There are some sayings and phrases that represent a physical action to cause a mental adjustment. And sometimes just to convey what has occurred, so that people are aware of the course of action needed thereafter.

Knock some sense into people – many must have heard this along the way, and sometimes represented in older movies of needing to slap someone who is being hysterical, or snap someone back to reality as they might call it.

Losing your mind / You’ve lost your mind – to denote that someone has lost all sense and doesn’t appear to be functioning with the normal reasoning we may expect from our fellow humans.

Coming to your senses – When the previous experience wears off, and after you lose your mind, you seem to find it again. Not always needing a physical intervention, sometimes that mental sense of reasoning can return of its own accord now and again.

Common Sense – covered in my article Not So Common, but does seem as though it should be considered one of our main senses despite it not having a physical attribute to allocate to it. Although it does appear to have physical consequences. And just as when someone may lose their sense of smell, taste or hearing and we say they have lost a sense, common sense should be thought of the same. Because it becomes clear to many once someone is greatly lacking in that ability. Whether it diminishes or was absent to begin with, the effect is felt the same and is noticeable.

Sense of Self – that we have an awareness as humans of our own existence and thoughts. And within that we have Perceptions of Self, but only if someone is able to understand they are a ‘self’ can they look a bit further to see what lies behind that.

We have all our senses pummelled on a daily basis, saturated and overwhelmed in a continuous flurry of experiences and information. Processing what we see, smell, hear, taste, feel, think and all the other in-built systems that gather data and help us to understand and respond to situations and life. And while it does seem as though general reasoning and sense has taken a leave of absence from certain sections of society, and really isn’t so common after all, we shall see if it is capable of a return. Because with the scale of the problem, it’s not quite as easy to just knock some sense into them, I think it’s going to take something far more miraculous than that…

(c) K Wicks