Mind Maps – Life Elements

Posted on | March 22, 2011

I’ve been interested in the process of visually representing our thoughts for quite awhile now. Back in my twenties I found out about The Grove consultancy in SF and thought that would be pretty cool work: enabling “organizations, teams and individuals to visualize and implement change.” Plus, I love color so any practice that involves using a lot of it gets me interested. They don’t call themselves “mind mappers”, I don’t even see any comparisons to mind mapping on their site, and they’ve got their own unique techniques and tools, but essentially they’re mapping the mind. I have not pursued it as a career, but the “thinking visually” seed was planted.

More recently, one of my favorite sources of guidance on creativity and productivity, Mark McGuinness, has mentioned it in his Creative Pathfinder course, as a tool for getting the abundance of ideas we creatives tend to have out of our head, where we can make sure they are captured (and filed away for future reference) and play around with them (rearranging, seeing connections, etc…) And shortly after I met Peter Russell (and was impressed by his flow of thought), I discovered that he worked with Tony Buzan (the originator of mind mapping), in the 70s, to teach the process, and continues to use it for much of his work.

Lists rein in the free-ranging movement of the brain, reducing it to stasis and establishing narrow neural pathways of thought that increasingly reduce the probability of creativity and recall. The reason why lists do this is that they act in direct opposition to the associative nature of the brain. As an idea is set down it is “finished with”, divorced from the ideas which precede or follow it…once you have understood the infinite associative nature of your brain, you are in a position to help it help itself.
-Tony Buzan and Barry Buzan, ‘The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain’s Untapped Potential

Suzanna Stinnett, who leads the Bay Area Bloggers (BABS) group that J and I are part of, is a creative inspiration (productive, innovative, and generous) for me and she’s a regular mind mapper too. She brought one of her current, in process, maps to last months meeting and it lit a little fire within me, to get mapping. I particularly like her approach which incorporates visual elements beyond just words, color, and direction symbols (arrows, etc.) She’s using collage, sketches/paintings, sticky notes, even doodles, which I see as expansive for our minds, and therefore our life!

My maps show me what I am struggling with, what I need to focus on, and where the joy is.
-Suzanna Stinnett

In my late twenties I started really struggling with issues of holistic health and happiness and my creative flow started to dry up. It’s been a challenging journey towards awareness, clarity, and abundant, vibrant energy. Through a variety of positive practices I am connecting more regularly with the happy, healthy state of Being which is the essence of each of us, and my creative energy is flowing more freely. Still a lot of releasing, unblocking, letting go and opening to do, but that’s what it’s all about – the process of life.

So my first mind map (started in October and expanded in January) is quite basic (in technique/style.) It’s a big picture view – ’Elements of my Happy, Healthy, Productive, Prosperous, Creative, Connected, and Positively Contributing Life’ – which contains four major elements:

Daily Practice

Great Work

Learning

Connecting/Collaborating/Sharing

I felt myself pretty tightly controlling the flow of ideas while creating it, so as I continue playing with mind maps I will be encouraging myself to Let Go and let the flow of thoughts/ideas/hand be free and un-edited. It’s the same thing I’m really working on in my writing (fiction in particular) – to basically tell the inner critic to take a hike because what I have to offer is worthwhile. That’s not to say that everything I’m producing is going to entertain/inform/inspire/guide others. That’s not the point. The point, I believe, is to honor our best and brightest potential, our inner wisdom and unique “voice”, by Letting It Flow. And as we get comfortable with that, through healthy regular practices (like meditation, movement, breathing, drawing/painting, writing, mind mapping, etc), our creations grow and evolve and we find the work that is meant for sharing.

I think some guidance from the masters will help me develop this new skill and plan to start with these two books:

-The Brain Book: Know Your Own Mind and How to Use It

-The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain’s Untapped Potential

Mind Maps – Life Elements

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