Man, as you know, is a social being. And living in close connection with other, equally social beings, he constantly enters into one kind of interaction with them. For example, he participates in thousands of conversations “about the weather,” remaining internally indifferent to what is said and content with the very fact of interaction. Sometimes he gets excited, arguing about something, raises his voice angrily, or “hisses” with irritation through clenched teeth. Perhaps he will smile joyfully, taken by surprise by an unexpected joke or an appropriate compliment. As you can see, any communication is associated with certain emotional experiences. However, as science says, experienced emotions do not equally affect a person’s mental state. The fact is that the human brain is structured as follows: in the zone responsible for emotional response, 60% of the volume is occupied by structures responsible for processing neutral events and responding to them, 35% by structures responsible for negative emotions and only 5% by those responsible for positive emotions. Based on this, we can say that one offensive insult is equivalent to seven praises in terms of its impact on a person. The balance of positive and negative experiences is extremely important for a person’s well-being and health. Adhering to a critical and blaming style in communication, noting primarily negative behavior in the behavior of others, even if this is done “for their good,” easily entering into “life or death” conflicts, allowing oneself insults, explicit and implicit, sowing around scandals and discord, a person must be aware that he is not only saturating his social circle with negative emotions, but also reducing the likelihood of positive emotions appearing in it. As a result, he receives more and more irritation and dissatisfaction from everyday contacts. People with whom communication used to be a pleasure, now, afraid of getting a new emotional “slap”, avoid it, and if they talk, they get off with neutral topics or discussion of common problems. The balance is disturbed, and this is a direct road to ill health. When illnesses appear, sad topics for communication become more numerous, the process continues. You can break this vicious circle only by taking conscious control of your emotional exchange with others. To do this, critical remarks should be used extremely rarely and, preferably, at the request of the person being criticized, since criticism without a request is practically never heard and only spoils the relationship. Insults made even in a joking manner should be completely forgotten. In conflicts, you should try to understand the interlocutor’s side, and not explain yours to him; this is the only way to form a constructive basis for a mutually satisfying solution to the problem. And, of course, do not forget to note the strengths of your interlocutor and praise him for the pleasant things he has done for you. Use a smile, a kind word, help, gifts and in general anything that can evoke positive emotions in your interlocutor. Remembering the balance of positive and negative emotions, a psychologically competent husband will think about whether to make another remark to his wife, because after that he will have to please her seven times, until she will stop angrily rattling dishes in the kitchen; perhaps it will be easier to get off with a couple of preventive pleasantries. If you have to deal with a very irritable person, then by telling him all, no matter how insignificant, the things that you really like about him, most likely, sooner or later you will be able to make him an excellent interlocutor. Remember that the whole problem with irritable people lies in a grossly disturbed emotional balance, against the background of which any compliment, if it is sincere enough, will be highly valued by them, even if this is not immediately noticeable under the guise of external dissatisfaction. Thus acquiring a reputation as a pleasant interlocutor, you will undoubtedly attract.