We form opinions and beliefs quickly and often without a solid and objective foundation. It is instinctive. Noise and input never stop; we have a 24-hour news cycle, digital messages are incessant, we carry our phones at the ready, on hips, in bags or on our writs, opinions flood in. In our part of the country, we can contrast this normalcy to the day of a big snow storm when everything shuts down and the power is out. Silence, itself, is loud those days. So, we argue for the need to create the time and space for learning, reflecting, processing, refining, and deciding.  Without it, mistakes and misunderstandings are made along the way.    Read more...