Opening paragraphs..............

You like to imagine yourself in control of your fate, consciously planning the course of your life as best you can.  But you are largely unaware of how deeply your emotions dominate you.  They make you veer toward ideas that sooth your ego.  They make you look for evidence that confirms what you already want to believe.  They make you see what you want to see, depending on your mood, and this disconnect from reality is the source of the bad decisions and negative patterns that haunt your life.  Rationality is the ability to counteract these emotional effects, to think instead of react, to open your mind to what is really happening, as opposed to what you are feeling.  It does not come naturally; it is a power we must cultivate, but in doing so we realize our greatest potential.

-Robert Greene,  The Laws of Human Nature