A good joint holds because both pieces have been prepared to meet.

Strength in a join comes from work done on each side before contact. Neither piece is asked to accommodate the other’s roughness; both are cut to a shape that fits, and the result holds without glue doing all the arguing. Relationships and agreements behave the same way. When only one party has done the preparing, the connection survives on effort rather than on fit, and the effort is always coming from the same place.

Look at a strained arrangement in your life and ask what preparation has happened on each side. Then do your own part properly, and say plainly what would need to change on the other.