“The very essence of instinct is that it’s followed independently of reason.”
– Charles Darwin

We work for years to train our instincts beyond the response patterns that were installed at the factory. In 1978 I started driving manual transmission cars. I shift without conscious thought most of the time and prefer to downshift over straight braking. But, that means that when I am driving an automatic car care must be taken to not operate the car by instinct. As cars have added new features over the years, I have had to keep updating my responses. I have driven an old military ambulance with a manual transmission and a choke. Then there was the specially configured motor home that we used for our remote pressure suit assignments that leaned and refused to follow the steering wheel’s ‘straight ahead’ position. I chalked that up to the near-constant westerly winds in the Palmdale/Lancaster area. My most memorable vehicle to drive was one that was my own. It was a 1971 Ford Bronco with 18 ply mudders. No power steering or brakes and the 3 on a tree transmission setup with a clutch. If I turned a corner too sharply, its overly high center of balance would cause it to tip up on 2 wheels. It was a fun vehicle but not reliable nor useful on the regular streets.

Our instincts can help us and hinder us. We can retrain ourselves. New muscle memories can overwrite the previous programming. I trust my instincts when driving but they are getting rusty. Response times and judging speed versus conditions and vehicle fade with time.

Example 1: Rechts ist richtig. (There’s always someone not paying attention and it better not be me)

Example 2: I would not try this with my skills today. Roads change, conditions change, and it’s really important to know your limitations along with the car’s limitations. Long ago this was the fun way home from the beach. The audio is terrible on this ancient video.

Outside of the everyday things like driving, we repeat behaviors in order to create certain instincts. It might be creating the muscle memory of landing and rolling instead of putting our hands out to stop our fall. We can learn to channel the energy flow through our body during a parachute landing rather than absorbing the entire impact with our feet. It could be how we hold and release a bowling ball. Anything that we do in order to master a physical skill creates new muscle memories and with time will change, or adapt, our instinctual responses.

Example 3: This is an Army example here but I know that I did 100s of these when I was learning to teach PLFs. I did so many my first day that I could not lift my head the next morning. I had to roll out of my bunk. I still fall this way unless I’m on ice. Ice is not my friend.

If someone were to ask me if I trusted my instincts, I’d have to say yes with caveats. I do run towards fires, gunshots, and accidents instead of away. Responding like that can be both good or bad, and wise or stupid. I do it without stopping to consider much beyond whether help is needed, can I get there safely, and what’s the fastest route to take. The caveats though have to do with some trauma responses that I have been working to change for 30 years now. When situational awareness skews towards hypervigilance, automatic physical responses to stimuli can, and will, become dangerous. Freezing before acting in order to think through a trauma-based physical response is not always a safe way to react in dangerous situations. Balancing ways of retraining the system takes time and isn’t necessarily a smooth path.