Emotions and handwriting

Our emotions and feelings are reflected in all of our actions, also in our handwriting. The problem is that we have learned how to hide our true feelings, feelings that are shown in our body and face, but not in our handwriting.

In the act of writing, we make many spontaneous movements. These movements are recorded on paper and can reflect our emotions. This recorded movement is like an open window, a window we can look through to see your emotions. And even see what kind of personality you have.

Emotions in handwriting is genuine, it cannot be falsified!

For example handwriting and anxiety: if you write while you are feeling nervous (perhaps during a test), your feelings will show in your handwriting. You will be able to see the trembling in the strokes of certain letters. All of our emotions will show up on paper! So be careful in what state of mind you are when you’re writing!

The highly sensitive person

Highly sensitive person or HSP are easily overwhelmed by stimuli, get stressed by loud noises and strong smells, are extremely perceptive, have rich and often intense internal lives, and need plenty of quiet and down time to maintain their balance. All of your emotions are more intense and you notice subtle changes in your invironment, picking up on other people’s emotions is one of the traits as well .

The research is new and not recognized by a lot of people, there are tests you can do to see if you’re highly sensitive. Elaine Aron is leading in the research at the moment, she is an HSP herself. Below a video of Elaine Aron explaining what HSP is. You should check out her website: www.hsperson.com. Are you Highly Sensitive? 

Movies that make me cry

I always tell people, I laugh really fast but I cry fast to. And I do not lie when I say that, I don’t need a lot to start crying. When it comes to movies I really don’t need much, just the sad ending will get my tears flowing over my cheeks. People always laugh at me when I go to the movies, one minute I am laughing and the next I’m crying.

One of my favorite movies is the Green Mile, a guaranteed cry for me. What about you? What movies make you cry?

And in case you need to cry, here is the ending to the Green Mile, and some other scenes from sad movies. Grab some tissues!

Emotions and music

Whenever I’m stressed, angry, sad or happy I listen to music. Music has always been there in my life, I wake up with it and I go to sleep with it. When I’m studying for a test I need music to concentrate, even when I make the test I have music in my head. While I’m writing this, Mumford and suns is playing in my ears. I need it to function almost. There are nights where I cannot sleep without music, no matter what time it is, even when it is five in the morning, I need to listen to my music. Even if it is just one song.

Music influences your emotions and they can calm you down when you are stressed. I know it helps me every time, it can be an emotional outlet to make music or scream along with your favorite band. Going to a festival, meeting new people, music is there to connect us, to help us.

For everyone of you I created a list with my favorite bands and solo artists:

• Linkin Park
• Michael Jackson
• Elvis Presley
• Bruce Springsteen
• 30 seconds to mars
• Panic! At the disco
• My Chemical Romance
• Greenday
• The Killers
• Fall out Boy
• Muse
• The Editors
• Foo Fighters
• Mumford and Sons
• OneRepublic
• Coldplay
• James Morrison
• Gavin deGraw
• Pink
• Beyonce
• Brandon Flowers
• Bruno Mars
• Gotye
• Rihanna

Etc…

I can go on and on with this list. This is just a short indication of my taste actually, what I am interested in is: What are your favorite bands or artists? What do you listen to when you’re in need of emotional release? Let me know in the comment section, you can listen to one of my favorites while you do it: 

Dogs can improve your state of mind

A UK study reveals that owning a dog is good for your health. And having a pet dog improves your physical and mental wellbeing more than having a cat. This is the conclusion of a study by a senior lecturer, Dr. Deborah Wells, from the Canine Behavior Centre of Queens University, Belfast in Northern Ireland.

But she is not the only one who came to this conclusion. You may have seen this guy on National Geographic or just heard of him, Cesar Millan. Better known as the dog whisperer he goes across the world to help people understand their dogs and help them with their problems.

