“I mean, you could claim that anything is real if the only basis for believing in it is that nobody has proved it doesn’t exist! ”J.K Rowling
Common sense can be defined as the knowledge that you share with most people.
Whether it is deciding what to eat, what to wear or when to cross the street.
Our brain is constantly making judgement calls to guide us through everyday experiences. The ability to behave in a reasonable way is what we call common sense.
And then what happens? We all have different filters, culture, experience and upbringing, just to mention a few and they also influence our common sense.
The thing is that it seems to be that the only time we notice common sense is when things don’t quite matchup. Whether it is an optical illusion or someone acting in public going against what seems to be the rules we all have agreed upon and even a reaction or a behaviour to social cues.
Your brain is programmed to take the shortest possible route to an answer using common sense, however sometimes that is not the most correct route to take. Also we are programmed to think that there is safety in numbers and so if we think something else than the majority your brain sends you a signal of error, even if you are right.
Your brain looks for short cuts to save time and energy but sometimes we are better off taking a moment to think.
The problem with using past experience to solve problems is that your past information may be faulty or not up to date. As such our first answer can sometimes prevent us from seeing the bigger picture. As Joseph O’Connor put it in a course about Coaching your brain, it is a little bit like a Facebook prediction of what you would like in the future based on what you liked in the past.
Have you ever heard the argument, oh! but that is what I have always done. When you suggest a different way of doing something, to someone that appears to be struggling?
Maybe, in this case common sense would be to try something new if what you are doing isn’t working?
Last week my blog was about creativity. Are we then most creative when we use common sense or when we stretch it? Is it that we can be more innovative when we use our common sense and creative when we think outside of the box? Did you know that research shows that your common sense is related to where you are from?
Do we then get more creative when we work with different nationalities and apply different common sense? Or do we stick to what we know to be the most correct behaviour?
I hope you are as happy as you would like to be and remember it is free to be nice.
Best wishes
Ivalo
Cartoon taken from https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/189151253076080638/
Post first published on November 1 2019