CallingCOVID.com - The Challenge Side

Thanks for visiting!

To translate this page, select your

language from the dropdown menu below:

 

As you move through the pages of this site, your language choice will follow automatically.

 

The Challenge side has been a bit ignored by its author during the last 6 weeks!

I've been very busy setting up protocols for studies of "long-term" COVID-19 patients.

You can get a sense of where we are in all that by clicking the link to the Science Side hare below.

 

But have no fear! I and others are still participating in The Challenge each day at 12 noon GMT.

That fact is more important than adding rapid updates here. 

Blogs always have a rather fickle readership. If there's nothing new over 2 or 3 days, goodbyte visitors!

That's not a problem for us. 

 

---------

 

Oops! Take me to the Science Side please!

January 6 at 12:24PM GMT (13:24 our time) - thanks again to those around Our World who participated in the Challenge this day!  

 

The Results are already evident, and today's results have been posted. (R:A ratio =  2.208:1 ).

Heading back up ... 

See you again tomorrow! And remember to ask your friends to join in as well!.

 

Next session of the Challenge: January 7, 12:00PM (GMT). Don't forget !

    (Or, on January 7 at 00:00 Midnight (GMT), if joining the 2nd shift is better for you.

Perfect !  Click here. )   

 

"But what time is that for me where I am?"  - see this page to find out.

Don't forget that Daylight Savings Time is now off !

 

If you've already read the Intro below, and are here to begin the Challenge, here's it's Timer.

 

----------

 

Links to the 6 most recent articles are at the bottom of this page.

 

A page serving as an Index to Topics & Articles is here. ( Needs an update, it but have a look ! )

 

Pressed for Time? - Try this summary

 

New material :    le Défi en français (the Challenge explained in French)

O Desafio em Português (the Challenge in Portuguese)

Die Herausforderung auf Deutsch (the Challenge in German)

 

Uma introdução, em português  (Short Intro in Portugese)

Eine kurze Einführung, auf Deutsch (Short Intro in German)

Introducción, en español  (Short Intro in Spanish)

ek parichay, hindee mein (Short Intro in Hindi)

 

Setting up swiftly to do the Challenge

 

"Do You Believe in This?" (added August 15)

"What's a Target?" (added August 17)

"Targets - Phase 2" (added August 21)

Spain as our current Phase 1 Target (added August 31)

How I Do This (added Septmber 7 in response to questions)

A link to our Google Calendar (added Sept 8)

An Introduction to our Long-term COVID-19 findings Questionnaire (Sept 10)

 

-----------

 

There are of course already too many words on this page. But we hope that during your visit to CallingCOVID.com you may find :

 

1. 1. 1.  A sense of belonging comfortably. Here with others, and not afraid to say, in a community of love and compassion.
      2.  If all this is new for you, take it as a type of formation, and in so doing, somehow becoming just a bit more than you were before. And this through true union with others of our world.
      3. We will try not to impose our personal impressions or structures too much. But have confidence that whatever you experience through the Challenge is real, and larger than the small spaces that we may have been inhabiting before COVID-19. Perhaps the start of a unique story. Your story, to share with others. Let the voice of hope, be your voice.
      4. We have our ideas and methods of course. But we are very much looking to learn from you. Tell us what you might need to make the Challenge work for you and for our world at this difficult time. Write: feedback@callingcovid.com

 

-----------

INTRO

This site began on July 15, 2020. So welcome, and anticipate more content in the days to come.

 

We're at https://www.callingcovid.com

 

What gets written here often needs editing and corrections. That should be OK.  We do them ASAP.

More explanation will be added, though not so much as to paralyze one's brain.

 

But a goal, or its initial formation and evolution, is already certainly underway.

Just enough, is already in place. It is not written in stone but in softer spaces within our being.

Spaces that can be shared. In fact, must  be shared if we're going to pull through this.

