A listener can be present without agreeing with every interpretation offered.

Listening well gets confused with endorsing, which is why people either argue in the middle of someone’s story or go silent to avoid it. Neither is necessary. You can stay fully with a person while privately holding a different reading of what happened, and most of the time your reading is not what they came for. Presence is about attention, not verdicts.

Let the next account you hear stand without correcting the parts you see differently. If they ask what you think, say it once and gently. Otherwise your job is to be there, and the interpretation can wait.