Effective communication and healthy relationships with others are a two-way street of mutual understanding and proper interpretation of behavior. This being said – the manner in which people interact with each other can be altered by one’s ability to recognize, interpret, and react to the hints given out by others – voluntarily or not. 

So, today we discuss the so-called “emotion recognition” and its substantial influence on how we interconnect with our friends, family, colleagues, and associates. 

What is Emotion Recognition Exactly?

Briefly explained, emotion recognition is the process of identifying the emotions of people around you. It has much to do with accurately reading facial expressions, non-verbal gestures, and even body language – communication features that can oftentimes speak louder than words ever could.

Emotion recognition is primarily expected to occur during live and face-to-face conversations. Still, it can also help us orientate ourselves in the changing mood of any other form of intercommunication – through audio, video, and text including. Improve it with Relaxifyapp Exercise

Emotion Recognition as a Part of Emotional Intelligence

Registering and acknowledging the emotional state of the person in front of you is the first and foremost condition needed for engaging in fruitful communication. Doing so can help you facilitate your own thoughts, outline your behavior, and regulate your own emotions. 

According to the American Psychological Association, emotion recognition is an element of social skills and empathy within the broader emotional intelligence of the individual. It plays a vital role in our evolutionary mechanism by keeping us aware of the situation and the safe, smart, and adequate ways to react to it. 

Or else said – being able to apprehend the emotional spectrum you observe is fundamental for a proper reaction and a healthy ongoing interaction with the world.

Understanding Others Helps Our Own Selves!

Bringing theory to practice – how does emotion recognition boost our own well-being, and how does it mold the way we position ourselves in our social realm? Here are a few emotion recognition benefits, proven by both time and science:

Improved Social Interactions

Being able to stay flexible to others’ moods and momentary dispositions is highly valued in both personal and business relationships. Showing emotional intelligence and understanding of the situation will help you improve your social interactions and enhance your reliability in the eyes of others – be they your friends, your co-workers, or your partners.

Healthy Relationships 

You can’t maintain a healthy and mutually-satisfying relationship if you haven’t got the emotional tools to read the frame of mind, continually revealed by the other person. Modalities of behavior are here to show you the proper way to respond to a situation – all you need to do is decipher them and let them guide you to the common ground you’re looking for. 

Better Emotional Regulation

Understanding what you’re involved in comes with clear plans of action, realistic expectations, and a reduced chance of nurturing harmful misbeliefs. Or else said – once you know what is actually going on, you know what to anticipate. This can help you regulate your emotions accordingly and take your time to prepare for whatever may come your way. 

How to Improve Your Emotion Recognition Skills?

As satisfying as they sound, the advantages of proper emotion recognition are not so easy to achieve at all times. Some people have better inherent emotional intelligence skills, while others are required to work harder on their performance when dealing with others. 

If you happen to be born in the second group, there is still much you can do about becoming better at reading the emotions of others. Here are a few things to consider as a good starting point:

• Pick a favorite actor or actress, then browse some movie pictures they appear in. Try to guess and name the emotion you are reading. This is a beginner-level exercise, as research shows that known faces are easier to read than unknown ones.
• To level up, start watching new movies, videos, and programs with the sound turned off. First, try to guess the emotions of the people on screen without being able to hear their words. Then put the sound on, and check if you were anywhere close.
• Spend at least five minutes a day playing the “Emotion Recognition” game for free in the RelaxifyApp. There, you will have to match an emotion with a picture by picking between three different images. Our exercise is designed by experienced psychologists and shown to generate tangible improvement in the quality of your perception of nonverbal emotional display. 

The more you exercise, the better you will become at understanding others without them having to say a word. With that kind of development, you will also enjoy a more satisfactory social life, more stable relationships with people, and a harmonious state of your own mind. 

Negative thoughts don’t necessarily mean apparent gloominess, depression, or torturing anxiety. Sometimes, it’s just a background thinking pattern that defines the way we react to what’s happening around us. 

Anyway, the longer that thinking pattern persists, the worse its impact on our physical and mental state. Until apparent gloominess, depression, and torturing anxiety begin actually developing.

