This year I attended a conference about John O Donohue , an Irish philosopher/mystic/poet who died in his early 50s. At that conference a friend of his called Dr Dan Siegel talked about how quantum physics and mysticism were now converging and  discovering what they had in common.

In his talk he referred to “the plane of all possibilities” – a mathematical location where all the solutions/answers/possible outcomes are to be found. (I am not a quantum physicist so if there is a more accurate term, happy to learn more).

At this point, you are probably wondering, “where are you going with this Anne and what does it have to do with Excel?” Valid questions indeed. I am telling you about this because an observation that frequently comes up in my classes is well “I don’t know what I don’t know” and “I don’t even know where to look for an answer”.

 

 

When it comes to Excel, the reality is that there is a solution somewhere. It may not be obvious, it may require work but someone has solved it somewhere but if you do not even know what to look for, that isn’t really of much help so I am going to suggest something rather unorthodox.

“Inspiration is always a surprising visitor.”
John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

 

I am going to suggest that you tap into the “plane of all possibilities” by trying the following.

  • If you have an Excel problem and you have no idea how to solve it, seek first of all to get calm and settled (even if it requires retreating to a  toilet cubicle for 5 or 10 minutes!)
  • Close your eyes and ask that the “plane of all possibilities” shows you a solution to the Excel problem you are having.
  • Within an hour you will get a prompt to look somewhere/ask someone – go with that no matter how strange or weird it seems. That may not have the direct answer for you but it will lead you to the answer…
  • I use this myself and the prompts can come in many ways e.g. search for X or ask Y or try Z…

I also know that for some of you this may be veering into what a good friend of mine Maggy Whitehouse calls “wanky bollocks” but honestly, surely it’s at least worth a try 🙂