Mindmapping to Balance the Left and Right Brain

Mindmapping is an approach that helps in exploring new ideas; recording your life experiences and working through emotional issues. As often as I can I swing open my A4 journal to draw an A3 sized mindmap across two pages. I start with a central point (such as the date) and then link off from it on everything I've done that day.

At the bottom of this post there a video on iMindmap from Tony Buzan (I've never used this software but would love to); to the left there's a sample mindmap I produced using Inspiration 8; these are paid software packages but you can get free, if not quite so colourful, mindmapping software. I've put a link to a list of free software at the bottom of the post.



My approach to mapping is to write one word or a short sentence (or a quick sketch) and then revisit the map putting in little 'tick boxes' to tick when an action has to be performed.

I record feelings, images, scenarios, actions.  The initial steps use my right brain and then I move over to left brain activities.

I transfer the actions to a small notebook and tick off completed actions through the working day - this is a left brain process.

If you're right brain dominant (which I am) leading a left-brain life can leave you feeling unfulfilled and on a treadmill of to-do's - but those to-do's still need to be done!

You can increase your Mind Power using mindmapping to bring your left and right brain thinking together. Mindmapping is particularly useful when you want to record the outcomes and insights achieved during intense emotional work (exposure therapy, for example, produces overwhelming sensations that 'hijack' the thinking brain - mindmapping allows you to record what you learn experientially without asking you to 'pull yourself together' in order to engage the left/logical mind).

Hope you enjoy the following article from Dr. Vj Mariaraj:

How to Increase Your Mind Power by being a Whole-brain Thinker Using the Technique of Mind Mapping
By Vj Mariara

The term ‘ambidexterity’ means being adept in using both right and left hand. It is a rare inborn trait but it can be learned. The versatility displayed in the use of each hand determines a person’s ambidexterity. Michelangelo, Leonardo Vinci, Einstein, Fleming, Harry Truman, etc., were all ambidextrous. In modern times, you will find many, who were originally left-handed but in the course of their childhood, acquired right-handed habits (at school or home) and thus became ambidextrous.

Along the same lines, we could say we are being ambidextrous when we are multi-tasking – talking over the phone and taking notes or riding a bike, etc. The difference being that instead of our hands, we are using both our right and left hemispheres to successfully juggle our tasks. We have all heard about some people being ‘right-brained’ or ‘left-brained’. In essence it means that the person displays more ‘right-brain’ or ‘left-brain’ oriented skills, although we are all the time integrating both hemispheres in our daily activities.

‘Right’ brain qualities involve imagination, risk taking, artistic abilities, highly philosophical, creative, etc. ‘Left’ brain qualities, on the other hand, are practical, conformist, seek order, have good comprehension skills, etc. Thus ‘right-brain’ people are said to think subjectively, holistically and have strong intuition, while ‘left-brain’ people tend to be more logical, analytical and highly rational. It is found that more often, left-brain thinkers are engineers and scientists, while right-brain thinkers end up being artists and poets.

How and why is it that some people are more adept at certain kind of thought patterns than others? The fact is that while we may inherit certain mental traits and capacities, how we use our mind is what determines our mental prowess. As children we are innately right-brained, displaying great creativity, imagination, spontaneity, open-mindedness and enthusiasm but ironically, as we grow, social, cultural and racial influences constrain these natural traits.

The most comforting thought however is that we can greatly improve our mental abilities by choosing to change our thoughts and applying our mind in a particular direction. Thus if a person is a known conformist, who always walks down the beaten path, he could deliberately try new things, learn to take risks and think imaginatively.

When we combine the power of the two hemispheres, we will be working at our full potential. Ambidextrous mind or whole brain thinking - as it is also known - enhances our brain functions and injects a heightened level of awareness. To foster an ambidextrous mindset, we can work on right-brain learning activities by including patterning, metaphors, analogies, role-playing, visuals, and movement into reading, calculation, and analytical activities. Conscious effort to incorporate left and right brain activities, human consciousness studies, reflective thinking and meditation are excellent means to achieve an ambidextrous mind.

