Mind Mapping
What Is Mind Mapping?
The most powerful way to manage the most powerful thing.
It is impossible to know the history of mind mapping because it is impossible to tell how different people at different times have managed their thoughts and emotions.
Yes, this is what mind mapping simply is:
A way to manage our thoughts and emotions.
We use different methods to manage our thoughts and emotions. Cambridge Dictionary defines management as the control and organization of something. We all try to control and organize things within and outside us. Mind is something that is inside us. We all try to control or organize it. We may do it for personal or professional reasons. But we do it.
In fact, we don’t even need to be conscious about managing them. It is a natural function of our mind. Physical exercises, walks and hikes, long drives, meditations, foods and drinks, social gatherings and conversations, self-talks, note-taking, writing, designing, music, etc. can all be forms of managing our thoughts and emotions.
We have had times when we have decided to have a cup of strong coffee when we are anxious. This is we trying to manage our thoughts through chemicals.
We have had times when we have decided to have a cup of strong coffee when we are anxious. This is we trying to manage our thoughts through chemicals.
Mind mapping is a process by which we manage our thoughts and emotions through images and words.
Let’s put it this way:
Mind mapping is a process by which we try to control and organize our thoughts and emotions through images and words.
And in this way:
Mind maps are what we create with images and words to control and organize our thoughts and emotions.
Both images and words have their own significance for our minds. A great balance of both while creating mind maps will make sure there is a greater balance in the mind.
Mind Map and Tony Buzan
Tony Buzan is the most influential Mind Mapper.
I said earlier that it is impossible to know the history of mind mapping because it is impossible to tell how different people at different times have managed their thoughts and emotions. But Tony Buzan tried to come up with both the history and proper theory of Mind Mapping.
In his own words:
By marrying words and images, and by mirroring the workings of the human brain in its combination of logical and creative input, the Mind Map is the perfect tool for our globalized 21st century.
Buzan used to create a prototype of Mind Mapping in the form of note-taking to improve his studies. As he studied what he was doing, he realized the impact of keywords. He discovered that they unlocked core concepts.
Influenced by ancient Greeks and their handling of memory systems, he began getting more serious with Mind Mapping. He created a new method of note-taking based on mnemonic systems. He found it more effective than linear note-taking.
He then began taking pupils as a hobby and began coaching them in his technique. His technique helped underperforming students excel in their studies.
Over time he developed his tools influenced by psychology and neuroscience. For him, mind mapping had to involve both hemispheres of the brain.
He came up with the following essential ingredients without which a diagram or figure couldn’t be called a mind map:
- Radiant Thinking
Buzan believed our thinking radiates outwards like these dandelion flowers:
- Non-Linear Organic Flow
The human brain doesn’t think in toolbars, menus and lists — Tony Buzan .
- Color
Colors capture attention, improve comprehension, ignite motivation, encourage vibrant communication, and increase mental processing.
- Images
Images encourage harmony between the left and right sides of the brain, balancing our linguistic with visual skills.
- Words
Single words will make our brain engage with the subject and go to the heart of the matter.
He extensively advocated for mnemonic systems and mind mapping techniques. He wrote about the brain, “genius quotient (GQ),” spiritual intelligence, memory, creativity, and speed reading. He co-founded London’s Mind Body Spirit Festival, the Mind Sports Olympiad, and World Brain Day. He passed away in 2019.
Mind Map and Adesh Acharya
What gives me the expertise and the right to talk about Mind Maps?
Well, Tony Buzan says that a person who has created 100 Mind Maps will ‘have attained a highly skilled level of mind mapping.’ Over the last four years, I have created more than a thousand!
My mind mapping journey didn’t begin with a Tony Buzan book or a college course, or a YouTube video. I used my phone’s wallpapering ability to graphically express whatever was going on inside me: My desires, plans, fears and strengths. I called it Thought Management and kept it to myself. This means my mind mapping techniques didn’t match up with Buzan’s theory. I had my own way. But it has been effective.
It was only after I read Tony Buzan’s Mind Map Mastery that I realized that the activity I was doing for all these years was known in the mainstream as Mind Mapping. Yes, my method was not in line with what these people meant when they meant mind mapping, but it fulfilled the same function. It was his book that opened my eyes to the applications and possibilities of mind maps.
I have lived through my wallpapers and have pierced through a lot of my psychological and emotional problems through them. I want to now share my experiences and learn how other people map their minds. Writing about them is a way I can do that. Hence this publication.
Mind Maps and Mind Mapping
My goal with this publication is to discuss mind maps. I will write about mind maps in these two broad categories:
- Theory- History, Concepts, Critiques, Experimentations, Applications* and Future.
- Practice- How to, What to, Where, When.
In terms of application, it can be used for both personal and professional management. Personally it can be used to control/organize values, virtues, dreams, goals, feelings, relationships, etc. Professionally it can be used to control/organize school routines, career paths, organizational strategy, marketing tactics, etc.
Our mind is both beautiful and complex. But without the right tools and methods, we can never see the beauty and solve the complexity. The result will be simple: ugly.
Mind Mapping helps. It has helped me and it has helped a lot of people as far as I know. It’s not something only the philosophical, psychological, or neuroscientific are allowed to do. It is something we all can do. It’s our mind and the closer we get to it, the better. It’s our mind: the farther we keep it from institutional yes and no’s, the smarter.
We need to take control of our mind and mind mapping is a way to do that.
We can even create a manipulation mind map together to see who is playing what with us!
Mind mapping is simple. It is fun. Let’s not complicate it.
Mind too is simple. It can be made simple. It is already beautiful. We can evoke beauty. Let’s map it!
This publication is about Mind Mapping — the best way to enjoy and be in control of our minds. Here we discuss and analyze the history, methods, and future of mind mapping.
Our minds are beautiful and complex, we need an effective way to see and solve them. Mind mapping is that way! Please subscribe to the publication.
Please share this link to spread the map: https://medium.com/yes-mind-mapping
If you want to contribute, please let me know in the comments. Let’s do this together!
