S4 E16 Common Sense: What Is It, and Where To Find It

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Good evening! Welcome to the Comforting Voice podcast. I'm your host, Shasta Ray, and I'm joined in the studio by Emmy the Minimacaw. Everyone else is upstairs, they're just kind of doing their thing. And so it's just you and me and Emmy for the time being. Sometimes the giant dog comes down here and blasts through the door with his big giant rock head. So we'll see what happens with that. I usually edit all that out. I hope your week is off to a good start. And uh yeah, I'm glad you're here. Oh my gosh, let's get started on tonight's episode. And before we get too far into things, just want to remind you, comfortingvoice.com, tell the others, and if you're listening in on a podcast app like Apple Podcasts or Spotify, give us a like, give us a thumbs up, whatever their positive reaction thing is, and leave us a positive comment. That is the best way for us to grow our podcast listener base. Basically, when you give us positive feedback and you leave a positive comment, it signals all of the algorithms out there that people are enjoying the show and it shows us to more people organically. So thanks in advance and let's get rolling on your sleep prep. Are you ready to relax? Are you ready to kick back? Are you here to fall asleep? Whatever the case, make sure you've got everything you need right there at your fingertips. Make sure you're comfortable, make sure your pillow is all squished up in the perfect position for you, and that your listening device is set at that perfect volume. When you're ready, take a really good stretch. Just reach into your arms, legs, down through your hands, feet, and into your fingers and toes, wiggle your fingers and toes really quick, and let go of that stretch. Follow that up by putting your finger on the bridge of your nose, right between your eyes, where it kind of dips down, just a very light touch. You don't need to do a whole lot there. And while you've got your finger there, take a deep breath, inhale to about the count of four, hold it to about the count of three, take another quick little inhale to top it off, hold it another count or two, and then exhale slowly to about the count of six or eight. You can do that a couple of times, mix it and match it, do whatever is right for you, but that entire sequence is gonna set you up to fall asleep really fast. And if you get into the practice of doing that every night when you go to bed, you will be falling asleep instantly before you know it every night. It's a wonderful, wonderful habit to get into. Give it a try if you're not already in the habit. Oh my gosh, you're gonna sleep great. Now I do apologize since Emmy the mini macaw is down here and we are on the desk already. I am not gonna put myself or anything else in danger. We're not gonna draw the tea tag or the fortune cookie slip. I do apologize. We'll jump back into that when it makes more sense for my personal safety. And just know that when you keep a bird as a pet, your logic may not apply. It may be all their logic, and you just gotta go with that. Yeah. Hello. Do you want to say hi to everyone? Well, if you've got a minute, let's see what Lon sent in for this week's Got A Minute.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Hey, it's Lon. Got a Minute. What if in thirty years every middle school had a mandatory class called common sense? And if they did, would there be anyone left to teach it? Can we develop common sense? Well, let's start with what is it? Common sense is well it's practical, sound judgment that's usually developed through life experience rather than any kind of formal training. Developing common sense can seem like a difficult thing, but you can do it by using it and by being more aware and reflecting on situations before making decisions. As you develop more common sense, you'll be able to make smarter choices. So, in essence, applying common sense to our decisions is where we need to start. Compare the risks and rewards of a decision before making that choice. Look at the positives, the negatives, the possible outcomes that could come from making the decision you're thinking of making. You can either do it mentally if you need to make a quick decision, or it's okay to even write down pros and cons, the old tea list that we've all done from time to time. Weigh the options to see which choice will give you the best possible outcome. An example might be if someone offers you an alcoholic drink and you're too young, the rewards may be hanging out with them, having a free drink, but the risks are you could get in trouble with the law, it might make you sick. The best and most common sense decision is just to say no to that drink. That is using common sense. And with that said, trust your initial feelings so you don't overanalyze things. Sometimes gut reaction may be the very best one that we can do. Whenever faced with a decision, take notice of what your first instinct or answer is. Think about what good or bad consequences could come from that, and if the decision seems like the best one, then make it. Now that comes with a heads up. This doesn't mean you should make impulsive decisions. Still take the time