One easy technique that helps in such whole-brain thinking process is Mind Mapping. It aligns the mind to the diffusion of thought and paves way for streaming thoughts and linking new associations. Association essentially is finding the links in logic and ideas, and when these are explored in full, it leads to insight, imagination and creativity.

If we look at great discoveries, we will find the application or association of principle (s) to another. Pertinently, colors, pictures, symbols, etc., highly enhance our learning process as they invoke vividness, clarity of perception and easy dissemination. Mind Mapping technique employs all these aspects and therein lies its power and dynamism. When learning and understanding is done using the Mind Map technique, it naturally becomes a highly effective and powerful way of gaining knowledge. It sure is an ideal way for fostering an ambidextrous or whole brain thinking culture.

Dr. Vj Mariaraj is a Mind Map enthusiast and has been using Mind Maps for the past twelve years. He has created over 5650 Mind Maps. To learn more about mind mapping and to download a free Mind map of a Business Book, send an email to freemindmap@aweber.com

Article Source: Vj Mariara
How to Increase Your Mind Power by being a Whole Brain Thinker Using the Technique of Mind Mapping

My favourite mindmapping software is Inspiration 8, which I've used to produce some of the work on this blog. The main site is here but you can buy Inspiration relatively cheaply on both Amazon and Ebay (just type 'Inspiration software' into the search boxes on the right). I started with version 6 and just kept buying the next upgrade off these sites.

There are also some very good free mindmapping software programmes; here's a list from Wikipedia.

Tony Buzan's iMindMap Mind Mapping Software

Whilst many products have claimed to allow you to Mind Map on a computer, none have managed to fully duplicate Tony's world renown process. Until now that is! iMindMap™ gives you the infinite visual variety, portability, freedom, brain friendliness and effectiveness of traditional highly proven Mind Mapping techniques. Watch our free videos on computer based mind mapping to find out more.

How do you use mindmapping? Please leave a comment.

Regards - Carl

Are You Left or Right Brain Dominant?

The importance of left-brain versus right-brain dominance dawned on me just over two years' ago and since then I've been seeing the difference between the two (and in particular the importance of using the right brain in helping emotional healing) over and over again.

I recently took up song-writing as a hobby and as I started to interact with musicians found myself hitting a few relationship brick walls.  It dawned on me straight away I was dealing with left-brain dominant people who couldn't understand the process I go through when writing a song.  A few of them stopped co-operating with me quite quickly (I'll write about this a bit further down).

Neither of these upper left and right thinking brain's (the left neo-cortex and the right neo-cortex) is 'bad' - (thank goodness, eh?) and we're stuck with both of them whether we want to be or not - but we can improve a lot of our relationship problems both with ourselves and others by tuning into the fact that most of us are imbalanced thinkers.  Again, having one side more dominant than the other isn't a 'bad' thing - but if you're a right brain dominant person you can have a lot of difficulty, and in extreme cases it can make you emotionally ill, when you're trying to relate to a left brain dominant person who won't 'come over to your side'.

Helene Rothschild explains the difference between the two sides in this article:

Are You Left or Right Brain Dominant?
By Helene Rothschild

Are you sometimes aware of judging others or yourself because of different behavior patterns? Could it be that people naturally react in a different way to similar situations and everyone is okay? Do you want to understand a basic difference so that you can have more love, harmony, and peace in your life?

As a Marriage, Family Therapist for 27 years, I have learned many important insights from my clients. As I objectively listened to them, I noticed a definite pattern that they were unaware of, and that was causing them to be judgmental of others and themselves.

Helping clients to understand and accept their natural behavior type gave them more clarity and acceptance. Many felt great relief to find out that they were okay. They also had more confidence that they could understand others and improve all of their relationships. As a result, love and harmony replaced their fears and frustrations.

What is the difference between left-brain (thinkers) and right-brain (feelers) dominant people?

Everyone has the ability to think and feel. However, many people make all their decisions with their logical mind. These individuals are usually good at business but often have trouble in their relationships with people who make their decisions based on their feelings.