Cesar lives by a couple simple rules when it comes to dogs:

• Exercise
• Discipline
• Affection

Always treat your dog in that order and you should be fine. When you enter the room or meet a new dog you have some basic rules to:

• No touch
• No talk
• No eye-contact

Dogs can feel our energy, our state of mind. So, basically our emotions have an effect on the way our dogs treat us. When you get angry at your dog, but you don't act upon it, he will still feel your energy. Cesar learns us that the way we feel effect our dogs, so in order to address our problems we must look at our own emotions. When we sort them out our dogs will notice the change in energy and will act upon that energy. Well, what is the energy I should have? A calm and assertive state of mind is the perfect way to be a balanced pack leader for your dog. It gives you rest and your dog is happier. A win win situation!

Below a short clip with Cesar's house rules:

60 second movie

This is my 60 second movie. It is about Jacky, my beloved dog I lost recently. She got sick and we had to put her down. We all still miss her and this is a very emotional time for me. It still hurts when I think of her, I love her. That is why she deserves to have the lead in my video. I hope you like what I made for her. Enjoy! 

Are we missing the joke, Joran?

He is all over the news, Joran van der Sloot. He confessed in court today, or did he? I saw the video of the confession today and I had already noticed some contempt when his lawyer was explaining the meanings of post-traumatic stress syndrome. That did not feel good to me, that's why I decided to do some research. I found a video of Joran, in this video he is laughing with his lawyer and some other people. Now we can wonder why he does this. Is it because he is nervous, happy or simply because he does not give a thing about what happens to him. It could be a form of stress release, laughing or crying can be signs of this. Not everybody does handle stress the same way. Or did he do it because he is happy that everybody is buying his lie? You never know what's going to happen next when it comes to Joran. One thing is sure, we are going to hear a lot from his trials, especially because America is after him as well. To be continued...

How emotional are you?

Searching the internet I found this website: http://www.pedagonet.com/brain/emotiontest.html On this website you can test how well you handle your emotions, do you hide from them or are you happy to show them to the world? I did the test and got: 17 to 30.

This means that I my attitude towards my emotions is a healthy one. I am not ashamed to let my emotions show occasionally, and I will undoubtedly be much healthier because of this attitude. I am likely to be a good social advisor.

So how well are you dealing with your emotions? Leave your results in the comment section. I am very curious to see what your scores will be!

Get to know me. An interview with myself.

I have been telling you all about emotions for the last couple of weeks but who am I? What about my emotions? I thought I'd enlighten you with an interview with myself. Enjoy! 

When was the last time you cried?

The last time I cried was not too long ago actually. It was when my dog died, Jacky. She was 15 years old when she passed away. She got sick and when we took her to the vet, they told us that it was best for Jacky is we put her to sleep. So we did, and it was one of the saddest moments in my life. She had always been there for me, comforting me, supporting me. She was my best friend, and she still is.

When was the last time you laughed?

Well I laugh every day, but the last time I really laughed was on new year’s eve. I was taking pictures of everybody and when I looked at a picture I had taken I just had to laugh. It looked ridiculous! Of course I had had something to drink that night and I was laughing so much that I literally fell over. I was lying flat on the ground laughing. I did have a lot of fun!

When was the last time you got angry?

This weekend actually. My dad was moving the table, a really heavy wooden table, and its leg broke! When my mom and I move the table we always get a speech to be careful because when you don’t lift it up high enough the legs can break. And now he decided to do it on his own and it broke! I got angry with my dad. Everything is okay now though, he fixed it the next day.

When was the last time you were ashamed?

The day after new year’s eve. I got a bit too drunk that night and the next day we had some sort of an after party and everybody was there. I don’t drink much so it was kind of a big deal. Everybody knew about it and they all knew that I had fallen down laughing. I was ashamed to face them the next day.

When was the last time you were surprised?

Christmas eve, we got together with some friends and we had all made surprises for each other. Getting a present is always a surprise because you don’t know what’s in it. But now I really had no idea what so ever!

When was the last time you lied?

Probably not too long ago. We all lie every day, it might be to avoid hurting someone’s feelings or to make ourselves look better. I can say that I haven’t told a big lie recently but I do lie every day, we all do.

When was the last time you were disgusted?

Yesterday we went out to dinner at a friend’s house and he had made something I really didn’t like. I was disgusted by it and therefore he made me some pancakes that made me really happy.

When was the last time you were contempt?