to consider the negative outcomes that might occur because of what you're choosing. Look at the situation from another perspective. Fly on the wall is an old comment comment that is. You may notice that it seems easier to give advice to a friend than it is to tell yourself what to do. When you're faced with a tough decision, mentally take that step back and kind of pretend you're watching the situation from somebody else's view. Think about what you would tell them based on what the smartest or best decision for them might be. If that decision is something you wouldn't tell a friend to do, then maybe you shouldn't make it either. An example of that is let's say you found a jacket at school and you know it's not yours, but you like it and want to keep it. Think about what you might say to a friend if they found a jacket. You would most likely tell them to return it or give it to a teacher. You should make that same decision. Another thought, ask someone you trust for feedback. If you aren't sure about your decision, it's okay if you don't know what to do if you're faced with a tough one. Reach out to a parent, guardian, friend, uh counselor. Tell them the situation you're facing, talking through possible decisions so you can get their input, since they may just have more life experience and could possibly have faced the similar choice at some point in their life. Realize it is okay to make a wrong decision every now and then. Everybody makes mistakes and decisions they regret. But that doesn't mean all is lost. If you recognize you've made a poor choice, reflect on it, recognize what choice you should have made for the best outcome. If you ever have a similar decision in the future, make the better choice rather than the one you made last time. An example of that might be as simple as if you chose to wear sneakers to the beach and you got sand in your shoes, next time you might wear crocs or flip-flops. Just reflect on the actions, become more self-aware, and you will start developing the ability to make better decisions, and that leads to common sense. Understanding yourself is the very best way to foretell those reactions and results. You can learn just as much from watching somebody make bad decisions as you can from someone who makes great ones. Now, practicing common sense, a last thought here, don't do things that you know are bad for you. People with common sense make decisions based on what will provide the best, most positive outcome. If there are things that you know are bad for you, smoking, driving under the influence, don't do them since they can have negative effects on your life. Consider the pros and cons again, that t list, each option, so you can make the best possible decision. A common sense thing would tell you that buying something you can't afford would be a bad decision to make if you put in that financial thought about a possible bind later. And with that, be observant of your surroundings, stay aware of your surroundings at all times, pay attention to how people react around you and to you to specific situations, and then use the common sense that you're developing to make decisions based on what's happening around you. The example there, you wouldn't just walk out into the street and halfway through it look to see if there are vehicles. Common sense would tell you to look first. So common sense may be the end to the conversation because other people aren't interested. So with that thought, if they aren't, move on, nurture your common sense and thrive.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Ah yes, common sense. We all need it, we try to attain it, and we all think no one else has any. So that is gonna be our topic for tonight's discussion. But real quick, let's see who's been joining the fun. Join the fun is my salute to the listener base. I choose three countries from our listener base randomly every week, and we learn a little bit about each other from across the miles, and it's a fun way to hang out. So let's see who we're talking about tonight here. Alright, first on the list tonight is Iceland. Iceland has a traditional bread making method that uses the heat of the earth itself. Bakers place rye bread dough in a covered container and bury it in the ground near a hot spring. After many hours they dig it back up, and the result is a dense, slightly sweet loaf of bread that was cooked entirely underground. Iceland has its own special breed of horse developed over more than a thousand years. Icelandic horses are famous for a smooth, unusual gait called the Tolt. Riders can move along at a lively pace while staying remarkably comfortable in the saddle. These horses are small, sturdy, and have some seriously impressive hair. And Iceland has a wonderfully distinctive naming tradition. Many Icelandic family names are based on a parent's first name rather than being passed down as a fixed surname. Traditionally, a son might have a name meaning the son of his father, while a daughter might have one meaning the daughter of. That means that two siblings can have two entirely different last names, and family names can tell you something about their relationships. So if you're joining the fund from Iceland, you represent a country that cooks with the