 

Some definitely related foundational thoughts for why this page is before you:

 

• COVID-19 is
  • was a new disease, but is now well established in our world.
  • on this day, there is still no cure
  • on this day, there is no vaccine
  • on this day, some countries seem to be recovering and others not or not yet
  • on this day, focus is often lost to political and other social issues
  •  

 

• COVID-19 currently affects many people of our World, including you.
• This is true even if you are not a "positive case" of which there were 20,317,087 on August 12, and 27,886,825 on September 10. On January 7, 2021, 86,555,947 declared cases, and climbing.
• That seems true, that your life has been most probably affected, whether you have been infected with the virus causing this disease or not.
• There are many reasons to feel powerless right now.
  • Perhaps you're sick and not better yet. Or, its just taking too long. Longer than they said.
  • Perhaps you're not sick but afraid that you will become sick sooner or later.
  • In either case, perhaps this has soaked up so much energy and attention that little is left. Quite easy to just be worn out.
  • Perhaps anxiety has become a daily visitor. Perhaps it has never left since its arrival.
  • Perhaps confinement, restrictions, "do this; don't do that" soak up lots of personal power, diminishing one's sense of liberty or freedom. A prisoner of an invisible enemy who has, quite uninveited, occupied your space.
• Some people have died from this illness, (1,871,517 as of January 6), millions are actively ill, even more have now recovered.
• I have another site you can visit: CoronaStavelot.com where lots of numbers and trends in numbers can be found. Currently it concentrates on events where I live. I must admit that when the numbers get better where I live, the visits drop off. So I think that knowing the latest numbers does not cure. Certainly not the illness itself. Probably not that sense of being powerless either. Personal power doesn't come along with the numbers but anxiety might. In the years before, there wasn't COVID-19. So as long as there is one last case, some degree of powerlessness, even if quite small one day, may arise out of that state of persistent infestation. Illness and disease are unfortunate companions of all life forms, shared until a life ends. So here we are again: huddled masses. Hoping for the best. The flu: we worry less, though ever-present each year. Smallpox or Polio: we worry more. And eradication becomes a goal. So here, we join with others to eradicate as best we can.
• Governments and experts who report results by country have made of this unfortunate illness, a COVID-19 Olympics. "How is your country doing compared with all the others? Better? Did your government make good decisions? Bad? A mix of both?" The noise from all sources combined has become deafening. Especially evident when all other causes for dispute and increased reactivity get pulled in. It is now time to leave all that, to leave one's location and find World. Set aside latest news, numbers and subtle reminders to compete with your neighbors for safety, and prefer to find cooperation. Find that here. Rediscover our World if you had lost it.
• The World has been waiting for you. No suitcase nor boarding pass needed. Gee. Not even a mask.

 

Some are already asking:

"What's your intention here?  I mean, what shall we do here? What can we do here?"

Those who visit CallingCovid.com are coming to be present with others to meet the Challenge, which is explained here.

 

We will be trying to turn "powerlessness" into healing. It can be done. It can happen. It's not magic.

• • Healing for those, especially, who are Actively ill with COVID-19.
  • Healing for you as well, sick or not. Returning your power. Helping you feel that you are still free.
  • More on the Why Do This ? component, in case you missed that link elsewhere.

 

How? (here I may quickly lose readers, but I forge ahead nevertheless):

