facial expressions are hard

This article over at psychology today comes the closest to describing some of what I go through dealing with people face-to-face. I don't struggle with it in the moment the way the author of the story did, and never have. In the past I mostly would be oblivious as to the whys and wherefores of the situation until well after the fact. Now, I'm either at least aware of my lack of comprehension (to one degree or another), or still clueless but much less stressful about it afterward.

Eyes, on the other hand, are much easier for me to read. Eye contact in general, is easier. Too much or none at all and my guard is instantly up. Also, because I'm very guilty about being either entirely evasive or way to intense with eye contact as a normal course of habit, people who are trying to game me one way or the other with eye contact often either bail out on it, or are so focused on what they are doing they really aren't paying attention to me--and that actually helps me deal with it.