I feel like we don’t talk about and romanticize human instincts enough.
We are social creatures, and primates at that, grooming and cleaning is a social behavior for us. That’s why it’s so nice to have someone play with your hair or rub your back. Physical contact, especially from someone you trust, is awesome.
We are diurnal, we can’t survive without sunlight. Laying in a patch of sunlight after a long day at work is probably one of my favorite things to do. We get jealous about cats and dogs napping on the floor, there is nothing stopping you!
Eating is not only another social activity, that we like to do together, but it’s also calming. Prehistoric humans could only afford to eat when they felt safe. Now we’ve been conditioned to associate food with security. We even pick specific foods to comfort us when we are feeling down.
Our sense of smell is stronger than we realize! Most people can recognize close friends and family members by smell. We make candles and scented items to enrich ourselves.
We like soft things! It’s probably linked to that grooming and cleaning instinct. Fluffy means it’s a friend :)
Our communication is an instinct, language comes naturally to us. We make up new words and phrases all the time, sometimes the words will only make sense to a small group of people. Inside jokes make us feel like we are creating something new!
Speaking of making something new, crafting and touching things are instinctual too. It’s another form of enrichment that we don’t realize we do. Soft bedsheets, kids arts and crafts, fidget toys, gloves to avoid things that are unpleasant to touch. Even just flexing our hands. Doodling, snapping, the need to touch everything in the store.
We are naturally curious. We ask questions and look for answers. We try new things just for the thrill of it, even when they’re dangerous. Bungee jumping, parachuting, going for walks in the woods, trying new foods, even meeting new people could be considered dangerous. Doesn’t matter how much you enjoys something, if you do exactly the same thing every day it will get boring, we need variety and new things to explore.
We constantly want to learn! We tell our friends about the stuff that we learn! We devote so much of our time to learning and practicing our skills so we can be better at stuff we learned. Knowledge has always been our species greatest strength, that can’t develop without a brain that is constantly seeking more knowledge. We learn languages, learn about local birds. We build model planes and play instruments, just to learn something new.