One is reminded of what Mark Twain famously said: “We need to stop calling it common sense. This assumes that it is common and everyone has it. We need to start calling it uncommon sense because so few seem to have it”. This was said over 100 years ago by a common man. Yes, he was famous by today’s standards, but a common man he was.
As we are all aware, common sense is when you see a situation, decision or action in a way that loudly says – yes – both in short and long term – this is a good or best course of action. It doesn’t matter what other people think or believe as their beliefs and attitudes are derived from their unique and varied sources of mental conditioning and upbringing. Common sense, when all things are considered is the only way to proceed based on a variety of factors; experience, information, knowledge, wisdom, objectives, potential hazards, real opportunities, and internal emotional comfort level. It is a state of mind similar to intuition, instinct, or hunch where it just feels right. On the other hand, if you proceed based on only feelings or emotions without considering some of the other factors above, you might just set yourself up for disappointment, frustration, or even failure.
Some of the general assumptions we have are wrong, like: the older you are the more common sense you have; the more educated you are the more common sense you have; the more experienced you are the more common sense developed or the smartter you are the more common sense you have. And, why so few people seem to operate with little or no common sense whatsoever? Certainly, there are a number of reasons, and here are some:
Everyone of us have our own outlook or mindset. This outlook whether positive or negative will have a significant role in how we behave, treat others or interpret life in general. It will control all of your choices, decisions and behavior.
Fear tends to be the dominant emotion in most people most frequently. When you operate out of fear, you will tend to critique your options, choices or circumstances in a pessimistic way. Common sense, the best or right thing to do, will be present, but it will be overridden by all of the fear threats and concerns.
Many people who fail to use common sense are often more concerned about how others view, define and feel about them or their behaviors or decisions than the person has or feels about themselves. If one remains true to one’ self he may not make right decisions all the time based on common sense, but at least he will make them for his reasons and not other’s.
When common sense and ego are at odds, ego will win most of the time. It doesn’t care what makes sense or is in your present and future best interest – it must rule your life, it must make you look good, smart, competent, successful, etc. It’s mantra is: common sense be damned.
Living in the past or future causes a person not to see the current circumstances in proper perspective. Common sense blends the best from both yesterdays and tomorrows and weaves them into appropriate and beneficial behaviors, actions and decisions now.
We need emotional maturity to see or view circumstances in a way you see your experience, wisdom, intuition, and the available information at hand. a lack of emotional maturity is nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to whatever happens, regardless of how stupid the action or decision is.
Besides these, there are other reasons too, but if you feel you lack a creditable amount of common sense and this lack is causing more pain than necessary, why not consider the above causes in terms of how you live, make decisions, interpret life, evaluate others or just go from day to day in your life. Consider, had we more common sense or used more of what we have we would experience far less discouragement, frustration, anxiety or any other negative emotions due to life’s uncertainty and adventure.