earth's own warmth, raises horses with a remarkable talent, and keeps a distinctive naming tradition alive. Next on the list is Albania. Albania has a remarkable style of traditional group singing recognized by UNESCO. It's called isopolyphony, isopolyphony, and it combines different vocal parts with a sustained or rhythmic background sound. The result can feel almost hypnotic with voices weaving together into a sound that has been shared at celebrations, weddings, and other important gatherings for generations. Albania is home to the historic town of Beirat, sometimes called the City of a Thousand Windows. Its traditional houses climb the hillside with rows of windows that seem to look out over one another. The town's distinctive architecture has been preserved as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, giving visitors a glimpse into centuries of life in the region. Albania shares the beautiful Lake Orid with neighboring North Macedonia. It's one of Europe's oldest and deepest lakes, and its long history has created a special ecosystem with species found nowhere else on Earth. The surrounding region also holds centuries of cultural and religious history, making it a place where natural wonders and human stories meet. So if you're joining the fund from Albania, you represent a country where voices become a living tradition, historic homes create a hillside wonder, and an ancient lake holds treasures of its own. And last on our list this week is Paraguay. Paraguay produces so much hydroelectric power that it exports electricity to neighboring countries. This makes water power one of the country's greatest natural advantages. Paraguay shares the Itepu Dam with Brazil, and the scale of this engineering project is almost hard to imagine. The iron and steel used to build it would have been enough to construct about 380 Eiffel Towers. Wow, that's a lot. And Paraguay has a national flag with a rare distinction. The front and back display different designs. One side features the national coat of arms while the other has an official seal. So if you flip the flag over, you actually see something different. So if you're joining the fund from Paraguay, you represent impressive engineering, clean energy, and a flag that's truly one of a kind. So tonight we're gonna talk about common sense. Why is it not? What is it? Let's let's break this down and see what we can learn from it. Maybe we'll make our lives better and have more common sense. I was surfing through some of the lawn clips and I found this gem on common sense. And I thought, well, this is gonna be a great topic. This never gets old. We can all use it. And we probably all have asked ourselves, oh my gosh, why isn't common sense more common these days? And I just thought it would be a really fun topic to just grab a hold of and see where it goes tonight. Okay, so what exactly is common sense? Well, let's start with a definition. Common sense is the ability to use practical judgment, think things through, and make sensible decisions without needing specialized knowledge. Common sense is recognizing what is reasonable in an everyday situation. And common sense is looking at what's in front of you and asking yourself, okay, what is the sensible thing to do here? Sounds simple enough, right? Well, why isn't common sense more common? Maybe it's because what seems obvious to one person isn't necessarily obvious to someone else. We all have different experiences and different backgrounds and different things we've learned along the way. And then there's also the human factor, which is sometimes we know what the sensible thing to do is and we just simply don't do it. So here's a little common sense trivia for you. The phrase common sense dates back to the late 1300s, but its original meaning was totally different from what we mean today. It once referred to a supposed mental faculty that brought together information from our five senses. By the 1500s, the phrase common sense was being used more like we use it today with ordinary understanding and judgment. And here's the funny part. People have been joking about common sense being uncommon for at least 300 years. Apparently this just isn't a new problem. Humanity has been scratching its head over humanity for quite some time, probably since the origins of humanity, if I had to guess. And there was even a famous pamphlet written by a man named Thomas Paine. It was called Common Sense. It was written in 1776, and it argued that the American colonies should declare independence from Britain. So the phrase actually has quite the history, even if today's common sense problems are more likely to encompass forgotten grocery lists or questionable online purchases, right? So why isn't common sense very common? Well, we don't all start with the same information. Something you learn from experience might be something another person has never encountered. We can be very sensible in one area of life and completely clueless in another. For example, you might be really great at managing money, but could be hopeless at keeping track of your keys. You could give excellent advice to a friend and then turn around and do the exact opposite in your own life. Emotions can get in the way of good