It’s not hard to imagine one’s life experiences flowing like a stream. People you meet, conversations you have, flashes of insight, emotions - these things and more wash steadily past. The essence of one’s life is dispersed in this river.

You cannot hold onto a river. Grasp at it and you get nothing more than an empty wet hand that will dry soon enough. But, no matter how clear the water appears, it carries with it artifacts of where it has been. Don’t believe me? Put a rock in the stream and wait.

My friend Allen came by the office today to check out the new video equipment we have recently purchased. After a while we got to talking about the book I’ve been reading called Refuse to Choose!. I recently wrote an article on how this book has inspired me. Seems he’s a bit of a Scanner himself.

One of the things I mentioned to him was a mind mapping program that I like to use called Freemind. When Allen outlines an idea, he already uses mind mapping techniques with paper and pencil, so he was excited to discover a free software package that does the same thing.