How do you Define a Negative Thought?

A negative thought is a dysfunctional thinking pattern, also called an “automatic thought.” It’s an involuntarily triggered cognitive response to a challenging situation, often generalizing and painting a pitch-black picture where there are multiple shades of grey. 

An automatic negative thought is when you say to yourself, “I’m a total failure” instead of “I simply couldn’t cope with this task.” 

It’s also when you say to yourself, “I will never trust people again” instead of “I was let down, and I’ve learned my lesson,” or “My life is ruined” instead of “I’m supposed to change my ways in order to move on.” 

As you may already suggest, these thoughts tend to produce a direct impact on our lives – in matters of emotional resilience, life events, and even physical health. 

How do Negative Thoughts Affect Your Well-Being?

Emotionally speaking, persistent negative thoughts can result in anything from a bad mood to anxiety, anger, self-esteem issues, and even depression. 

Also, they can get very physical by manifesting our thinking as higher blood pressure, increased risk of developing heart disease, lower immune system, higher level of stress hormones, or insomnia.

Put shortly – bad thoughts can literally get you sick! So – what is there to do about them?

Everyday Strategies for Dealing with Negative Thoughts

Here is our little guide for dealing with negative thinking in your everyday life:

#1 Learn to Recognize Thought Distortions

According to Psychology Today, there are four kinds of thought distortions:

• Black and white thinking – classifying events as either satisfactory or disastrous, with nothing in-between.
• Personalizing – believing that anything that goes wrong is always your fault.
• Catastrophizing – expecting the worst outcome of any situation.
• Filter thinking – recognizing only the negative side of any situation.

Analyzing your thoughts and recognizing a dysfunctional thinking pattern you have is the first and most crucial step towards fixing it. 

#2 Re-Evaluate Your Situation

Once you feel that automatic thought starting to creep in, try to distance yourself from it and change your perspective. For example, what would you say to someone else in your situation? What would it look like to you if you were not personally involved? 

That’s right – negative thoughts almost always keep you from being realistic, and reality is probably way better than you perceive it subjectively.

#3 Feel it Before you Let it Go

Frantically running away from bad thoughts is never a good strategy, as a person’s emotional spectrum is not (and is not supposed to be) monochrome. Instead, spend your time with your frustration – sit back, feel it, live through it, and, finally, dominate it. 

Feeling sad or angry is ok. It simply doesn’t mean you have always felt that way, or you’ll be feeling that way forever. 

#4 Don’t Keep it All to Yourself

Sometimes, other people’s opinions and support can be of great help in overcoming negative thinking. As hard as it may be for you, try to share your concerns and emotions with another person – communicate it, talk it through, and make an effort to accept advice from the outside. 

You can talk with a friend, a relative, a significant other, or a professional psychologist – it’s all fine when it makes you feel fine.

#5 Count Your Blessings

The good old balance scale strategy comes in handy when negative thinking makes you feel down. This approach is very simple – you are supposed to merely think about the good things you have in your life. The things you are grateful about and rarely appreciate on a daily basis.

Be it your family, your child, your pet, your talents, or your passions – make a little list of blessings and keep it present in your conscious thoughts every time you begin to slide off. 

#6 Make a Lifestyle Change

Negative thinking is harder to win when you take better care of your general well-being. Where to begin?

• Eat better;
• Sleep more;
• Socialize more often;
• Spend more quality time with your loved ones;
• Do not systematically overwork yourself;
• Engage in more dynamic physical activities;
• Spend time in nature.

At the end of the day, you will be startled by the massive difference that little things can make. 

#7 Practice Automatic Thoughts Recognition in RelaxifyApp

In our RelaxifyApp, we’ve designed a playful and engaging experience based on science that will help you reconsider your patterns of thinking.

By spending just a couple of minutes per day playing the Negative Thoughts mind game, you will become increasingly aware of dysfunctional thinking and learn to control it – for a better mood and a better life.  

Because every positive change begins with the notion that something needs to change and the conscious effort to change it the healthy way!