Prompt #172: Instinct
Is it instinct or intuition? Writing from our evolutionary drive
Hi Friends,
I always say my dog Carlos, the Adventure Doodle, doesn't have a mean bone in her body, which is both true and not true. She loves children and other dogs and most human adults, though some of them scare her. Our vet has said Carlos is the nicest dog he has ever met, though he might say that to everyone just to be nice (he’s very nice).
However, Carlos never met a chipmunk or a lizard she didn't want to kill. But this isn’t exactly mean; this is part of her built-in, survival-focused, evolutionary drive. I can shout “leave it” or “no chasing” as many times as I want, but when she hears that high-pitched chipmunk chirping, she loses her mind.
An instinct is automatic, something an animal is born with: baby sea turtles toddle toward the sea, birds take flight in migration, marmots sleep all winter. Sometimes we say to each other, “trust your instincts,” but I think what we mean when we say this is to trust our intuition.
Instinct is completely automatic; whereas intuition relies on past knowledge, pattern recognition, and rapid-fire situational assessment. If I see a strange man in the forest when I’m out walking alone, is it instinct or intuition that tells me to be on guard? The neurons in my brain fire so rapidly that it feels like instinct, but I think that’s intuition—cognition that happens so fast, it feels like we were born with it. Now if he came after me, and I started to run, that might be my instincts kicking in.
Hunger, lust, and fear are instinctual, and the irony is that when it comes to being human, these are the very things that so often bring us shame, yet they are the things we were born with in order to ensure our survival. They are not things that make us gluttonous, depraved, or wrathful (when fear leads to anger as it so often does), as the “seven deadly sins” tells us they are. Rather, these instincts make us what we are: an animal intent on survival.
My dog is not mean: she was born with a prey drive, an evolutionary adaptation that ensured the survival of her ancestors, and just because she now gets as much kibble and as many treats as her doggy heart desires, she still tries to kill small animals, especially when they try to run from her. Even still, that does not stop me from calling her a murderous doodle when she’s successful.
This month, we’re going to be writing about our instincts.
What You Will Need
A way to write
A place you will be unbothered
A timer
The Exercise
In thinking about the distinction between our instincts and our intuitions, we’re going to write down the things we have done out of pure instinct. Maybe you faced a scary situation and went into flight, fright, or freeze mode. Maybe you flung yourself in front of a moving car to protect your children. Or maybe your sex drive overrode your reason and logic. Set your timer for 5 minutes and list all the times when your instinct—not your intuition—took over. Try not to make judgements; just make a list. If working in fiction, make up these instances for a character you’re working with.
When your timer goes off, have a look at your list. Choose one thing from the list to expand into a scene (nonfiction or fiction) or a poem. Try to write the event in real time, as it’s happening, rather than summarize the action. This will mean slowing down and focusing on the sensory detail, the direct dialogue, the specifics of place. Set your timer for another 15 minutes and write.
When your time’s up, have a look at what you’ve written. Is it the seed for a poem, story, essay, or chapter? Is your narrator truly acting from instinct or is it intuition? Can you go back later and add some analysis and reflection? Do we, as humans, override our instincts with our reason, and is this yet another evolutionary adaptation to keep ourselves and others safe? If you would like, please share what you have written (or just how it went) here in the comments:
Workshops
If you have found that writing about following your instincts has brought up feelings of shame, maybe this virtual, generative workshop is for you? I’ll be teaching Making Stories from Our Shame, as part of the Story Studio Summer Memoir and Essay Series. The workshop will be on August 6th from 4:30 - 6:30 (PDT). More information may be found here.
I’ll also be teaching a bunch of virtual and in-person workshops (in Lake Tahoe, CA; Reno, NV; Baker, NV; Moab, UT; Minneapolis, MN, and Baja California Sur, MX) on many different topics (getting unstuck, memoir, travel writing) this fall to celebrate the launch of my new creative writing craft book 52 Writing Prompts. You can find my schedule here.
52 Writing Prompts (the book) Is Available for Preorder!
I just turned in the final version of my new book, loosely based on this newsletter, and it’s now available for preorder. The University of Nebraska Press is offering a 40% Friends & Family discount. One of the best ways to support writers is to preorder their books, which signals to the press that there’s interest (this leads to more resources being allocated to market the book).
Enter 6ROBERTS40 in the discount code field (and don’t forget to click “apply”) on the University of Nebraska Press website. Offer is valid for U.S. and Canadian shipments only. You can order the book here with the discount, or if you prefer, you can preorder it from your favorite independent bookstore or anywhere else books are sold (but you will pay a lot more if you go to that place that starts with an A because there’s no discount).
Thank you for being here with me. I really appreciate it. If you’re enjoying these prompts, please share 52 Writing Prompts with friends who are looking for some creative inspiration or consider becoming a paying subscriber.
Until next time,
Suzanne
My website
My books: Animal Bodies, Bad Tourist, Almost Somewhere, 52 Writing Prompts
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Nice distinction between instinct and intuition. Thanks.