• You need not travel physically to volunteer at the bedsides of those Actively ill with COVID-19
• Specifically, you must return here each day until you come to understand the method described.
• Eventually, even soon, you can meet the Challenge where you are. Without even using this site.
• Most will return at 12 noon GMT or just before. That will be for about half of those who come.
  • For the other half, if that time has you getting up in the middle of the night, you are welcome to work 'the second shift', which starts just before midnight or 0 hour GMT. So twice a day, this will happen.
  • This suggests that meeting the Challenge is a global thing. A thing for our World. A promise to keep. Without searching right away for what one will get back. Though returns are likely.
  • There is a clock on the Challenge page that shows you how much time remains before the next session. Figure out for yourself, what time that is where you are.
• Once the Challenge starts, you will get comfortable and focus with others on a target for that day. Sometimes the same target for several days. Soon, helpful suggestions will be presented here on how to do this. Quite briefly, intention is the important mecanism at work here. On another page is the dashboard from John's Hopkins CSSE which can be thought of as our map of potential targets. For anyone just looking for today's COVID-19 results in the world, feel free to use that link as well.
• For 20 minutes exactly, the group will focus individually and together on sending healing to where it has been targetted: Compassionate action at a distance. The expressed intention to heal.
• For those who like feedback, there is that as well.
• That's it. Two shifts per day, the second added for the convenience of some around the globe. This avoids having to rise from bed at 4AM as monastics used to do (some still do), to come together. Perhaps twice the effect? We'll see.
• Here's an example of how I do this for Spain, one of our COVI-19 Targets.

 

 

NEXT, take just a minute to imagine all the comments directed at what I just wrote!

All the objections!

We welcome them! Free thought, Free speech.

 

Some will say that doing this is simply stupid or insane. Others might say that it takes a little courage.

 

Beginning right now, let those objections simply fade away. This is not a course in Philosophy, Logic, Psychology, Debating, Physics, Medicine or Religions, with a test at the end. It's simply the Challenge. Join in. No need to try and prove that your the best at this Challenge thing. Calm all that and find how others can be with you. And you with them. Like visitors in a sick person's room. Imagining what that person will be like when healed and home. Intending already during their visit, that they be healed.

 

I have done this before with a site created to bring Peace into our world. That site is called SendThemPeace.com and I encourage you to click the link to get a sense of its structure and method. That site has not been updated in a while. Don't get lost in it. But at its peak, the Challenge, as described there, was associated with increasing levels of Peace throughout our world. This was suggested by those who follow that topic scientifically. The proofs are included there. So have a look if you like. But come back here !

 

Our site here will probably stay more streamlined and direct. "Associated with" as written above is not proof of causation. But actually, we are not trying to prove anything here. Try it. Be with us here a few days in a row, and see how that works for you.

 

Here, you will show up at either midnight or noon (or both if awake and your enthusiasm is already growing!) 

 

Like a pilot climbing into her plane's cockpit, you will get settled in, and clearly understand the mission of your "flight." It is to send healing energy to those who need it. They need it because their lives, probably yours as well, have been changed a bit, or quite a bit, by a tiny thing that was given the name SARS-CoV-2.

 

We will focus first on those who's health has been made powerless. We will use all our available resources. Words like silence, imagination, serendipity, prayer, meditation come to mind. Limits and arguments pro and con about these tools are not the goal here, and serve no purpose. We will find what works, and works even at a distance. And even though daily proofs will not be sought, an improvement in the numbers over time will also be looked for as feedback. This will not happen in a day, I presume. Think of it as research as well if that helps. And as I once had above my desk in a lab: "If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be research."

 

But getting into a plane's cockpit and pulling the throttle and clicking buttons here and there would not be expected to give a great result if it was your first flight, and embarked upon without a little pre-flight instruction! The Challenge here should be much safer as you embark on your first "flight" with others in your squadron. And yes, some instruction will follow. 

 

This exercise arises in a discovery and exploration of compassion, practiced for all those in the world, including yourself.

Yes, self-compassion is also part of this. Not everyone knows how to touch easily on that. Perhaps for fear of "weakness"? Who knows?

 

Compassion is not pity, and goes beyond empathy. It is doing for someone, something that that person can no longer do on his or her own. Like feeding the sick. One spoon at a time. We will put compassion into action here. Not inaction. And perhaps not necessary to say, but to be clear, this work has no connection with any sect, belief, or larger purpose than that presented here. It's already enough of a Challenge as presented on these pages!

 

More instructions will follow. But twice a day, I will be here. Others have already joined with me.