Helping my mom with her work, realizing that I know more than she does when it comes to computers. I did feel some contempt and it was nice, she knows I’m good at it and I am proud of it.

When was the last time you were afraid?

Last Thursday, in the Efteling. I was in a rollercoaster in the evening, it was dark out. And I had never been in a rollercoaster when it was dark, it was a new experience for me and I got a bit scared.

 

When was the last time you were worried?

I am worried all the time, I have a puppy and I am always worried that he might get hurt or that he is going to eat something he shouldn’t. I can’t even open the door without making sure he is out of the way because I am afraid that he might run away. I love him so much that I am worried all the time.

Misinterpretations

Emotions don't only come to show when we talk to someone, I could be transferring a lot of emotions right now through writing. I am sure that you all have had moments where you text someone and that you get an unexpected reaction in return. This means that the other person has misinterpreted your message and did not get the emotion you were trying to transfer. The internet is filled with mistakes like this. I will show you one I thought was hilarious:

Misinterpretation can happen quickly and bring along a lot of trouble. So read something at least twice before you react like this, or ask what he meant. In this case, the relationship might have been saved if she had just asked: "What do you mean?"

What does anger tell me?

Anger can mean a lot of things to me, it depends on the context of the emotion. For example, when I am talking to someone and I see a micro-expression that shows me anger, I know that whatever I said must have been offending or hurtful for that person. If I don't notice it and I keep on going with my story I might upset him/her even more, which may eventually lead to an argument. When I see the micro-expression I know that whatever I said was hurtful and I can stop my story and apologize or explain what I meant with my story. This way I may have avoided an argument and saved a friendship.

Anger certainly is not my favorite emotion to see, feel or experience. It is , however, important that you know how to deal with it and to stop it in the act, if you can.

Young emotions

The first emotion I can remember is sadness. This might sound very dark and grim, but it's mainly because I was a clumsy kid. I fell very often and got injured (not badly), the little drama-queen in me couldn’t stop crying! I just had to have a towel that covered my wound so I didn't have to see it! Whenever I would see it again I started crying. Touching it was forbidden and talking about it, do you really want to go there? I remember it very vividly, I was about five years old and I was playing outside, on the grass, but on the end of the soft grass was a stone path. I tripped and fell on the stone path, ripping open my knee. I hopped on home and when I saw my mother I started crying so bad! I sat against the wall for at least an hour holding my knee with a towel to cover the wound. No one was allowed to touch it, mention it or see it, not even me. It is a bit funny when I think about it now, and I have to admit I still am a drama-queen every now and again. What can I say, I am a very emotional person. 

1+1= 1

Beyoncé's latest song tells us that 1+1= 2 (and math of course), but can 1+1= 1? Well, of course it can! Two completely different people can be connected by a shared story. Therefore equal one instead of two. Let me give you an example, let's take my mom and me. At one point we really were one, after my birth we became two different people. But during my life and hers we have created some great stories together, stories that combine us and make us one again. For instance, when I was 16 my mom and I were watching "The Uri Geller Show," we thought it was hilarious what some people could do. Knowing what Uri Geller can do (bending Spoons) we got the idea of hanging spoons on our noses. We were laughing so much that we had tears rolling over our cheeks! I always have a lot of fun with my mother, I can laugh with her, cry with her, she is like a best friend to me. This story was only one of many, we are one odd pair, but we sure do laugh a lot!

Personal hero

When it comes to personal heroes, I have to say that it would be Paul Ekman. I have mentioned him quite a lot in my previous posts. When it comes to the research in recognizing emotions and spotting liars, Paul Ekman is the leading man. He is the man behind the series "Lie to me," his research has been the base of every episode in the series. Paul Ekman was present at every shooting of all the episodes, just to be sure that the facts were right. Even on his website he put up a blog about the show, explaining into precise detail the science behind the show. Separating the facts from fiction.

Paul Ekman got me interested in recognizing emotions and even got me studying his literature. I wanted to know what he knows and to be able to do what he does. Watching the series and reading the books, I have to say I am nowhere near the level of expertise of Paul Ekman. I can say that I can recognize more now than I could before and I know what to do with that information. So I say thank you, my hero, Paul Ekman. Thank you for your inspiration and eye-opening research.

