9. Day 24: Silent Night, Holy Night

Our plan for the day included lunch with some BNI Connect friends, a carol service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, dinner and the West End play “The Play That Goes Wrong”.  It also ended up including letting the maintenance guy in to repair the washing machine, grocery shopping for a Christmas Cake and walking for miles.  The thronging crowds reminded me it was also one of the last shopping days before Christmas.  I had a little cough on the Underground which blew up into another coughing fit at the wonderful Indian restaurant where we were meeting friends known previously only in a virtual way via Skype (we were really excited to meet them in person).  My coughing was so debilitating I had to resort to silence again to calm it down.  I have never experienced this phenomenon before now here it has happened twice.  I love conversation, it is truly my favorite sport.  I love the ebb and flow, the closeness and how the heart opening and joining nature of a good conversation is just delicious.  To be meeting new old friends and not be able to talk was nearly excruciating.  I repaired to the bathroom to cough, pray and tap.  I had no alternative but to surrender completely to this imposed healing silence.

A holy conversation…

I decided to pour myself into listening and naturally responded in smiles, eye contact and that open pasture of quiet that required nothing but presence.  Very quickly I realized I was feeling really relaxed.  I felt softer and more grounded.  It was actually wonderful to not be required in any way to think or respond in words.  Any questions I had I would just think them and nearly always the conversation would include the answers I was seeking.  Because it was obvious that talking led to more coughing our friends naturally opened up without any promptings of questions and our conversation broadened on all levels.  By the end of the meal I was able to whisper and to hear me all leaned in intensely listening.  It was intimate with a great sense of true joining.  This meeting was one of the highlights of our trip.

I was able to resume normal talking in a couple of hours but am left with a kind of wonder of the beauty and relaxing nature of silence.  I feel like this was a special Christmas gift from Holy Spirit and will give to me long after we return home.  All I could think of during this episode were the words to Silent Night; “Silent night, holy night/ All is calm, all is bright/ Sleep in Heavenly Peace”.  I was simply bathed in Heavenly peace.  So much so that when we missed the cut off to get into St. Pauls Cathedral by just a handful of people I didn’t mind at all.  Hearing the carol service at St. Paul’s had been on my bucket list but somehow being with the crowds outside int he square, watching on a giant screen, and being blown about by gusty wind and drizzle I felt I had everything I could every want.