Do you find it difficult to distinguish between sadness and rejection?

You can try to read their body language, but unless you're psychic you never truly know what the other person is feeling unless they tell you. It's difficult to tell the difference between sadness and rejection because they go hand in hand. Sometimes people just want to be left alone when they're sad and in turn reject others. Usually though if it's just sadness, they'll be nicer about it unless you're being pushy. If it's rejection, they may be a little more aggressive with getting their point across with not wanting you around.

I think sad carries an aura with it and is often expressed as "tired" when you are dealing with that. You can tell by the way the room seems darker, like your life has suddenly morphed into a scene from "felicity. "

I think with rejection there's more of a hostile feeling that you pick up on. Kind of a "How dare you hassle me with this awkward moment? " element.

I don't think you can figure out those feelings until you've known a person for a while. As Quackpotty (what an unforgettable name! ) said, intuition is available for men and women. But you have to strengthen your intuitive muscles and then combine that with a reasonable amount of knowledge about the other person.

You can't know 100%, but you can get a good feel for it. A sports analogy would be to playing hoops with someone for a long time. Back in college I played with my friend Nick and got so used to what he did and when that we made lots of great plays that rarely happened when I played with others, whether they were better or not. At some point a good relationship parallels that.

But, of course, it's no guarantee of success, particularly since saying nothing (i. E. Intuitive understanding) may well land you in hot water with her! Unlike the no-look pass that gathers praise from all, figuring that she's sad and doesn't want to talk doesn't mean that she doesn't want to first tell you that she doesn't want to talk.

Not really. I deal with clinical depression, so I can see the signs of sadness fairly easily. I have also had a fair deal of rejection in my life, so that's no biggie either. I can see though what you meant with this question - sometimes it can be hard for people to understand me as to whether I'm just sad and wanting to be alone, or if I'm not wanting them near me because I don't like them.
To find out what someone else is feeling, it's either asking them, getting a huge deal of intuition (not only women have it, despite popular opinion), overhearing them telling someone else or expressing their feelings, or, finally, noticing the change in their attitude and general demeanor. Those are the only ways that I can think of at the mo.