My theory is that actions are made up of a combination of feeling and thought. The more balanced/"sane" try to get a good combination going, give themselves space to get the moderating thought in there between the stimulus and action. Your, "I broke it, the world is going to end" example reminded me of myself.

I use to respond to the world like Chicken Little, like it was going to end, everything was panic-worthy. My therapist did not, she was calm, pleasant, relaxed. It took many years before I noticed the difference and was able to have the thought, "Only one of us can be responding correctly/well; either the sky is falling and I am correct and my therapist is "crazy" to be so relaxed and calm or. . . It did not initially stop my feeling that the world was going to end but having the, "It's not like that" spacer thought in there allowed me to override the extreme feeling most times and gave me permission to take more time thinking about my problem rather than just reacting (versus "responding") to it.