h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I recently got told I'm a closed book when it comes to emotions (irl). And this is not always a good thing.

Ok, fine.

So how do you show your emotions? (Without smileys. )

First relax your face, and look at the 'Tell us a joke' thread. You may feel a strange sensation, but , it's only a smile.

It may be that you do show them but not in a way that is instantly readable by other people. This is disconcerting for them...hence the complaint. It is not a bad thing nor a good one..it is just you.
If we all wore our hearts on our sleeves life would be intolerable.If you feel it's a problem see a counsellor...but bear in mind it may be the other person's problem and not you at all! They may be saying..you are not reading my emotional state and acting towards me how I want.... to hide back in the corner now

Hmmmm. Didn't think of it that way. Oh well. It's not something that I'm worried about. I was just wondering how people see themselves showing emotions.

eg. Anger. Do you start shouting and screaming, or go home and punch your pillow until the room is full of feathers?
Sadness. Do you cry? At home into the pillow you just plastered over the wall, or just right there where the event happened?

The thing is I generally do the pillow thing, when nobody is around. So I was wondering about everyone else's ways of dealing with things. (Maybe or even?)

I like to experience emotion (life's poor without it) but I'm pretty undecided if showing emotion in public is a good thing.
On Saturday I was a bit grumpy in the morning. I decided to go with that grumpiness instead of trying to cheer myself up. I stretched out on the floor and did nowt. It worked.
Didn't stop me falling down a pothole two hours later though.

I read if you read funnies with a pencil in your mouth you will find the funnies funnier. The pencil forces your mouth into a fake smile. Anybody want to try this experiment?

I tend to be good with the positive ones and bad with the negative ones. So I'm really demonstrative when I'm happy, when I'm pleased with somebody, when I like or love somebody. But when I'm sad or angry for example, the people who know me recognise it by the lack of emotive outbursts. Then I just go quiet and I'm better left on my own until I get over it. I am getting better at displaying when I'm angry with someone though but I find it difficult because I hate confrontation. Also, I come froma family where most of the others in the family (there are nine of us) express anger readily but handle it very badly, which leads to lots of confrontations, which led to me developing a habit of not deomonstrating anger at all. Instead, in me anger is subverted leading to over eating, binge drinking and panic attacks! Maybe I should try punching the out of a pillow!!!

I read in the book by John Cleese and the psychologist guy that every family has one strictly forbidden emotion. Something like that.

Showing emotions? how terribly, terribly un-British. Almost like being some sort of continental type, what.

For practise, get a job as a janitor for a Soho peepshow. Before you know it you'll be overcome.

It depends on the situation, and the people you are with, as to how much emotion you show, I think. For instance, at work, I laugh if someone tells a joke, and try to be smiley and happy most of the time. But if I'm p'd off, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to start throwing files around. Equally, my almost overwhelming desire is to jump on my boss and rip all his clothes off, but that probably wouldn't be the best thing to do in an office situation.

At home, I show much more emotion, whether positive or negative. In general, I try to be as 'sunny' as I can, and that usually pleases most people!

Krispy-I just couldn't ignore an in-your-end-hoe like that

Eyyyythengyar.

i'm a bit like that post above, don't like expressing anger because i'm afraid of confrontation, so i bottle it all up and latley its starting to come out in strange bursts! but i feel much better afterwards so it is better to be out than in .
with sadness i try not to show that either, unless i'm with my family or someone close. but usually if i am sad or depressed i want people to take notice of it, so i tend to wallow in it and do a bit of "woe is me" waving my arms round etc. and then other times, if i'm sad i want to cheer myself up and take my mind off it, so i stick an izzard video in...that always makes me laugh and cheers me up