A gentle question can make room for a truth that a confident guess would have crowded out.

Arriving with a theory tends to close the very thing you were trying to open. When you say you know why someone is upset, or what they must be feeling, they are left either agreeing or correcting you, and correcting takes more energy than most people have mid-difficulty. So they nod, and the real answer stays unsaid. A question with nothing loaded into it leaves the space unoccupied, which is what makes it fillable.

When you next sense something is wrong, ask instead of concluding. Try what has this week been like rather than you must be exhausted. Then be quiet long enough for a slow answer.