When times were busier, when I was trying to be all things to all people, and when I spent life on the run and stayed thin because of the fifteen steps I ran up and down a dozen times every day - that's when I abandoned lists for mind mapping.

I am fifteen pounds heavier now, and live life at a slower pace. I no longer Mind Map, - I am content with a daily Journal that sometimes gets neglected for days at a time.

But - now I am at the point where I can move things from the big garden to the new beds we have made this year, I am all flustered about what should be moved now, what should wait for spring, where should we put the Europa rose that somehow got stuck at the back of the garden, - what spot will welcome the little lilac bush that hasn't done well where it is and is getting crowded out. Do I have the heart to trash some of the Shasta daisies, and the Sea Holly that took over about 25 square feet next to the curly willow.... Am I brash enough to pass these invasive but pretty plants on to my friends????

I remembered how very practical it was to make a Mind Map that planned a week ahead.
Or divided some daunting chore into small do-able chunks.

Mind Maps are practical and creative, and if you have the time to design them artistically they can be colourful visual reminders of what life's all about.

I first started to practice mind mapping in a small way when I watched a Distance Education Class on television twenty-five years ago. It was not until fifteen years later that I put my big red day journals to rest and started a loose-leaf book of
intentional scribbles that laid out chores and dates and small details in a way my mind could absorb.



I think this was probably Christmas Week 2004, - now how could I have remembered all this stuff without a reminder that my eye could look at and the image was immediately imprinted in some available and retrievable spot in my brain.

I'm all for Mind Maps - hurrah and three cheers for them, no matter how fancy or plain they should chance to be. And often when I went shopping my errands were on a tiny mind map on a scrap of paper. They very seldom ever achieved the splendour that you see on samples of Mind Maps, - sometimes they were done in pencil, but occasionally, when I had time, they were crayon bright and encouragingly brilliant.

Here is one I retrieved from a 'free web page' courtesy of Paul Foreman at www.mindmapinspiration.co.uk. I think it is intriguing and inspiring, and tells it just like it is......