Imagine sitting on a hill and observing a set of four parallel railroads. As the trains go by, they represent the trains of thought of the people around me. I can either remain still and spectate—the dialogues, the trains (we call this people-watching)—or I can choose to hop on board and join the ride.

When I choose to jump onto a train, I feel as though I am completely engaged with the train of thought we are on. I want to invest my mental resources and space in this thought process, to understand what the other person is trying to tell me, and to ride the train together.

Some train rides last longer than others. Sometimes, the train is steered onto other parallel tracks, symbolizing a change of direction in the conversation without ending it. We are still on the train together, but we have moved to a different topic.

I don’t always have the mental, social, or emotional bandwidth to carry on a conversation for extended periods of time, however. At these times, I can try to slow the train down to a speed at which I feel comfortable hopping off.

The act of hopping on a train signifies that I am on board with where we are going. Sometimes, the journey has a destination. Sometimes, the destination is the journey. Regardless of this, once I commit to jumping on, I am there, engaged, and ready to experience where this train will take me.