Sorry, have we METT?

METT training programme Paul Ekman

As I promised yesterday, we will be talking about micro-expressions today. What are they, what do they tell us and most importantly how can we train to see them? We all have micro-expressions, the same way we don’t always see them in others, we don’t always notice when we have them ourselves. I am sure that we all know that feeling, a hunch that someone is lying or the feeling when you pick up something and you get the feeling that something’s just not right. These feelings may just be your subconscious picking up on micro-expressions. Your eyes just haven’t learned to see them yet, but that can change! According to Paul Ekman, you can learn to see micro-expressions within half an hour. So which micro-expressions are there and how do we see them?

A micro-expression is a brief, involuntary facial expression shown on your face following the emotions you are experiencing at the time. They usually occur when under stress, or when you have something to lose or gain. Micro-expressions are difficult to fake, unlike regular emotions. Micro-expressions express the seven universal emotions:

1. Disgust
2. Anger
3. Fear
4. Sadness
5. Happiness
6. Surprise
7. Contempt

In the 1990s Paul Ekman expanded the list of emotions, this includes positive and negative emotions not all of which are encoded in facial muscles. The expansion to the list contained to following emotions: Amusement, Contempt, Embarrassment, Excitement, Guilt, Pride, Relief, Satisfaction, Pleasure and Shame.

All micro-expressions are very brief in their duration, they only last up to 1/25^th to 1/15^th of a second. There are three different types of micro-expressions, the first is a Simulated expression. This is when a micro-expression is not accompanied by a genuine expression. Second is the Neutralized Expression, this is when a genuine expression is suppressed and the face remains neutral. Last, but not least, the Masked Expression, this is when a genuine expression is completely masked by a falsified expression.

Despite the efforts to conceal any sign of emotion, leakage may occur in a micro-expression. These tiny changes also can occur when an emotion is just beginning, often before the person knows that they are about to act emotionally. With the METT Training tool, developed by Paul Ekman, you can train to see the important signals and recognize micro-expressions. Micro-expressions tell you that the emotion is concealed, but they don’t tell you why or how it was concealed. You will need to determine if the concealment is deliberate or unconscious, as they look the same. You may need to ask some questions to figure out the motive to conceal the emotions.

Source(s):           Telling Lies, Paul Ekman, chapter on cautions

                           Emotions Revealed, Paul Ekman, chapters 5,6,7,8 and 9.

                           www.paulekman.com

                           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microexpression

Sneek preview micro-expressions

Today I would like to share a video with you. The video shows Paul Ekman and John Cleese discussing subjects such as: Lying, emotions and micro-expressions. Paul Ekman provides us with some examples and tells us where we have to look to see a micro-expression. We learn what it tells us and how we can interpret them.

John Cleese provides a lighter side to the subject, with his humor and charisma he tells the story to make sure anyone can understand. This video is an excerpt from a miniseries which aired on BBC, called "The human face". You can watch the entire show on YouTube (following this link)

You should see this video as a hint of what's to come tomorrow. I will be talking about tricks on how to catch a liar. This involves micro-expressions, which just happens to be the subject of the short clip. So stay tuned and check in again tomorrow to learn more about micro-expressions and the use of micro-expressions.

I would like to leave you with a quote that you can think about during your day, wherever you may be in the world. "Lying is done with words and also with silence," a quote by Adrienne Rich. Have a nice day and enjoy the video. 

A lying quote

I found this quote on the internet, I thought I’d share it with you.

“A half-truth is a whole lie”

Something to think about before you go to sleep, I know I will. Check in again later this week for more information, tips and tricks on how to catch a liar. Stay tuned! 

Welcome! Tell me, how are you?

Ladies and gentlemen let me welcome you to my first blog and blogpost. My name is Simone and I will be your host for quite some time, if you’ll let me. We will take a tour together through the world of emotions. Together we are going to take a look at those lying bastards in our lives and learn from them. Yes, I said learn from them! I am going to teach you how to catch them in the act and even outsmart them. So stick around and check in every now and again to catch up with me to understand and influence the emotions that surround you.