 

I set a reminder on my phone for 10 minutes before, to set aside all the rest, and am present for the Challenge. Here. I will sit for 20 minutes each time. I will get quiet and focused and empty my head of chatter and things-to-do. Then I will focus on sending healing energy out into our World. The intention to do so is the critical factor determning effectiveness. We suggest that this begins less in intelectual thought or effort, ("I can do this! I can do this! I'm healing the world! I'm healing the World!") and more in feeling. "Feeling? What feeling(s)?" - some are already moving ahead.

And specifically, those feelings arising from the havoc caused by this virus.

 

Monkeys can do this. (Do have a look at that link!). Why shouldn't we be able to do this as well as a subhuman primate ? There must be a reason. Maybe that's it: reason.

 

In response, I'm sure that some have already said or thought the equivalent of "... how can that possibly work?!" Perhaps you prefer just being anxious and laying low while awaiting the vaccine. Ok. See ya.

Or perhaps, move over to the Science Side on this site, and look at the results of our Questionnaire about "Long-term" COVID-19. Perhaps more comfortable for you. (Then sneak back here every now and then!)

 

But at the end of the 20 minutes, I'm sure that at least one person will feel a bit more centered. That person may even have recovered a little personal power. I don't expect to have special feelings, hear voices, or see flashing lights as signs of some transcendent level of success. Those are not the goal.

 

Some may just enjoy 20 minutes of relaxation. Some may even nod off and snooze a bit. That's perfectly Ok. We all need rest, especially now. But your joining others here in this Challenge, if you do, and please do, will already be very, very special. Using your computer as a simple timer of 20 minutes, like a kitchen timer and nothing more, instead of the constant tap, tap tap on the keys, repeatedly noting important stuff that must be done or said, ... this may instead provide some relief. A welcome pause from the necessity of being or doing yet another something special.

 

So feel welcome here and at ease. Develop a sense of belonging. Let it feel like being with family.

Perhaps you can find yourself among the white dots on the map below.

 

The map is also found here.

 

More to come. More info. And hopefully soon, many more dots. Spread the news.

 

 

 

 

Here, you don't need to maintain social distancing.

 

Quite the contrary. The very basic human need for family, for friends, for those working with us, is celebrated here, even if at a distance. See yourself on the map. See others. No one need feel alone and alienated. If you have COVID-19 you are welcome here. You need no longer feel like a pariah. You are not untouchable or a leper. If you have leprosy, you too are welcome here. But if you are recovering from COVID-19, your experience with this illness makes you an expert: a leader in the Challenge. How fortunate we are to be able to welcome you aboard!

 

And here's a little music to accompany your thoughts, as you mull all this over for the next few minutes.

 

 

And if you haven't already read the Challenge, now's the time.

And remember: if 12:00 PM (noon) GMT has you getting up at "0-dark-thirty," and you don't like that, shift it by 12 hours. Join with the second squadron. But let's try to be there to start together, marching in time (or quietly intending, without marching) to the music of our World.

 

The video below is not the one used for the Challenge, but will give you a sense of it.

It's a little corny. The beating heart sound may get on your nerves!  It's just a short thought ...

We use an identical globe as a point of focus for those who like that during the Challenge. And the "antenna" you see stuck in our world are visit counters that get updated in real time as people, ... well, visit.

 

And if it's almost time to start, here on your first visit, try this to get swiftly set up, and join with others for the next 20 minutes.

 

 

 

If you have questions, write : questions@callingcovid.com

If you have feedback or suggestions, write : feedback@callingcovid.com

 

And one last thing.

If you think that COVID-19 is just another flu, won't last long if you get it, or barely merits your attention, we hope you're right. But do have a look at results on our Science side  ...

 

If you think it doesn't merit your 20 minutes a day here with others, you should listen to this interview.

In those words, you may find some motivation to join in.

 

 

 

6 most recent articles :

 

 

^Top of page^