When I counseled typical couples that were having problems in their relationships, I discovered that the man was a primary thinker and the woman was focused on her feelings. About ten percent of the time the opposite was true. I believe that many more men are predominately feelers but they were trained early when they cried or admitted that they were scared with comments like, "Be tough. Don't be a sissy." In other words, it was not okay to feel or express their feelings.

These two inherent strengths (the ability to think and the ability to feel) especially take command when a person is frightened or upset. Therefore what happens when the couples get into an argument can be likened to two people riding on parallel trains going sixty miles an hour. Of course, since they are not on the same train, they cannot hear each other. Instead, the feeling woman is likely to feel alone, emotionally abandoned, and think, "He is so cold and insensitive." Whereas the thinking person will probably be frustrated and oblivious and have these thoughts, "She's so illogical. Why is she overreacting?"

In order to resolve their issues, they need to be on the same track. In other words, they both need to be in their left-brain (logical, thinking, functioning) mode or their right-brain (feeling, intuitive, creative) mode.

For example, if they are working on their checkbook, it is appropriate for both people to be in their left-brain, logical mode. However, if feelings are involved, then both need to be coming from their right brain. Hopefully, when you are physically intimate with your loved one, you are both in your feelings.

If you want to be in your left, logical mode, simply say, "I think that __." Complete the sentence with a thought. For example, "I think that we are paying too high an interest rate."

To be in your right, feeling mode, just say, "I am feeling __." Finish the sentence with feeling words. For example, "I am feeling sad and frustrated (angry, scared, or happy)."

Notice that I began each sentence with the precious word, "I." That is always important to do so that you take responsibility for your thoughts and feelings.

Now that you are more aware of the two parts of the brain and how to communicate more effectively, you have a better chance of avoiding arguments and resolving problems. The insights and solutions can help you enjoy the healthier and happier relationships you deserve. Go for it!

Copyright 2007 by Helene Rothschild, MS, MA, MFT, a Marriage, Family Therapist, intuitive counselor, speaker, and author. Her newest book is, "ALL YOU NEED IS HART! A Unique Guide to Holistic and Rapid Transformation.” She offers phone sessions, books, e-books, MP3 audios, posters, cards, teleclasses, independent studies, and a free newsletter. http://www.lovetopeace.com , 1-888-639-6390.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Helene_Rothschild
Are You Left or Right Brain dominant?

Helene's article matches my own experience of a failing relationship due to a left brain dominant versus a right brain dominant mismatch and since tuning into this I've started to realise why there are some people I just can't feel comfortable with - these are extremely left-brain dominant people.

When I write a song my thinking brain doesn't write it - my body does.  The emotional energy surges up and produces a number of short melodies complete with words attached.  I 'see' a scene of people interacting and a story unfolds.  The very last thing that happens is starting to write the words in a logical order on paper (I record the snippets as they appear in my mind into a voice recorder first because the whole thing is so unplanned if I don't catch it immediately it's lost within minutes).

When I think I've got a full song in the making then I'll start to use my left brain in putting it all into logical order.  Then I go find a musician and ask if they can produce the full tune professionally and what I usually get back is 'you need to learn to play guitar' or 'write the words and I'll put a tune to it'.  So I say 'tell you what, I'll write the song with my melody but just give you the words'.  Sacrilege! apparently.  What I've realised is that musicians who don't write songs - and there are quite a few of them around - have trouble letting their right brains run the song-writing show because they're left-brain dominant.

They're thinking 'exactness' and I'm thinking 'let's have a good time!'.  So after getting all that 'you need to learn to play guitar' advice I've decided maybe I have to.  But I don't enjoy it that much - because I'm right brain dominant.

The test below shows this - these are my results - if you want to test yourself click on the little blue link-line at the bottom of the table.  Below that is another self-test I've also taken and that showed me to be even more right-brained than the first.

Which of your brains is most dominant?  Please leave a comment if your left-brain permits it.

Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz The higher of these two numbers below indicates which side of your brain has dominance in your life. Realising your right brain/left brain tendancy will help you interact with and to understand others. Left Brain Dominance: (10) Right Brain Dominance: (12) Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz

For a slightly more in-depth test take the Hemispheric Dominance Inventory Test (I scored even higher on right brain dominance with this one).

Regards - Carl