Three things from DAH.

DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. I pen, promote, and make change (not the coin kind). 

First up this week, Urgency …  
Spoiler: Urgency is usually about something important to someone other than you. I think we've all heard the recommendation to focus on the important rather than just the urgent. By important I mean those things that will help one to lead a happier, healthier, satisfying life. In my zig-zag style, however, I tend to jump when urged to do so. Sometimes it's important that I jump. Sometimes I'm jumping to satisfy someone else's needs. The current pandemic has helped with this, at least. Anyone telling me to jump is now doing so via text, telephone, or email. Having the urge to urgent action not be right in my face is pretty nice. It gives me a chance to consider importance (and relevance) not just the commands and demands of others.
Urgent Vs. Important: The Simplest Way to Stay Productive and Do the Right Work

Second up this week, Uncertainty …  
I'm rather open to new ideas. At least, I like to think I'm open. Such openness suggests a lack of certainty. I generally prize that. Why be certain without proof? But such uncertainty, however admirable I might think it, does leave me open to the urgencies of others. Others who seem certain. One useful "way" in the linked article below is "Don't believe everything you think." To that, I would add "don't believe everything they think." I know I never want to be completely certain about everything because it leaves no room for surprise. Thinking of me-certainty as a bottle, I don't ever want to be full to the brim. But I do want to notice when a container is well under-full.
Seven Ways to Cope with Uncertainty

Third up this week, Ullage …  
If it weren't for wine, I wouldn't even know this word: Ullage … "the amount that a container (such as a tank or cask) lacks of being full" (Merriam-Webster online dictionary). Imagine a "full" wine bottle. There's space between the surface of the wine and the cork or the upper lip of the bottle, isn't there? That's the ullage. The bottle isn't really full, not full to the brim. But we call it full because it contains what we expect from a full wine bottle. We expect the ullage. Practically speaking, the bottle can't be full to the brim (or the bottom of the cork or screwcap. Without some space between stopper and wine, bottling would be a very splashy process. And temperature increase would result in leakage. This is true of more than wine. We call lots of containers "full" when they include headspace between contents and cap. Full appears to be a relative term. We expect ullage.
How full is full up?

And a bit more: The first part of The Second Coming, by William Butler Yeats, composed immediately after WWI and the Spanish Flu pandemic …  

Turning and turning in the widening gyre   
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst   
Are full of passionate intensity.

(leaving out the rest, with the rough beast slouching towards Bethlehem to be born … that bit's a bit too alarming today for catastrophist DAH)

And that's all for this week.
From Mary Oliver’s poem "Sometimes" …  

Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it. 

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