Tiny Dinosaur (Pt 1)
Understanding and channeling our daily instincts
In every human lives a tiny dinosaur. They roar with instinct and passion, for better and for worse. They are a call to our wild side and a channel towards the unknown. An animalistic impulse, the tiny dinosaur makes us more human than anything else.
A mountain climber enjoys the view but craves the climb. An engineer sees process where others see product. Fill in the blank with any passion, whether professional or personal, and the takeaway is consistent. We are at our best when chasing a feeling rather than a result. Acting instinctively through a full heart and clear mind, we feel alive.
This is where your tiny dinosaur comes into play.
Every emotion, thought, and action in your life is an expression of natural inclination. We are animals, after all. All energy that you release is the product of internal biological processes inspiring action, expecting response, and repeating this cycle. Your tiny dinosaur is centuries of evolution expressed as instinct. No matter how comfortable you are in your career or personal life, there is an itch inside every human heart that begs us to follow. Exploration, astronomy, colonization, philosophy, war, art, science, technology — for tens of thousands of years humanity has chased some form of frontier. This fundamental inclination is hardwired into our DNA and cannot be ignored. We need to chase that feeling.
Unfortunately, many people do not properly express instinct and end up relegating their tiny dinosaur to passive outlets in a world of instant gratification. Today’s consumption is abundant and stimulus is constantly within arm’s reach. From a biological perspective, our bodies and minds are ill-prepared for the gauntlet of modern daily life. And without positive and powerful outlets for expression, we leave our tiny dinosaur fending for the scraps that cheap dopamine provides. It is critical to avoid expressing instinct in passive ways, scrolling towards nothingness, absorbing short-lasting sensations with little effort. These empty habits desensitize us to the satisfaction of instinctual pursuit.
Our tiny dinosaur needs proper, active outlets for expression. We provide these in thoughtful channeling of passion and creativity and the willpower developed along the way.
Thoughtful, active expression of instinct looks different for everyone but the type of feeling is always the same. Nothing else exists in the moment except you and your chase. You are floating, untethered, having thrust all your heart and mind into something you truly care about. You find a flow state. Maybe you lose it. You push through because the pursuit feels special and the view from up here is so damn beautiful and only you know what it took to get there. In this place you feel completely yourself. Some visits will feel better than others, but at least you are here. You showed up and gave your tiny dinosaur a chance to breathe.
Whatever makes you feel alive, seek those outlets every day. It is not a goal or reward that defines your chase but, rather, each daily expression of the instinct that called you there in the first place. We must understand, embrace, and consistently channel that feeling.
Otherwise we risk losing our tiny dinosaur to the mess of modern life and wondering in old age where our fire has gone.
