I broke my right (dominant) arm at the end of June, exactly two months before my 40th birthday. It happened suddenly in a fall inside my house.

Having lost the ability to do anything to distract myself without a ton of pain for a month and as a result, being a couch potato of the utmost degree, I realized I greatly needed to move my entire body and make many other life changes, so I started walking 3 miles a day around the track at a local park.

Cielo Grande is up on a small plateau at the edge of town and offers brilliant views of the sunset over Sierra Blanca peak, 60 miles away. It really does live up to its name: Big Sky. As cliché as it is to sound like the groupie in The Orb’s “Little Fluffy Clouds,” you really don’t see skies and sunsets like you do out west.

After a few weeks, I realized what was so particularly de-stressing and head-clearning about this trail. True, I could walk this same distance in my neighborhood, but I’m easily distracted by houses, cars, yards, signs, bumper stickers, people, dogs, and strange artifacts laying in the street. When you have nothing to look at but the sky… it’s just about late summer monsoon-clouded sunsets and drastic life events. Both deep reflection and superficial, mindful, momentary presence.

My arm bone is mending well and I’m grateful to my body for its graciousness.

Note: this is the first playlist and cover “design” I’ve created entirely on my phone and via my Apple Music subscription so I hope it’s accessible! I know Apple isn’t any better, but I refuse to sign up for yet another Facebook product in Spotify.