Our memory is associative. You’ll remember complete scenes when you will ear a sound, see an image or smell an odor. Our brain doesn’t work linearly. It does multi-tasking, link ideas, thoughts and sensations one between the other.

Why don’t we try to take these characteristics into account when we are taking notes, doing brainstorming or just trying to clarify our thoughts? This is exactly what Mind Maps try to handle: the non linearity of our brain’s processing.

What are mind maps? There is a Mind Map I done to write this article:

It’s easy to write a text based on these keywords and the links they have one between the other. There is my presentation of what are a Min Maps, how it works and their benefits compared to traditional linear note taking.

Mind Maps are based on the fact that the brain doesn’t process things linearly and that our memory is mainly associative. They take these characteristics into account to help us to structure a subject. By this method, it will be easier to remember what the subject was about with a simple look at the Mind Map.

This is a new note taking method. It will present, consolidate or summaries information on a selected subject. The system will relate each idea between them. These links will show you the relation, semantic or symbolism, between your ideas. This note taking method will help you to clarify your thoughts, in your brain storming and will show you new facts. It’s much easier to incorporate new ideas to these schemas than in a linear text.

How these mind maps are created? It’s firstly the result of your personal style. It’s recommended to personalize your Mind Maps because it reflects your thinking. They are composed of colors, images, keywords and lines. To express the non-linearity of the method, you should put the main subject of the Mind Map in the center of your page. To know how to build these Mind Maps, I suggest you to visit these web sites: here, here and there.

What are the benefits of using Mind Maps? It helps you in your creativity process. It will help you to see things with another point of view. Why is this working? Because it take into account the non-linearity of your brain. It takes into account that your memory is associative by only using keywords, images and colors. The whole process will made your notes much easier to review and remember.

Why I talked about Mind Maps? I know this method since a while but I was reading this article and I found the idea to handle the non linearity of the brain and memory with such a system really interesting and I wanted to write about this idea.

Technoratie: [mindmap] [brain] [notebook] [writing] [idea] [creativity]