Let the other person’s words remain theirs before translating them into your preferred lesson.

There is a habit of hearing someone out and immediately converting what they said into a familiar moral, usually one you already believed this morning. It feels like understanding and lands as correction, because the person has just watched their experience become an example in your argument. What they wanted first was for the account to stand as told.

Before you interpret anything this week, say the thing back in their own words and ask whether you have it right. The lesson can come afterwards, if they want one, and it will fit better for having waited.