Uncommon Sense

Especially in changing - or even chaotic - times, it is a good idea to keep using our common sense. To keep an eye on the cause and effect of our actions, and to take responsibility when things turn our different than we had imagined…

That just makes good sense, doesn’t it?

But then there is a point when common sense becomes limiting, conceivably even tying us down. Because for all its value, common sense does seem to go for the tried and true, safe and secure outcome of whatever situation we are facing at that moment.

Yet when the situation requires a truly new solution - maybe even a totally different manner of looking at it and handling it - it perhaps calls for “uncommon sense”…

The “uncommon sense” that finds its roots in our imagination. In an open way of looking at the world in general and the situation in particular. Possibly a bit more detached and factual, yet filled with wonder at how it looks and how it has come about.

Our “uncommon sense” tends to have a way to see the beauty, the value, and even new opportunities in pretty much any situation - independent from our judgement of whether it is a good or a bad one.

Our “uncommon sense” definitely has an independent, wild side to it. An adventurous side.

Using our “uncommon sense” we are willing to stand up for the things we feel are right, and the outcomes we can clearly imagine to be beneficial - without letting ourselves being bogged down by our regular common sense that says “Well, that’s not going to work, after all, it has never worked before / never been done before / tried before…”

And that is exactly the point!

In changing times, we need new solutions. New perspectives. New ideas. And yes, a new way to perceive ourselves.

So in changing times, it is a good thing to reconnect with the wild side of our being. With those aspects of ourselves that we may have “unlearned” when we were youngsters. We may gain a lot from letting go of all the ways in which we have adapted ourselves to the expectations of others, or even the expectations of the world around us.

And we may be very surprised at the new and wonderful solutions we come up with for whatever situation we find ourselves in, if we apply “uncommon sense” to it. If we let our imagination of where we want to go with it run free - and only then look at what can be possible given the actual environment of that particular situation, the others involved and so on.

In this time when common sense is needed (and sometimes seems in short supply), I would ask you to - every once in a while - set yourself free and use “uncommon sense”!