Three things from DAH. Free every Friday!
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DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. "Bring in the bottled lightning, a clean tumbler, and a corkscrew." (from Chapter 49 of Nicholas Nickleby, by Charles Dickens)

First up this week, WAIT …  
I learned the "shut up and listen" rule long ago. I don't always obey that rule. It's a bit bossy and rude. So I was happy when Austin Kleon introduced me to the acronym W.A.I.T. "Why Am I Talking?" Yesterday morning I heard a fellow mansplaining the mishandling of the COVID pandemic. I was walking two dogs, and he was already talking when I passed him on our way to the park. He was still talking when I returned from the park 20 minutes later. I doubt that the masked woman standing with her hand on the open door of her car really wanted to be there, listening for 20+ minutes. I'd guess she was being polite and didn't know how to gracefully escape. I have three (of course) justifiable reasons to be talking:

And, yes, I might be performing somehow (acting in a play or giving a speech expected by the audience), in which case everyone knows why I am talking and I needn't have a reason.
10 Ways To Deepen Conversation + The Crap Advice You Should Forget (Celeste Headlee)

Second up this week, Warners …  
I've known a few. I expect you have, too. Those who consistently voice worry and doubt rather than joy and confidence. The warners: those who warn, first and always. I'm certain they aim to serve, to point out the ills that could befall. Forewarned is forearmed, right? Maybe sometimes. But constant warning makes for such a buzzkill. I'd rather risk and fail sometimes, or many times. Rather than fold my hand of cards before playing because I might lose. I love and have loved warners. And I'd take more joy in their company if they could temper their negativity. If they would but practice W.A.I.T. -- taking care not to overplay the first of my three justifiable reasons for talking (above). Not every bull is charging. 
What Is the Negativity Bias?

Third up this week, Wander …  

That's the first part of a riddle poem penned by Tolkien's Bilbo Baggins. The second line, the one about wandering, is often taken out of context. Some read it as a justification for wandering willy-nilly. Not its author's intention, clearly. I, for one, do enjoy wandering in mind and body. But I don't enjoy being lost. That's too scary. I like wandering with the knowledge that I might stop fear-free at any moment. Maintaining some illusion of control can be calming, reassuring, especially when one willfully wanders. 
How Mind-Wandering May Be Good For You

A Book I Just Read and Recommend: Lost & Found, by Kathryn Schulz 
" … just as every grief narrative is a reckoning with loss, every love story is a chronicle of finding … "  
and
"Our crossing is a brief one, best spent bearing witness to all that we see: honoring what we find noble, tending what we know needs our care, recognizing that we are inseparably connected to all of it, including what is not yet upon us, including what is already gone. We are here to keep watch, not to keep."

And a bit more:

Everyone Sang, by Siegfried Sassoon

Everyone suddenly burst out singing;
And I was filled with such delight
As prisoned birds must find in freedom
Winging wildly across the white
Orchards and dark green fields; on; on; and out of sight.

Everyone's voice was suddenly lifted,
And beauty came like the setting sun.
My heart was shaken with tears and horror
Drifted away ... O but every one
Was a bird; and the song was wordless; the singing will never be done.


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.