November:Our 14 year old daughter composes

http://idealist-vs-world.blogspot.com/2010/05/november.html

I have written about letting things stew as concerns learning; nurturing an idea,letting it germinate and not hurrying it. The idea that you can't 'help' a chrysalis along into becoming a butterfly- you can't prod it, poke at it and ask it, "Are you growing?" and checking on it to see if it is evolving fast enough, or well enough.
Another idea has come to me from this. The idea that we need to have space in our minds to recognize what is important to use. We need to make this space available and how can we do this if we are constantly bombarded with useless information (to us at least)?

How can we grow an awareness a sensitivity to the things that are meaningful to us when we have no mental space left after the day to day?
And how do we make this space available?