judgment. Sometimes we're angry, excited, embarrassed, in a hurry, and we stop thinking things through. Sometimes we simply get so focused on one solution that we forget there might be an easier one out there. Here's some food for thought for you. Common sense isn't necessarily something you either have or don't have, it's something you can keep developing over your entire lifetime. So how do you get common sense? Well there's one really easy way. Before you act, take a moment. We've all reacted first and thought later. We've all sent the email we probably should have waited to send, right? Or that text message or something. We've all bought something because it looked wonderful in the moment. Call those impulse purchases. Not always the best idea, not always involving common sense. Sometimes you agree to do something, and then a little bit later you're like, oh my gosh, what did I get myself into? So with some of those examples in mind, sometimes the most sensible action is to pause before taking action. Give yourself a minute, get a cup of coffee if you need to, take a walk. Hey, sleep on it. You don't always have to give an answer right now, you don't always have to act on everything right now. Most of the time we can actually take the time and think about stuff. So ask yourself, what am I hoping to accomplish? Is this thing really necessary? What might happen if I do this? Is there a simpler way to accomplish what I'm trying to accomplish? Will this decision matter tomorrow? Will it matter next week? Will it matter next year? Will it ever matter? You don't have to overthink everything, just give some of those bigger decisions and maybe even the smaller decisions just a little breathing room. Make sure you're making a good decision, whatever it is. Sometimes it's helpful to write it down on paper. Lon mentioned this. So, like if a decision feels complicated, try writing things down. Make a pros and cons list. Write down your options on whatever it is instead of letting them bounce around in your head. Sometimes seeing something in front of you is gonna make your answer a lot easier to recognize. Sometimes you're just going to look at that list and one answer is the obvious choice. Or you might realize none of those choices are appealing and you need to think of something else. You're going to waste your time or money or something like that. You might make some realizations in that direction. You don't have to make a spreadsheet for every decision in life, but sometimes just a scrap of paper taking a minute just to write some stuff down to clarify your thought process. That might be all you need. And a useful question to ask yourself when you're trying to make a decision. If a friend came to you with this exact same problem, what would you tell them to do? Simplify things. Sometimes common sense and common sense decisions isn't about making things harder than it needs to be. See if you can simplify the situation. We can get really good at complicating little things as human beings. Sometimes we keep doing something the hard way just because that's our groove, it's how we've always done it, and we've never thought about doing it any other way. Ask yourself if there's an easier, more practical approach. And then also analyze time involved. Is this thing that you're considering time effective? Is this a five-minute thing that I'm going to take two hours working on? There's some common sense right there for you. Sometimes common sense just boils down to making an easy system. So if you're someone that forgets certain things all the time, find a way to make it easier for you to remind yourself instead of that old way that you're trying to force a square peg into a round hole. If you're really good at, you know, putting something in that proverbial safe place and then you can never find it again, find a different way of thinking. I've had to do that myself, trust me. Sometimes the easiest solution isn't always going to be the best one or your favorite one, but weigh your options. See what's going to make the most sense for that particular situation, and go with the most logical of all of your choices. And of course, if you're somebody that likes to overcomplicate stuff, ask yourself, are you actually solving a problem or are you inadvertently creating a whole new problem? Try to learn from what works and what doesn't work. Now this is a big, big, big place where common sense gets really hung up. Are we learning a lesson when we have an oops moment? One of the best sources of common sense is just plain flat out experience. If something works well, remember it. If something goes wrong, pay attention. So maybe maybe the thing you're doing is buying groceries, some of them spoil, you don't use them all, and you're always wasting stuff. Well, maybe it's time to change your eating habits or your grocery shopping habits. Are you always running late because you allow yourself only exactly enough time? Maybe you need to learn to build in an extra little bit of time in your schedule so you're not pushing the limits so much. We don't really have to get everything right the first time. Sometimes those learning moments are very, very valuable, or sometimes those those stumbling blocks are valuable for getting