“You’ve endured countless troubles – all from not letting your ruling reason do the work it was made for – enough already!” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations.

On those occasions when you’ve thought and acted like a prize gibbon, what do you remember about the event afterwards? How realistic and accurate were your thoughts at the time? How much time did you take to reconsider the facts of the matter and compare them against what you thought and felt? What have you learned from this?

Think on and prepare for the next time, when you can let your reason guide your actions, not your emotions.