Mind-maps are structured associations that have long been used to organize thoughts, capture them and playfully rearrange them, and discover new connections among ideas. They have been used as a kind of nonlinear storyboarding and a way to organize tasks for creative intuitives ( e.g., the NPs on the Myers-Briggs).
Another use I’ve experimented with lately is as a meditative tool.
Start with a keyword at the center and then close your eyes and breath very slowly for some time. Some centering words that have occurred to me include: Holy Spirit, Compassion, Penitence, Christ, Savior, Silence. There are so many words one might use.
Then, open your eyes and allow free-form branches to grow spontaneously out of that center in heart and mind with sub-branching off of the primaries.
Once you’ve reached a point where it simply feels good enough, stop, close your eyes again, return to quiet breathing and then close with a short prayer.
As a final step, allow your heart to wander until attaching to a next keyword to explore in a next session of contemplative mind-mapping.
Perhaps you’ll try it out. I’d love to hear how it works for you.
© The Harried Mystic, 2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.
The Harried Mystic 
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