Today, I’ll talk about our senses and confidence. I think that if we can trust our primitive senses, we can decide for ourselves.
How to have confidence
One day, someone tweeted on SNS, “I want to do it independently, but I don’t have confidence.” She seemed to have a desire to live or work independently, but she couldn’t challenge it. So she wanted to have confidence.
We sometimes want such confidence. It’s usually scary when we try a new, inexperienced life.
At such a time, we can focus more on our primitive senses than logic. And if we can trust these senses, it might give us confidence.
My failure at fermenting fish
To explain that, let me talk about my recent experience. I am enjoying making fermented foods this year. Fermentation is one of the food-preserving methods using bacteria. I tried many foods to ferment, such as vegetables, dried vegetables, fruits, and mushrooms. Every fermented meal tasted great.
By the way, we judge by smell to determine whether fermented foods are spoiled. “Ferment” can be said to mean “rot.” So we need to be careful when making fermented foods because there is always the possibility that they will spoil. But I didn’t know what they smelled like when they went wrong because I had succeeded in every fermentation.
At such a time, I tried to ferment fish. I wanted to make fish sauce. And I used to think that I could ferment it in the same way as vegetables.
But it was entirely false. Two days later, it smelled terrible. It was like the rotten smell of a fishing port. So I discarded it immediately.
We already have enough senses
But the failure experience gave me confidence because I understood that my sense of smell was reliable.
We can live well by relying on our primitive senses—not only smell but also tastes, feelings, and many other desires from our bodies. If we think about it, this is not surprising. These senses are essential to life. So we usually already have enough senses.
In many cases, the wrong thing is our logic, not our sense. I feel that people who tend to worry are judging only by logic.
Of course, logic gives us a high level of prediction. But I think that if we want to live well, it needs to be based on our primitive senses, such as likes and dislikes. Including them gives us suitable logic, especially for those with different natures.
In other words, ignoring our primitive senses makes us confused. Likes and dislikes are the basis of our logic. Without it, we cannot build our logic.
Conclusion
So I think that if we can trust our primitive senses, we can decide for ourselves.
We already have reliable senses, such as likes and dislikes. Then we build our logic to live our lives. It will give us suitable prospects.
If we understand this logic, we might have the confidence to try new things.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you at the next one.
