The problem with emotions is not that we have them, but that they’re allowed to operate unsupervised.

You’d think we’d have figured out by now how to not be held hostage by a rogue’s gallery of feelings that behave like the cast of a badly written soap opera trapped inside your skull. Emotions are like a chaotic group chat and you’re just trying to mute it without accidentally blocking your own capacity for joy.

But here’s the really annoying thing: emotions aren’t just intrusive thoughts pret...