Your Dad was a wise man. I really like the way he put that! 
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There was a pretty amazing Radiolab about a guy who lost his emotions. He also lost his ability to make decisions, or his motivation. I have often thought about this. So often emotions get labeled as the thing which messes with clear decisions. But the whole Spock thing is totally impossible for human beings. We need emotions to do anything. Just that some emotions get labeled bad or we really donāt recognize the underlying emotional state we are trying to achieve. Talk to someone who says they are making a logical choice and you will find that it is every bit of an emotional choice. Just a different kind of emotion at play or resulting.
Think about depression. It is often described as absence of emotions rather than feeling bad. A major component of it is lack of motivation.
So Iām curious about the cases that test the norm. Not that Iām going to send you to Antonio Damasio or anything for an FMRI, but Iām curious about the role emotions play in your decisions.
Donāt answer, just thinking out loud. Since you are musical, there has to be some emotional component. I just canāt imagine otherwise. Then again, if itās the memory of an emotion that fades quickly and not the capacity to feel, thatās another ballgame.
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No worries. Never been depressed or even really sad a day in my life. Emotions are very muted for sure but itās the lack of an emotional memory that makes it slightly abi-normal. Either way, just mentioning itās a positive that I canāt hold a grudge.
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Aināt that the truth! My mother would recall family history constantly. My regret is that I couldnāt be bothered to listen, and so all those stories about my ancestors, which were passed down through the generations have been lost. Stories about two world wars, the depression, poverty, the bombing of Liverpool etcetera. All gone.
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@hansena, so sorry for what you are going through. Canāt say Iāve been there myself, though I have buried all of my grandparents, my father and a brother. I watched my mother struggle with her father. He wasnāt what most people would call a good man. Today he would have probably been diagnosed bipolar or something, back then he was just mean. Grandma always said the war changed him. My mother had an attitude that I really grew to appreciate. My grandfather always played favorites between his two daughters, and mom was never it. He also played favorites with his grandkids, and we were never it. I remember asking mom once why she continued to do so much for her father when he was obviously ungrateful, and even hurtful at times. Her response was, āI canāt control whether or not heās a good father, but I get to decide whether or not I will be a good daughter.ā That has always made me proud of my mom and has stuck with me in a lot of ways.
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Really great insightā¦and so true. She will have lived her life to never, or at least seldom, regret any manner in which she treated othersā¦including those who have not done the same for her. That alone can make for a life well-lived. I try very hard to do that, though sometimes Iām not all that successful.
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We all have our moments, sometimes it really is the effort that counts 
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