I've had to teach myself to think first and react later. If I allowed my knee-jerk reactions to rule me I would probably be in jail by now.

I would imagine that everyone does at times. That is just a human characteristic.

Good on ya! You sound like a rational, mature adult. Just keep your guard up.

I happily allow emotions to take over rational thinking during sex.

Most emotions get in the way, but emotions are part of being human.

Yes, I should avoid some topics.

This is one of my biggest struggles. Something I still ought to get better at. The older I get the better I get at controlling it.

Constantly. Obviously. For example, I am determined to see any and all future original Misfits shows. They are expensive, require air flight and hotel/room of some sort, and other expenses. I don’t care. I just forwent paying a bill to pick up tickets to the show just announced this week for New Jersey. Logic would suggest a different course of action, but whatever. However, if you were to look deeper into the whole situation, you may determine that the purchase is actually very rational. I treat this as a coping mechanism helping me deal with the loss of my son. I live in hell, and that makes it seem very rational.

I tend to keep my emotions and rational thinking separate. Which has made me seem heartless to some people in some of the decisions that I've had to make in my life.

I respond first and then react, later. A lot of people think that I have no feelings and they couldn't be more wrong. I'm a farmer, an artist, a teacher, and a gardener. I nurture. What 'those' people mistake for having feelings is them wanting to get some kind of knee jerk reaction out of me and I don't give it to them.

Not much anymore, I've grown out of it for the most part.

I have to make efforts every day to keep my emotions from interfering with my rational thinking. I often have a tendency to flare up, and I have to work to calm myself down so I can think calmly. There are certain issues which are hot-button topics for me, as I guess there are for everybody. But I know I generally do a much better job of thinking rationally when I wait until I'm calm and clear-headed before saying anything.

Sometimes but less as I get older

A: Nope. My emotions are deep, wide, and full; they power my actions, but they do not steer them. My rationality has hands on the tiller at (almost) all times.

There is one in my life who resents me for this, calls me a "robot" and such...someone with severe bipolar disorder, attention deficit, and spectacularly bad impulse control, whose life is a never-ending emotional rollercoaster of the most violent order. Hates it that I rarely get visibly upset or break composure. Tells me there's something wrong with me. Like not being tossed about by completely unregulated emotions is a bad thing. Sure
eyeroll.

(I'm not suggesting you're completely out of control or don't know what healthy emotional regulation is like. Just sharing my experience with a total loon.)

No, I carry lots of anger and resentment but like any other emotions they do not affect any decisions.

Sometimes...of course.

Yes, of course, it's human nature. But, we try to minimize it when we recognize it, don't we? When I was teaching my Business Writing class, one of the first things I would tell people was to NEVER EVER send out an email written in anger. You could compose it if you were that incensed, but then you should sit on it for 24 hrs, then reconsider. We all know that those kinds of messages eventually get into the hands of someone for whom they were not intended, and people have lost their jobs over such things. So, yes, monitor those emotions, and ALWAYS think before you speak/send. Believe me, I know whereof I speak.

Rarely. So rare that I feel justified in saying no, but I say it softly.

A lot of people ask me if I ever get mad.

I don't really know the answer to this - I am emotionally unstable often, and I do depend upon my partner to tell me when I am haywire - D.I.D Alters come and go as they please, sometimes its delicious, mostly I have no memory of the fugue, and my partner will tell me nothing awful happened during the lost time I am pretty confident we won't harm anyone but the answers a definite yes.

I don't. Sometimes I actually question whether I feel emotions like other people. I'm afraid I compartmentalize to a level that is unhealthy.

I look at in a simple manner. I choose my battles. I ask myself is this issue important enough to risk dying on this battlefield today. Usually after I settle down I no longer feel the need to engage. If I do then I can approach it with clear mind.

you would be a robot if you didnt

I think so! I was so mad about the Volkswagen scandal, (because I own one, it affects me) , I couldn't even think for a day, I was a total screw up after seeing the Netflix , 'Dirty Money'., program. It raised more issues for me than I could bear and so I went to bed and slept it off - Today feeling good to go and try to make decisions about what to do - had another volkswagen van ordered have cancelled will give myself time to think - But yes emotions are like flooding to the system and sometimes you can float along with and and sometimes have to take a stand adn figure out what is the best option to go forwards with.

I think that is part of wisdom, acknowledge our emotions so they don't control us.