{"id":1440,"date":"2017-10-24T00:32:42","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T00:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/?p=1440"},"modified":"2017-10-24T00:32:42","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T00:32:42","slug":"you-are-not-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/2017\/10\/24\/you-are-not-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"You Are Not Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This Wednesday I was taking the train to meet my agent in San Francisco. A few days earlier, I had gone to the Santa Clara station to plan my trip, but the old station office was now closed down. There was no one there to answer my questions. I didn\u2019t know the train schedule, how to buy my ticket or get to my destination in the city.<\/p>\n

I felt alone, stressed, and confused until I asked my friend Simone who lives in San Francisco, who emailed me links to the Caltrain schedule and Muni information.<\/p>\n

Wednesday morning I drove to the Santa Clara station, parked my car, and headed under the underpass to the northbound train platform where I paid for parking and bought my train ticket. With a sigh of relief, I sat down on a bench on the empty platform, waiting for the 11:18 train.<\/p>\n

Suddenly a young man ran up to me, wearing a gray t-shirt, jeans, and blue baseball hat. \u201cI need help,\u201d he said. \u201cI have to go to the San Antonio station and I don\u2019t know how to get a ticket.\u201d \u00a0So I led him down to the ticket machine at the end of the platform, showed him the zone map and which buttons to push. Then we walked back to the bench, sat down, and shared our stories. He was on his way to a job site, working construction. I was going to meet my agent in the city about my book proposal. Both of us were a little nervous but smiled as we both felt better.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat kind of books do you write?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cBooks about mindfulness, stress management. . .\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI could sure use some stress management today,\u201d he said. \u201cI forgot to charge my phone last night. I didn\u2019t get the call this morning, and now I\u2019m late for work at a new site,\u201d he said, while frantically searching the GPS on his phone. \u201cThere are two sites and I don\u2019t know where to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

I told him that taking long, deep breaths cuts the stress reaction, putting us back in balance, and that research has shown that looking at the beauty of nature expands our awareness, helping us find better ways to solve our problems. So we sat there for a moment, taking deep breaths, looking out at the tall redwood trees in the distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name is Diane,\u201d I said. \u201cWhat\u2019s yours?\u201d \u201cCarlos,\u201d he said. \u201cPleased to meet you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he texted his manager, asked which job site he should go to, and smiled as he got the answer. With a loud whistle, the train roared into the station. We boarded, looking out the window as the miles flew by until the train stopped at San Antonio. As he rose to leave, Carlos reached out and shook my hand and we wished each other well.<\/p>\n

We are not alone. All of us are brothers and sisters on the journey. We can get lost when we feel alone. But when we reconnect, the gift of community dispels our anxiety like the sun breaking through the clouds.<\/p>\n

You can connect with your community right now by taking a deep breath.<\/p>\n