When you think of the senses in their conventional form, you think of taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing, right?

But what about common sense?  This is certainly one of the most important senses of all - it is what gives us logic and reasoning, the ability to be able to make decisions about what to do and not to do in our lives.  It gives us some of the most admired human traits and allows us to pick up knowledge and skills without even trying.

As the name implies, it is common - we all have it - and we have the choice whether to use it in our lives or to act impulsively.

Nearly every practical thing that we do is dictated by common sense.  There are many variations of it, held in different magnitudes by different people.  For example, someone who may be great at time or money management may have no idea how to deal with people or avoid conflict and vice versa.  Yet can you say which aspect of common sense is better than the other?

Luckily, in most cases you don’t have to choose, as most of us are endowed with everything in moderation. 

But what if we wanted a little more than moderation? Wouldn't it be great if we were able to share common sense?  Let’s say that you were just about to go on a treacherous hike up the Mount Kilimanjaro.  The only problem: you've never been up a mountain before, and have no idea how to keep safe up there.  The solution: pick up some mountaineering common sense!  Just before going up the mountain, pop into your local common sense databank, and get the appropriate sense, which may cover aspects as useful as “avoiding falling off cliffs”, “how not to annoy poisonous snakes” and whatever else is deemed necessary for the successful completion of the task.  Sounds useful but crazy right?

Well, this may surprise you, but something very similar to this does exist; it is education.

There is so much more to education than simply sitting in class and learning your school subjects.  The ability to become educated permeates every aspect of our life, and presents us with the constant opportunity to expand on knowledge of the world, to gain invaluable experience in life and to develop a system of morals, beliefs and values.

Common sense is not something that we are simply born with, it is a sense that we must work constantly to improve, and strive to better from any and all experience that we have in this world.