In Seneca's Letters, we see Seneca staunchly defend the practice of a very restricted emotional state. Every emotion you experience has an intense weight--each one of them matters individually, and should be carefully thought out beforehand.
Many call the Stoics robotic in their emotions, but that isn't quite the case. You should experience emotions, but only about the right things at the right time and in the right way--it's a lot to think about. It's all about control. For example, he talks about this guy Stilbo, who lost his wife, children, and everything he owned in one fell swoop during an invasion. When he was found wandering by soldiers, they ask him if he's okay, if he's lost anything. He happily replies that he has everything he needs, and that he's just fine and dandy--and he really meant it. Seneca really values this kind of control, and calls Stilbo staunch and brave-hearted.
See, Seneca believes you should live in this state of "contented poverty," where you don't want or need anything outside of the extreme minimum that nature requires of you. Everything else--including wives, children, friends--are cool to have, but should not affect your happiness in any way if they are lost. You control your happiness, your state of well-being, by controlling your emotions--the key is to not let anything affect your happiness that Chance with a capital C could rip away from you. Once you've reached this point of total contented poverty, where nothing in the world really matters to you or could affect you besides the absolute basics, then you've finally achieved a fully balanced soul.
So, what do you guys think? Do you think this kind of restraint--not even restraint, literally non-existence--of emotions or cares is possible? Could anyone really not have much of anything truly matter to them, or are we too driven by our emotions?