Lunch with Mum

I was sitting with my mother in Covent Garden drinking coffee. We don’t see each other very often now that she lives far away. As we sat with our drinks she was talking to me about everything in her life since we had last seen each other. And although I love my mother, I wasn’t enjoying her talking, it felt like a barrage which I did not want to endure.

When I realised this I interrupted and made a new offer – “Mum I’d love us to sit with each other without talking for a moment, would you be open to that?”. My mum is amazing, and immediately agreed. We sat for a moment, and in the space without talking, we really saw each other, I felt a deeper appreciation of her, something almost mystical happened. The mother-son relationship dissolved and I saw her as a completely independent soul. I experienced a new appreciation and quality of love for her. She enjoyed it too! When we began speaking again, it had a different, heartfelt quality to it, which was lacking before. Before I studied the wheel, I would Never have been aware of what I actually wanted in that situation, and I would’ve been embarrassed to interrupt, and ask for it.

• Adam