Do Not Allow Your Borrowed Senses to Overshadow Your Unique Sense
Our borrowed senses are the type we acquired from our parents. They are the parental teachings/ narratives we forged sense from including the society.
It’s inherent we do not let our borrowed senses overshadow our natural God-given senses.
But first, how does borrowed sense come about?
Borrowed senses are the sort of mentality we adopted firsthand from our parents or caregivers. It spans our diet, style, hobbies and method of thinking. Our method of thinking, otherwise known as our mentality is firstly harnessed by what we saw or heard our parents do while growing up. At first, we cannot differentiate if they are right or wrong, seeing that our parents used them. If one’s parents are a loving one, it impacts trust in a child to emulate their ways, if not all. Our mentality develops around their school of taught as such.
Society, on the other hand, plays a pivotal role in the way we develop our method of thinking. This happens when we step out of our parent’s sight or comfort zone in general. For example when we go to school or better still, as a boarder student. The mentalities of other students start to either overlap or influence your mentality from home. Outside the walls of the school are other types of people who have a great influence on how we think. For example our pastors or priests in the church, a favorite market seller we love to buy from, etcetera.
Again, there’s no telling which is right for you or not. As a child, you were bound to assimilate all you learned like a sponge, easily and can hardly decipher what’s appropriate or not.
But as we start to develop more and advance in age sometimes, we realize how much we ignore our intuitions, our common sense. The first raw reaction or thoughts we have over things are overlooked because they might not be according to our borrowed senses. For example, you may have been taught by your parents not to engage in a relationship until a certain age, but you find yourself drawn romantically to your opposite sex sooner than that. It’s a two-way street for an adult who has options and the capability to decide what they want and if what their parents said had any justifiable reasons for them. Before deciding to engage with the opposite sex or not. But one who’s still imprisoned with their borrowed senses, even as an adult won’t be able to analyze things this way. They’ll choose to dwell in their beliefs and mentality staunchly. This can be detrimental to one’s growth and development as humans.
We have the freedom of expression. It’s a fundamental right as humans, before we become our parents’ child to do what we deem fit. Our parents are only there to guide our steps in life, not necessarily make decisions for us. It doesn’t equate to disobeying them or discarding their mentality. But a matter of matching them with what your instincts tell you. Where is your uniques sense driving you? You’re blessed enough to have such a divine inheritance. Being afraid to use it because of what people would say will continue to leave you stuck in life.
This is one of the major reasons people back down from using their unique senses and instead the borrowed ones — for them to act under what others want or preach over how they feel. They’d rather please their parents by embarking on a course that doesn’t favor them as opposed to studying a prospective course that’d enhance them specially.
It’s important to determine where to draw the line. We’ve learned a lot from our parents and society that we are grateful for. But it’s time to be responsible for your life. One of the main ways to do that is to learn to trust yourself. If you trust yourself, you’ll trust your decision-making process, and your results, and your overall confidence will be boosted. Because it ripples progressively as we use our unique senses each time and retrogressive when we ignore them.
Regard your senses as a muscle that needs to be exercised.
And when you feel stuck, seek advice and guidance then from your parents or loved ones, mentor, or appropriate body. But be willing to do the work first, or invite your mental codes to the equation when trying to make a decision or living generally.
For the sake of personal development and growth, we must implore our minds to work in our favor by using our unique senses over the borrowed ones.
