance, acceptance and love.
3. When we are isolated from others, our eventual human thirst for connection can in fact awaken our imagination to innovate new ways to ‘share space’ or ‘have quality time’. As our long-held assumptions are tested, choice emerges. Do we choose to recognize our inherent biases and silence judgement? Do we choose gratitude for the moments that we make matter? Interestingly, while some of us choose increased inclusive behavior in such isolation, it seems an equal number of us — unconsciously or consciously succumb to action that ultimately promotes selective “dis-clusion”, ironically — to help ourselves feel more ‘connected’. For example, “can you believe THEY aren’t practicing social distancing like we are” or “why are all the rest of THEM over-reacting to this? It’s just another flu”.
4. When we increase virtual or remote access within a collapsed time-space continuum, there appears to be a ‘return’ to tolerance and an expanded ‘human’ perception of ourselves. Suddenly you realize that your ‘investment broker’ also has a dog (that barks non-stop in the background). You ‘remember’ that your boss is married to someone who is immune-compromised. You discover that your child’s teacher has never used ‘Zoom’ before and learn that your Operations Manager — who you see once a month — has three kids (and they like to say hi on video conference calls).
5. In times of crisis or tragedy, you discover new aspects of yourself and the opportunity arises for serious mirror work and introspection into blind spots you never knew existed. You realize how often you don’t wash your hands and alternatively how many times a day you ‘touch your face’. You uncover how important it is to ‘get outside’ during the day or how cranky you get if you don’t hit the gym after a long working day. These introspections give you a glimpse of yourself as you glance into the ‘corona’ mirror and you remember how worthy it is to ‘check in with yourself’; How am I doing with all this? Do I appear as I intend to be seen? Am I being a good person or am I doing enough?

In these moments that matter, how do we accelerate our movement through natural fear and concern for self towards a more collective consciousness? What acts of leadership propel us into extending our desired ‘shield of protection’ around an ever-widening perimeter of family, friends, community, countries…. the world?

We learn from our Chinese and Italian colleagues the increased risk of fatalities from COVID19 on a country’s aging population. And after the initial reflection to verify our own age and health; Am I or someone I know in the ‘at-risk’ population? What comes next — determines your individual and our collective progress towards a benevolent humankind; to shift from an egocentric orientation to eco-system understanding that benefits the whole. Indeed, to #flattenthecurve and slow the spread of the virus; to avoid global suffering of the elderly and world-wide economic distress, self-isolation and social distancing come into focus. Yet these two actions are not about you. They are about protecting the vulnerable in your communities, and to support the existing eco-system from collapse.

To think and act as a collective consciousness, requires a total mindset shift to recognize and accept what COVID19 has successfully surfaced for us in a most impactful way; to see that we are absolutely interconnected. We are many… and yet, we are one.

We learn from the successes of our friends in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea that it is indeed our collective behavior that changes or upholds ‘the’ system. Our willingness to proactively engage with transparent information sharing, increased awareness and surrender into what is while mindfully and intentionally ‘holding space’ for what can bebecomes a critical component of meaningful collaboration with Mother Nature. And opens limitless discoveries of powerful acts of leadership to benefit the whole.

Questions that may arise to forge a new future may include:

• What or who defines a global identity or collective mindset?
• What unifying purpose underlies all of humankind?
• What’s the role of silent surrender and how can it propel us forward?
• What impact is created from a global reset and what opportunity exists now for innovation and creativity?

Perhaps it is disruptive moments like these — COVID19 or 9/11; the 2004 Sumatra Tsunami or Hurricane Katrina, that become the inopportune moments of pivotal transformation into a collective consciousness? Perhaps our inattention to a world outside of self has orchestrated such a criticality that nothing short of a global reset will capture our attention to pause and pivot before it’s too late.

Much like our beloved computers, Apple products, PC’s and tablets — at the mercy of our obsessive use — are expected to absorb the hundreds of document transfers, incessant screen shots and app downloads we execute daily, are we preparing for the inevitable shut-down and necessary ‘re-start’ when the system hits total overload? Are we cognizant enough to recognize the pre-warning ‘glitch’ or to recognize the ‘auto-save’ feature when it kicks in as indicators of an impending crash and inevitable loss of ‘all our hard work’? Are we present enough to hear the strained and now constant ‘whirr’ in the background, as the system tries unsuccessfully to sustain a complex and networked intelligence system? Do we understand the implication of failure as we are simultaneously the creators and end-users of this system?

Our planet has been on overload for years. Our waters, our forests, our homes and even our minds and bodies. And now it seems the system is rebooting — in the best way it knows how. We have been shut down. Our system has indeed ‘crashed’ and un-saved documents will now disappear to the never lever land of forever lost files. While we wait for the inevitable ‘re-start’ — what of those lost insights is worthy of recreating? For it will take energy and effort and time to overhaul and recreate our new operating system.

And at what cost? Today? Tomorrow?

Indeed, these are the moments that matter.