Have you ever been in a situation where you don’t possibly have enough time to get somewhere, do something, experience something--and then suddenly you do?
Or, conversely, have you have had the sensation of losing time, or not experiencing time: you do something so involving, or so trance inducing, you actually can’t remember what you did?
For the last few years, I have been noticing with more and more regularity, how time seems to expand or contract to meet my needs or desires.
And further more, the more conscious I am: the more awake, aware, luminous and fully present... the more this happens.
Is this a shift in the Universe? We have certainly been shifted since 2012.
Or, is this a shift in my own experience? My own ability to hold presence and to stay in the moment has increased exponentially greatly over the last few years.
Or, perhaps it is a combination of both.
In any case: it seems clear that there is a new wrinkle in time.
We already know we can move beyond the veil, or into other vibrational dimensions where we can easily sense and communicate with guides, the angelic realm and our beloved ancestors.
We also can move beyond the veil of time: back to the past, forward into the near future.
Now, it seems our experience of time has also changed, depending on how present we are; how engaged we are in the moment.
Example of time expanding
A few days ago, my husband and I drove up to Portland to see a dance recital by Michael Clark.
I am a great fan of modern dance, especially because it brings consciousness to movement, so that time seems to stand still or to expand as you watch it.
It’s a long slog from our house to Portland; about an hour and a half, depending on traffic. At first, the drive is exceedingly pleasant: gently winding roads that curve through forest. Then we’re on the busier roads, then the freeway. And by the time we’re nearing Portland, we’re realizing it’s rush hour, there’s a ton of traffic, there’s no possible way we’re going to make it by 7:30 curtain.
The situation is so hopeless that we surrender to what is: we look at the huge lineup of cars, freeway a standstill, with many miles to go ahead, and instead of getting all tensed out and angry and panicked, we relax. We turn on the some ambient music.
We give up the need to get there on time.
If we make it, great. If we don’t, so be it. We don’t really know all the Universe has planned for us; there may be a tremendous reason for us to be late. We let go of all concern, and trust.
And then, something weird happens. Even though there is not letup in traffic, and even though even as we get off the freeway, and into downtown Portland, and make our way to parking… even though it is already 7:25 and we still have not parked the car….
It’s as if suddenly our experience has gotten very rich. By 7:28 we are still waiting in a long line of cars trying to get into a parking structure, but we're totally relaxed. We're so relaxed, we're blissed out! The exchange with the parking attendant is like a holy blessing. He thanks us for our patience, and I beam at him. The others walking in front of the theatre seem like saints of joy. The ushers are smiling at us. It’s all just a big bliss fest.
And yet in some way, beyond possibility, we are sitting in our seats by 7:30.
But this is not possible! the parking, the walk from the structure, the time it takes to head upstairs, finding our seats... That takes ten minutes, fifteen...
"Are you sure it's 7:30?"
"Yes."
"How is that possible?"
"I have no idea."
It's as if time slowed down for us, or time expanded for us, so that we would be able to do what we needed to do.
And, I believe that our absolute surrender to what was, instead of forcing what was supposed to be, and our absolute engagement of the miracle of all that happened: the parking attendant, the other souls, even the beautiful pattern in the carpet, the energy in the lobby, all of it… by paying attention to all of it, all at once, fully being there…
Time changed. Or we changed. Or maybe both.
That night, the performance seemed to pass with out time: engaging, involving, breathtaking.
The oddest thing, when you are fully present. How time shifts out from under you.
A example of time contracting
The next day, as I continued to pay attention to this idea of time expanding, I experienced the opposite: time contracting, or even disappearing.
I was driving into town on those same winding country roads, no real makers except meadow here, trees here, grove of birch here, knobby maples here. It’s a 20 minute drive in. And when I finally woke up from my trance, or fugue or whatever it was, I was in town; and I had no understanding of the drive I’d just done.
I had been so immersed, so involved in the drive itself: the way the light shown through the trees, the rain on the road, the leaves starting to turn from green to yellow, the river on my left… the ALL of it, that time, or my perception of time, or my reality of time… simply disappeared.
I became One with the drive. And in becoming One, the drive itself took no time; it all became present moment.
Time shifts with Oneness
I would like to suggest that these types of shifts in time: expansion, where time extends to become what you need, and contraction, where time seems to have disappeared, are both the result of full presence, full engagement, the consciousness that results in existing as one of One.
In spiritual states, we have experienced this.
In crisis states, we also experience this.
It’s all about living from soul self. It’s about getting out of our heads, ego, “shoulds” and “must dos,” and simply relaxing into what is. And when we do this: when we relax into what is, and we allow it fully, and we engage with it in the most attentive way possible, then our perception of time… as a marker of reality… changes.
Or again… it just disappears.
People who are walking on the spiritual path naturally have this quality of conscious attentiveness. Being here now, being in the present… these are some of the words we use when we talk about this quality of conscious attentiveness.
We can all learn to cultivate this way of being.
Take a moment today, and notice when time seems stressful, lacking, too short, not enough. And then apply full presence to whatever it is you are doing. And notice of time shifts on you: extends out to be what you need. Or disappears altogether, as you experience Oneness in the moment.
