Stillness Reflected Back

Notice who quietly leaves the room when you go still. Everyone else fills the silence at the table. You don't. You sit through the pause before someone answers, and you let it stay unfilled. People read that as distance. It isn't. It's Gate 52, keeping still, the mountain that does not move while weather passes over it. Left unseen, that stillness gets mistaken for pressure, coldness, a door closing. But watch what happens when you stop apologizing for it. The room slows down to meet you. Someone finally says the true thing, because you didn't rush them there. That's not passivity. That's focus, holding its shape. Think of one person who mistakes your quiet for absence. Tonight, stay still one breath longer before you answer them. Who in your life does this explain? Tag the feeling.