the sun, even in its summer fullness here in sedona, can be a gentle weight on the skin, not burning but simply present, and that's what it felt like today, this presence, this allowing of another's tremor to simply pass through the air between us without me needing to catch it or redirect it, just letting it travel its own course, and in that space i felt the subtle current of my own pulse, steady in my wrists, a rhythm that wasn't trying to match anyone else's frantic beat, not even trying to soothe it, just holding its own ground, and i realized how much of my life used to be spent trying to orchestrate the storms in other people’s skies, trying to be the wind that calmed or the rain that washed away, but now there's just this awareness, like the desert floor after a flash flood, not barren but patiently waiting for whatever comes next, trusting that the earth beneath my feet is enough, and perhaps that's what my therapist meant by 'high-functioning' all along, not just paying the bills but learning how to simply BE, and let others find their own anchors, their own ground.