COMMON SENSE

It is the least common of the senses, as the saying confirms, full of common sense. Many problems would be prevented by following it, along with the simplicity of action, the desire to understand and not hinder, the desire to act and transform without disturbing.

Let’s list, for example, ten principles that would make our hours much easier if we practiced:

1. Do not leave for tomorrow what you can do today.

2. Never put on another person for what you can do yourself.

3. Never spend your money before you have earned it.

4. Never buy what you do not want just because it is cheap.

5. Pride is far more expensive than hunger, thirst and cold.

6. We seldom care about having eaten too little.

7. Nothing we do willingly is annoying.

8. How much suffering do the misfortunes that have never happened cause us?

9. Take things always on their bright side.

10. When angry, count to ten before you speak, and if you are very angry, do it up to one hundred.

These ten principles were listed by Thomas Jefferson (April 13th, 1743 – July 4th, 1826), the third president of the United States of America, who served between 1801 and 1809 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the Nation.

He was also the principal author of the Declaration of Independence of the United States, in 1776. As an illustrated man, wise and polymath (he who knows or comprehends out of different fields) Jefferson was very good at, among other things, gardening, politics, architecture, paleontology, music and he was also a great inventor. Also, Jefferson has been consistently rated by the experts as one of the greatest U.S. presidents.

But beyond his vast knowledge, I find especially valuable the value of simplicity that exudes common sense in his ten principles, that make our lives easier and, well understood, may be summarized briefly as follows:

1. Resolution.

2. Choice.

3. Prudence.

4. Sobriety.

5. Humility.

6. Consideration.

7. Mood.

8. Here and now.

9. Kindness.

10. Patience.

They are definitely ten levers for Good Life. Ten solutions that make life more enjoyable and that would also make others’. But rational understanding of it does not guarantee its implementation. So we see that common sense, when taken to practice, implies a coherent and sustained action over time. And even though I am not a great lover of lists or lists, I think common sense and the principles that Jefferson listed, if well applied, would certainly change many things for the better in this world.

I wish you all have a happy week.

Kisses and hugs,

Álex