We Can Bend Time

We can bend time.

We were born with the ability to live in eternity in the here and now. We were never meant to be bound by the contraints of man-made time because we have the ability to bend time. At any given time we can pull a memory from the past and bring it to life in the present.

I bent time today.

While I was reading this morning I was having a difficult time staying in the now. Although the words were speaking to me and I was jotting down insightful notes in my journal, I was having a difficult time staying focused. I continued to get distracted thinking about what I wanted to post in my community and share with my girls. I was getting frustrated trying to absorb what I was reading because I wasn’t reading it in the now. I was busy bending time and jumping into the future focusing on what I would write. I got so frustrated I finally stopped and made a shift. I shut the book, put down my pen, closed my eyes and began to listen.

What I heard next bent time for me again.

I began to hear what only minutes before didn’t exist for me. I heard, but I wasn’t listening to the sounds around me because I was too busy being busy, which became my barrier. When I quieted my mind I was able to listen again.

What did I hear? Birds chirping, singing and chattering to each other.

What was only background noise minutes before shifted and became my focus in an impromptu state of meditation. I focused in on the the different calls I heard. I slowed my breathing, cleared my mind and and began to separate the different exchanges between the birds. Through my surrender I bent time. I was transported into my past and pulled that past into the now.

I continued to listen. One bird pulled me to an early morning memory in Cape Cod. It bent time and brought the memory to the now. My children were only toddlers then when I would wake in the early morning hearing the birds chirping. I would rise before my children so I could take a three mile walk to the beach and back. What a beautiful memory and bending of time.

I continued to listen. Another bird pulled me to a steamy morning in August. I woke in my childhood home listening to the birds sing through the open window over my head. We had no air conditioning then, but we had a house fan that would pull a cool stream of air through my window. In this bend of time I could see the corners of my Teen Beat pictures taped to my wall fluttering in the breeze. I could feel the weightlessness; I had to responsibilities. Life was simple. I was a daughter and a sister only. I could see my sister sleeping in the other twin bed across the room and hear the squeak of my hamster running in its wheel. What a gift to bring that to the now.

I continued to listen. A third bird’s call brought me to the age of ten at Girl Scout Camp. I could see the blur of faces of the circle of girls standing around the flagpole as we raised the flag. It was a cool morning and the birds were chirping as we completed our opening ceremony to begin our day. I was there AND they were here, right here in my bedroom. I bent time and brought them with me.

Feeling happy and centered, I opened my eyes. I was amazed at my ‘trip.’ How could the simple chirping of birds transport me so easily through time? How was it that I have no recollection of ever paying attention to birds singing during any of those times in my life, but the soundtrack of the memory recorded it ALL - including the birds?

This absolutely astounded me!

It was an enlightened moment for me. This meant I hadn’t missed anything in my life. What a soothing, but powerful revelation! One of my fears (until this morning) was that I had missed important details of events throughout my life because I took them for granted and wasn’t present in them. But it wasn’t true. I received everything I was meant to see and hear and feel.

This means it is all there for me and it’s all there for you!

All we need to do is remove the blocks and barriers we have constructed and we will be able to reach it.

We have the power to bend time. We can bring the past into the present at ANY TIME. But this also means we can LOSE the present to the past and the future at ANY TIME.

How many times have we yanked the past into the now? How many times have we replayed a past memory to revisit a feeling of guilt, hurt, resentment, shame or regret and had a visceral reaction?

I have personally bent time and brought the past into the present only to become paralyzed by the fear or pain it brought with it. The feeling was so real. The present was erased and replaced by the past and all the raw pain it brought with it.  

A Course in Miracles says:

Guilt feelings are the preservers of time. They induce fears of retaliation or abandonment, and this ensures that the future will be like the past. This is the ego’s continuity. It gives the ego a false sense of security by believing that you cannot escape from it. But you can and must. God offers you the continuity of eternity in exchange. When you choose to make the exchange, you will simultaneously exchange guilt for joy, viciousness for love.

Through the exchange we empower ourselves to again live in joy again. We choose to bend time through boundless love. This is how we are able to release old beliefs and fears of the finality we believe surround time: There isn’t time. Time goes too fast. Time flies when you are having fun. This day is going to drag on. These limitations were set by man, not God.

I was a slave to time for many years. I lived in fear of my children growing older, of missing their youth. Each birthday brought the ‘gift’ of sadness, regret and melancholy to me instead of joy and celebration for their growth and milestones.

But no more!

Now I live in the present and no longer fear their ‘lost youth’. I know I have the power to bend time by reaching back and pulling those happy memories of their childhood to the present ANY time I wish. I can relive their milestones through joy ANY time I want. I have no need to feel sad and long for the past. The past is part of my present. This knowing has released my fears and gifted me the freedom to live in the now.

Delaying our actions and pursuing our dreams, along with releasing our guilt and resentment does not matter in eternity, but it is tragic in manmade time. We have no need to delay because we have the power to bend time whenever we wish.

When we release and surrender our fears to our Higher power, we will live a life of passion, purpose and love. And we will receive the miracle of enlightenment of knowing we are the benders of time we were created to be.