From Sawtooth Mountain Clinic and Cook County Public Health and Human Services - August 4, 2020

Of Food and Facts

Before we can eat wild rice, wheat, or other grains, we have to do some prep work.  First, we have to separate the edible seeds from the inedible chaff, a process called “winnowing.”  The plant is pounded to separate the seeds from the chaff, and then poured through the air so that the nutritious seeds fall down and the indigestible husks blow away.  If we do this process well, we are rewarded with food that will nourish us.  If we do this poorly, we end up either throwing out too much of the good food or eating too much of the indigestible hulls.
 
The same kind of prep work needs to be done before we consume information.  If we are efficient with our informational winnowing, we’re rewarded with knowledge that will sustain and strengthen us.  If we do this process poorly, we risk either ignoring important information and tossing it aside or “eating up” information that can harm us.
 
How do we make sure we’re gathering up the good stuff while we avoid the chaff?
Read this month's Topic of the Month to learn more about:

• Cognitive Biases and why you can't always trust your own brain.
• Three steps to build in workarounds to protect yourself from your own blindspots.
• How to use C.R.A.A.P. to make sure you're consuming helpful, not harmful, information.

Click here to read this month's issue.  That's where you'll find links to all the sources used in creating the Topic of the Month.  Then, click here to browse around the past issues.  They cover a wide variety of topics.  Feel free to share!

To watch the video version of this month's topic, visit our YouTube channel:  https://youtu.be/xM2FzkYaZJo

You can also access a copy of the Topic of the Month newsletter in the attached pdf.