A duet works through room made for another person’s timing.

Playing with someone is mostly an exercise in leaving space. You hold back a fraction, you let a phrase breathe because they need it to, you resist filling a gap that belongs to them. The result sounds like togetherness and is actually a long series of small yieldings, each one invisible in the finished sound.

In conversation this week, try leaving one beat longer than feels natural before you answer. Notice how often the other person uses it. Most people are not short of things to say, only short of room to say them in.