Dirk

My literary hero is not one of the colossi of the classical canon but the late Douglas Adams' creation Dirk Gently. Dirk is a holistic detective. He believes in the ultimate inter-connectedness of all things. If you haven't read the eponymous first book or The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul then leave now and come back later when you have. It will help you with this blog. Trust me. Dirk believes that following any car is as good as following that car. Why am I telling you this?

There is something about doing something else that is always helpful. Whilst I start my day with prayer and meditation I also start it with a number puzzle. Not too demanding but as the correct answers to a killer Sudoku drop into place I somehow find my day drops into place. I leave just enough grey matter unoccupied to work out how the day will happen whilst exercising the rest of it. Works for me.

I have cleared the best part of the next three weeks day-time to finish a book ('I'm a very slow reader' - Frank Muir). The act of writing anything will get me up to speed. I'll probably blog stuff when I'm blocked about the main thing.

In a world that is the work of one creator it should not be surprising that things are connected. When you are stuck, doing something else will fix the thing you are meant to be doing more often than not. That final crossword clue can be solved after a break. A holiday restores your mind as well as your body.

Maybe that's why, when the disciples told Jesus that everyone was looking for him (because healing was required and there was a queue), he said, 'Let's go somewhere else' (Mark 1:38). Not only because his priority was preaching over healing but that somehow this would solve both problems. Just a thought for the day, only more chit chatty. Don't go mad. Douglas Adams died on an exercise bike aged 49, The Salmon of Doubt, the third Dirk novel, frustratingly uncompleted. Laters.