'Mr.Brain' Part 3- "Mind mapping technique"

It has been a long gap from the previous post.It has been a bit full of facts in the previous two posts and less fun. But that is how it is, cause we are dealing with the most complex organ of the body and the most complex of them all in the universe. A little bit of thinking is required. It is like that at the start, but goes on to do wonders for you on the long run.

What is mind mapping?
Mind mapping is nothing but your natural flow of thoughts on paper. It is the mental projection of what is in your mind. An efficient tool indeed. I'll tell you the real purpose of the mind map. There are infinite number of thoughts in your mind. All those are disorganised. It is important to make it organised in order for the brain to be efficient.

A Mind map showing the "Impacts of Global warming"

Instead of wasting time in reading tonnes of paragraphs, if you can chunk only the keywords and associations you'll have enough space to gather more information and this is why I say we can do a lot more than what we really do with our brain.

As I said earlier images and words are the sole factors for memory. We think on something for a lot of time and one thing leads to some other and that in turn leads to something else. So sometimes we forget how we arrived at the last thought.

How do we draw a mind map?

Mind maps are really how the thought process takes place in your mind. It is as simple as that. They project how you think on to a paper. So if we jot it down on a paper we can easily recall our thought process. Like the mini mind maps the full mind map has a central image or a word. But preferably an image. Then it has got the branches which are called as the Basic Ordering Ideas(BOIs). These are the initial words that pop up in your mind when you think of the central word or the image. Each of these BOIs will lead to other words or images and this goes on. Branching out from each of the branches like a tree. This is what we call as the mind map. This is how we think. The following is the mind map that I created using the central word 'HAPPINESS'.

The mind map that I created using 'HAPPINESS' as the central word

Now if you can't comprehend, what is there in this image. I'll just tell you what I've done over here. The central word is HAPPINESS with the image of a smiley. Then that branches out as the BOIs namely, Nature, writing, learning, Sleeping, People,Cycling, Playing, and Machines. There are a lot more than this that you can add. Each of them has got a different kind of line, font, colour, dimension, shading and also the usage of symbols, codes and each of the branch is same as the length of the word. Each one word has got an image. In fact you can replace images instead of using the words. No matter how bad the image is you've to just draw what is in your mind. The next time it would be better. Now each of these branches out. Each of these BOIs can be made as the centre of another mind map and the same can be done. It is important to make every element in the mind map unique. When I think about Learning I'm reminded of art and that in turn reminds me of Mridangam, Painting. Then it goes on and on. Then when I think about nature I'm reminded of Animals and Plants. The animals reminds me of snakes. When I think about people, I'm reminded of my family and that in turn reminds me of mom, dad, and sister. And when you say sister I'm reminded of fighting with her and the fun that I've have with her. Similarly all the BOIs stimulate me to jot down whatever I think, in quick succession. This goes on and on. It is up to you to decide where to stop. Now we can see that, this is how we process information. The one that is to be noticed here is the way we associate one thing with other. This is how mind maps are drawn. We can use whatever colour, font, type of line that we need but it important to make it neat. Using hierarchy is recommended because it has been proved that everybody remembers hierarchy easily.The more neat it is the more easy it would be to recollect. It is easier to recollect if we take notes just like the mind maps. There is no need to jot down unnecessary stuff. No need to read unnecessary things and hence can save a lot of time. We can create a mind map using anything as the central image.

The Boeing Aircraft was developed only by the use of a 25-foot-long Mind Map.

Dr.Stanley standing alongside the 25-foot-mind map of Boeing Aircraft

You can get a mental block at the start of the mind map. In order to overcome that you can add a blank line i.e a branch, ask questions, and then add images. This happens to a lot of them. Having drawn the mind map another question that may pop out is how do we remember one? Reviewing the mind map is a very important task. After 1 hour period you should ideally review your Mind Map:

• After 10-30 minutes
• After a day
• After a week
• After a month
• After three months
• After six month

This makes the mind map a part of your on-going long-term memory. The Mind map is difficult at the start. We always feel lazy when doing the first time. The first time is difficult. It is like the clearing of the forest that I told you in the first part. But the second time you do, it becomes easy. Practice makes you feel comfortable and becomes a very good technique for remembering. It is logical to use mind maps because it is evident that this is how we dump in information. This is a technique to dump in more. Now you may ask me what do I do with this? How to apply this technique to real problems in the world like that of education, family, business etc? How to do self analysis with the technique? How does it help in problem solving? I'll deal all that in the subsequent posts. Meanwhile do try to make two or three mind maps if not 100 of them. It is a good technique. You'll know it only when you start doing it and know the full potential of the technique.

Do stay for much more to come!!!

-SATZ