When I was growing up in the 1940s and ‘50s, hardly anyone had a video camera. So we documented our happy or otherwise momentous occasions primarily through black-and-white photos—and written descriptions. Now, however, everyone with a smartphone has a video camera in hand, and doesn’t hesitate to use it with great ease and frequency. To my surprise, I recently recognized this technology is actually a tool for “the expansion of time”!
The other day I was reviewing some of my favorite videos stored on my computer—another technological miracle almost unimaginable in my youth. The videos range widely in subject and mood, from milestones in the lives of beloved friends and family to funny and creative videos made by strangers. And I suddenly realized what a miracle these videos are—because they allow me to travel back in time to review and savor experiences from the past, and not just my own.
In this way, they grant me astonishing access to a vivid and precious “expansion of time” beyond the present moment. What a miracle indeed!
Illinois, United States
I had a profound experience of “the expansion of time” a few days before receiving Gurumayi’s Message for 2025.
As I walked down carpeted stairs, the overhead lights and my eyeglass lenses blended my perception of the bottom step and the floor below it. I took a long step forward, and felt as if the earth had fallen away from my feet! I fell in slow motion, which allowed me to witness all my movements as I folded at the waist, with my forearms and fingers extended forward and my lower legs extended back. I became aware of a bubble of light surrounding me and gently, slowly lowering me to the ground. I sensed time expanding. I landed slowly and lightly in a position similar to a full
pranam.
An observer told me, “You floated slowly down instead of hitting with a thud.” In this “expansion of time,” I surrendered to the light rather than to reflexive fear, remaining aligned with the light and the time and following their lead and dance.
North Carolina, United States
There are times that the tasks before me seem impossible to complete in the time I have to do them. Yet so often, particularly when those tasks are
seva, I observe that, miraculously, in the end I have the time to do what needs to be done.
This teaching, “The expansion of time,” reminds me that time is Consciousness and not a limited entity. As I think about this, my mind and heart expand with the understanding that I need to trust in God’s wisdom and allow my awareness to expand, just as time does.
Maryland, United States
I was checking on my height this morning, and I could touch my grandmother’s head; I was so happy about it! When my mother read me the day’s teaching, “The expansion of time,” I understood that my capabilities are expanding with time as I am growing.
I am grateful to Gurumayi for the lovely teachings on time every day.
a six-year-old from Thane, India
On this night of the total lunar eclipse, I am blessed to have an experience of “the expansion of time.” The sky is clear, and the round face of the moon is bright as the Earth’s shadow starts moving across it, causing the moonlight to dim. To me it is as if time is slowing down, stretching, to allow for this extraordinary performance.
When the Earth’s shadow covers the moon, I look at my own “shadow,” my ego—things that no longer serve me like jealousy, pettiness, and insecurity—and I let it all go. A healing is taking place in me. And when the Earth’s shadow starts moving off the moon and the light is returning, I pray to live my life in loving service to my higher Self and to our world.
California, United States