Why You Act F.A.S.T.—And How Understanding Yourself Gives You Control
A Quick Question Before We Start
Have you ever felt your emotions go from 0 to 100 in a split second—and you’re not even sure why? Maybe you snapped at someone you care about, shut down when you felt hurt, or made a choice you immediately regretted. If you’ve ever wondered, “Why do I react like that?” — you’re about to understand something powerful about your mind, your body, and your ability to take control.
Those sudden emotional surges have a real explanation. That happens because human beings come equipped with an ancient Source of Knowledge called instinct—the survival wiring that kept our species alive for almost two million years. When your autonomic nervous system senses a threat, it fires the sympathetic branch and triggers your stress or "fight-or-flight" response. Instinct is powerful, but it was built for a world where every danger felt immediate and life-or-death—very different from daily life in the developed world today.
When instinct feels exposed, it activates what I call acting F.A.S.T. Emotions: Fear, Anger, Sadness, and Temptation taking over your emotions, behaviors, and responses. This is why you might react in different ways when instinct takes over:
Fear — You might avoid a conversation, ignore a problem, or pull back from an opportunity, because Fear is the locked door you avoid opening, and behind it may be chances you never give yourself the opportunity to see.
Reflective Questions for Fear:
What "locked door" am I avoiding right now?
What opportunity might be waiting for me if I opened it?
Is the situation actually dangerous, or just uncomfortable?
Anger — You might snap at someone, raise your voice, or say something you later regret, because Anger is the volcano inside you: pressure builds, heat rises, and if you don’t release it safely, it erupts in ways that can burn you and the people around you.
Reflective Questions for Anger:
What pressure has been building inside me?
Am I angry at this moment—or at something deeper?
What would a safe release of this pressure look like?
Sadness — You might withdraw, shut down, or push people away when you need them most, because Sadness is the heavy fog that settles over you, making everything feel slower, dimmer, and harder to move through, even when connection is what you truly need.
Reflective Questions for Sadness:
What is the "fog" I'm feeling right now?
Who could I reach toward instead of pulling away from?
What do I need emotionally—but haven’t asked for yet?
Temptation — You might take the easy way out, choose short-term pleasure over long-term growth, or make an impulsive decision you immediately regret, because Temptation is the shiny shortcut that looks easy and exciting but often leads you off-track, costing you more than you realize in the moment.
Reflective Questions for Temptation:
What "shortcut" am I tempted to take—and why?
Will this choice help me long-term or only right now?
What would my future self want me to choose?
These reactions feel automatic because your conscious awareness gets overridden by survival wiring that once protected your ancestors.
If survival was all you knew, then survival was all that mattered. That’s why instinct still leaps in to protect you—even when nothing is truly dangerous. But when instinct fires in the wrong moments, it pushes you into impulsive choices that create unnecessary suffering for you and the people around you.
That’s how the F.A.S.T. Emotions take control.
And it wasn’t that long ago that this kind of constant vigilance was necessary. Just 150 years ago, nearly 95% of the world’s population struggled daily for food, shelter, and safety. Imagine living in a world where your survival system was switched on almost all the time.
When the Parasympathetic System Is in Charge
Just as the sympathetic system prepares you to fight, flee, or freeze, the parasympathetic system offers the opposite—it slows you down, helps you rest, and restores your sense of safety. When this system is active, your body shifts into a state of contentment and can move on to greater Satisfactions found in our Emotional States of Beings: happiness, and joyfulness. Your breathing deepens, your heart rate steadies, and your mind becomes clearer and more open.
In this calmer state, your subconscious intuition—not your instinct—guides your emotions, behaviors, and responses. This is the version of you that connects instead of reacts, listens instead of interrupts, empathizes instead of defends, and chooses loving intention without feeling threatened. In other words, this is when your best self steps forward.
Because instinct isn’t great at helping you succeed in a civilized world, humanity had to rely on the growth of our intuitive and intellectual attributes to respectfully, help improve upon one another and our quantity and quality of life. While instinct ensures that our basic needs are met, it can override your intuitive knowledge—the part of you that wants to solve problems calmly, strengthen relationships, and bring more joy into the world.
Humanity eventually had to learn something instinct could never teach: how to love. We learned to extend loving intention outward—to care, to cooperate, to communicate, and to build communities. This is why the Toolbox of Loving Intention exists: it gives us the emotional and intuitive skills that allow society not just to survive, but to flourish.
Here’s how humanity continued to evolve beyond instinct, using all three Sources of Knowledge to shape not only survival—but relationships, community, and purpose.
Everything changed when humans became aware of their own existence. This moment—your Conscious Awareness—opened the door to free choice, a major CRITICAL UNDERSTANDINGS: our Unique Abilities. Once we realized we could choose our actions, feelings, and thoughts, the ego was born. Identity became personal. You became a unique “self,” able to imagine your future, shape who you want to be, and participate in something larger than instinct ever allowed.
From that point on, humans had access to three Sources of Knowledge:
Instinct (meets needs) — the fire alarm that warns you fast and loud.
Intellect (satisfies wants) — the tools we use to fight the fire: the hoses, ladders, trucks, and equipment that help us solve problems, plan ahead, and take meaningful action.
Intuition (helps fulfill desires—especially becoming a loving, connected human being) — the firefighter who shows up with calm, wisdom, and loving intention to guide you through the moment.
These Sources of Knowledge give you the ability to influence the world around you. You get to freely choose how you use your knowledge. And knowing the future—being able to imagine what might happen next—can feel like a gift or a burden. When you act F.A.S.T., instinct is driving. When you respond with loving intention, your intuition is guiding, helping you move toward stronger relationships, better decisions, and a more meaningful life.
The challenge of modern life is learning when to step out of instinct and step into intuition. You were not born just to survive—you were born to create, connect, and bring more joy into your world. We use our Levels of Consciousness to shift how we respond:
At the unconscious level, instinct reacts automatically—like the fire alarm going off before you even think.
At the subconscious level, intuition steps in—your inner firefighter offering calm, empathy, and loving intention.
At the conscious level, intellect helps you think clearly and use the right tools to solve the problem.
Together, these levels allow you to rise out of survival mode and make choices that create connection, stability, and purpose. When you recognize that you have the intuitive power to choose your emotions, behaviors, and responses, you unlock the ability to use your Toolbox of Loving Intention to strengthen yourself, your relationships, and your community. Here, you begin to make things better for others by choosing intention over impulse. And with intellect, you build the practical systems—tools, skills, and solutions—that increase comfort, reduce stress, and improve the quality of life for yourself and your community.
You don’t have to eliminate instinct. You simply have to stop letting it run the show—and allow your intuitive wisdom to guide you forward.
A Closing Reflection: Bringing Yourself Back to the Present
Take a moment—right now—to check in with yourself:
What am I doing?
What am I feeling?
What am I thinking?
If any part of you feels tense, overwhelmed, or ready to react, try this simple reset:
Mindfulness Prompt: The 10-Second Reset
Breathe in slowly for 4 seconds.
Hold for 2 seconds.
Breathe out for 4 seconds.
Whisper to yourself: “This moment is mine to choose.”
Your instincts may fire first—but you get the final say.
Each time you pause, breathe, and choose with loving intention, you strengthen the part of you that leads to contentment, happiness, and joyfulness. You're not just surviving anymore. You're learning how to live.