Being reflective -v- living in the now

Being reflective is one of the attributes of the IB Learner Profile.  It involves giving thoughtful consideration to experiences, actions, motivations and world events and learning from them.  It's often hard to reflect in a world where everything is now, but it's an essential part of learning because learning is not simply the consumption of content - it happens only as a result of interaction and reflection.

George Siemens asks an interesting question in the second half of Knowing Knowledge:  what is more important, current knowledge (existing content) or the capacity to continue to know more (connections)?  He writes that "connection forming tools will always create content, but their value lies in our ability to reflect on, dialogue about and internalize content in order to learn.  Content knowledge is frozen at a certain time, whereas a connection is a pipeline to continue to flow new knowledge."

However Siemens argues that reflection is becoming a "lost art".  How often do we look beneath the surface of the busyness?  Are our lives being consumed by the now?

Photo Credit: Yersinia via Compfight cc