Once, my mother expressed a wish to do something magical for her kind and gifted cardiologist, who was an ardent cricket fan. We had no idea what we could offer but as she looked skywards and clasped her hands in rapture, I knew she was already creating something quite spectacular in her mind, for I could almost sense that dream myself and knew it would be connected to cricket. We sat in silent, dreamy, closed eyed contemplation for ten minutes, creating  mental pictures of the perfect cricketing situation, during which I felt the joy of its fruition and thought, ‘now wouldn’t that be nice?’

A week or so later, my mother and I received an invitation from a friend in high places to attend a Bank of England cricket match at the bank’s sports ground in Roehampton, hosted by Sir Eddie George, the bank’s  chairman at the time.  As the event grew closer, my mother, whose knowledge of cricket was even less than mine, felt unwell and decided she would offer her ticket instead to the cardiologist, who accepted immediately.

The day of the event was sunny and warm and many world famous cricketers were playing. They mingled with the guests  and some of them I knew personally through family connections. The cardiologist turned up with a biography under his arm about his favourite cricketer, Sir Viv Richards, hoping for an autograph from the iconic sportsman, who was also playing that day.

It was a spectacular moment to see the look in the medical specialist’s eyes, as I introduced him to his superhero.  He presented his book for signature and I coaxed him to speak.  It was utterly magical.The eminent cardiologist declared breathlessly he never thought he would ever achieve his lifelong ambition to meet his boyhood cricketing idol. He was in absolute awe as the sportsman engaged in conversation.

I remembered suddenly the rapturous gesture my mother had made when she clasped her hands, as she looked skywards and it confirmed the importance of pulling in every one of the senses in asking for and visualising something  extra special and the importance of FEELING the bliss of its achievement. We had no idea how it would happen; we only prayed hard that it would and believed it could.  In those few moments, my mother had pictured the perfect cricketing scene, heard the voices, smelt and tasted the delicious lunch and tea under the giant marquee, as she greeted warmly  the cricketers she knew and smiled at those she did not as she embedded the image confidently  in her subconscious. Her sixth sense of belief in an idea had helped it to come to fruition.

I was but a willing accessory, a spiritual accomplice to the plot, helping to compound the likelihood of success.  My octogenarian mother wanted to help the cardiologist and  I wanted to help them both, for he had been a major player in the game of keeping  her alive after she had been declared ‘imminently’ terminally ill many years earlier; our family ‘mind duet’ was completing the act of symbiosis.

My mother might not  have been at Sir Viv’s side in person but she had been at the match in spirit, long before the event took place; that is the natural reaction to sound, visualisation meditation. It  does produce miraculous results.