I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that when I start to explain Idea mapping to someone. When I think about something that’s very linear, a ruler or a timeline comes to mind. It’s hard to imagine that anyone could be such a linear thinker that their memories would be stored in their brains or recalled in a chronological manner. Often times our memories will be linked to one of senses, such as smell. When we catch a particular scent, such as a familiar perfume, it can trigger memories, most likely ones with the strongest emotional ties. Therefore our brains are naturally associative and when we allow ourselves to daydream and stop thinking about thinking it is amazing where our thought process goes. This is all due our incredible minds, which do not process new information, old information, memories, feelings and emotions in a linear fashion. This is why mind mapping works so well, as it closely resembles our natural thinking process.

– this is an excerpt from my article “Becoming a Mapping Mentor” in the April issue of “Using Mind Maps” magazine.