your attention as to making better decisions. Another great pathway to common sense is use someone else's common sense. Don't learn everything the hard way. Look at someone else's mistakes and pay attention. That can really help you with a lot in life, trust me. Learn how to ask questions, learn to be curious. Listen to people who have experience with the situation that you're facing. Going back to that curiosity factor, get in the habit of looking things up. We all have Google right there on our phones. It is so easy to look up stuff with the flick of your thumbs. There's no excuse not to. And like I said, learn from other people's mistakes whenever you can, but also remember that another person's experience isn't always going to be a perfect match for your circumstances. What worked for your neighbor might not work for you. So advice is always worth considering. Put it on that option list, but also keep in mind, just because someone suggests it doesn't mean it has to be set in stone. Common sense can also look like asking for advice or asking for help. You're not going to win any prizes for struggling through something alone when someone else can give you a hand with something. And when it comes to other people in common sense, a little bit of patience can make everyone's life just a little easier. Just because something seems obvious to you doesn't mean everyone else is going to see it the same way, and it doesn't mean everyone else thinks the same way. We all have different knowledge, different experiences, and different ways of approaching problems. Make sure if other people are involved with something that involves common sense, there's always a way to explain stuff without making someone else feel bad about themselves or feel foolish. Be nice about it, you know? Another thing with common sense is you don't always have to agree with others, especially if you see someone struggling. Um, here again, be nice. There's always ways to be helpful and get common sense into a situation without, you know, being hurtful or going into a friction direction or anything like that. Don't forget the power of a good laugh. Not every mistake needs to be a major life lesson, but sometimes things are gonna go sideways, and you know, if you can just learn to laugh about stuff, you're gonna learn something in the process, you won't get so stressed about it, and you'll learn that you're gonna just get through it, life goes on, and it's not that big of a deal. Common sense should help us live a little bit better, not give us another reason to criticize ourselves or get down on ourselves or anything like that. So learning to laugh at yourself is a very useful tool in gaining common sense and moving forward in this journey called life. It really is. So, how do we get good at using common sense? Well, here again, take a pause, think for a second, pay attention to what's happening around you, get curious and ask questions instead of automatically assuming you know the answer. Take a second to think about consequences before making important decisions. If emotions are amped up, give yourself a second to cool off, splash some cold water on your face, and that might give you a little bit of common sense in the moment, if you've got a situation that's heated. Learn from experience, learn from your mistakes, but don't beat yourself up over your mistakes. Recognize moments when you need to ask for help or advice, and do the best you can with what you know. Be willing to learn and be willing to discover new things. All of this lends itself to common sense in all areas of our life and it makes life easier. And then a few final thoughts. Keep in mind that common sense isn't just some sort of magic ability that suddenly appears when we reach a certain age. You can have decades of experience and still do something ridiculous before breakfast. We've all done it. We all have blind spots in our common sense. We all have room for improvement, and the goal isn't to be some know-it-all that has every right answer in every situation. The idea is to become a little better at recognizing options, getting through this thing called life, and sometimes you might just have to laugh about something in the moment. In conclusion, common sense is really it's the ability to take what you know, think about what you're doing, consider what might happen next, and make a reasonably good decision, whatever that decision is. It's not about always being right or always knowing all the right answers or always being the expert in the room. It's about paying attention, learning from experience, being willing to question yourself, and recognizing when you might need a little assistance or help. Sometimes it's as simple as stopping to think before you act, taking a moment, taking that deep breath, thinking about stuff. And sometimes it's knowing when to admit that maybe you should have thought about something just a little sooner. And just keep moving forward. That's all we can do, is just do our best at all times, right? And I think that's what common sense is all about. Alright, that's all I got for you tonight. I'll see you back here on Friday for our Friday night vintage bedtime story. And until then, sleep tight, good night, and bye bye.