How can smiles mean so many things + similar expressions

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I remember seeing a member on here saying that we should just put more time into learning what people mean by studying and stop complaining about not being understood ages ago (this is how I remember the comment and it is paraphrasing so may not be completely fair). I remember being frustrated, as someone who has studied body language and is now working on trying to fix my expression understanding, because a) many expressions look similar as in have the same basic aspects and b) these similar looking expressions could mean very different things.

The smile is one that confuses me the most as it can show someone is happy, uncomfortable, making fun of you or can even express people being cruel. How on earth am I supposed to tell the difference?

Lately, as I've mentioned on a previous thread, I've noticed that there are different types of similar expression but can't assign them to anything and the smile is the particular one that is causing me the most grief at the moment as I often get smiles I don't understand. It's not as simple as thinking a person must then be making fun of me or at least that it shows they dislike me because I get a bunch of other things that suggest the opposite such as concern etc. Or sometimes people are smiling at me and I haven't even done anything worth smiling at, yet somehow I am supposed to 'just' learn this all? A classmate told me I should just start asking people and I think I'm very lucky to currently be in an environment where it is safe to do that, at least with my fellow humanities students who are all very strange (humanities is known through the college to be filled with all the strange students).

In general there are many expressions that could be easily confused and I try to learn them but I genuinely cannot see the difference. Once my friend tried to show why people think I'm serious when I'm sarcastic by presenting me with different examples facially and everyone else was like "Yeah I get it" and I was like "They look the same to me???". Confusion, anger and disgust are hard as well and can lead to me really messing up my interpretation of things which is fun.

Do you have any particular expressions that you find hard to tell apart?

I often think a woman is smiling at me because she thinks i'm good looking to later be told they may have been laughing at you. It is confusing.

Psychologist Paul Ekman, an authority on facial expressions, says that of the 23 facial expressions relating to human emotion, about one-third involve the eyes.

In terms of smiles, he identified several types of smiles. These are:
broad smile, smile of enjoyment, a real smile from a fake smile, angry smile, or miserable smile

The eyes, eyelids, eyebrows and orbicularis oculi muscle play a major role in projecting emotions and the degree of emotions. These are the components that distinguish these various types of smiles.

In my case since I cannot read the differences, I decided to wear special glasses in order to make these subtle emotional giveaways invisible to others.

I wear a blue solid mirrored coating polarized prescription glasses. Because these glasses are not tinted but rather coated, they are not true sunglasses. As a result I can wear them inside. I chose the color blue because blue is peaceful, tranquil and symbolizes loyalty. Blue is reliable and responsible. It exhibits inner security and confidence. That is the image I wish to project.

It seems like NTs are always misinterpreting Aspies intentions. They look into my eyes and imagine my thoughts. By wearing mirrored glasses I deprive them of this tool of assessing my intentions and vulnerabilities.

I have been wearing these for about a year now and I am pleased with the results.

All the tiny nuances of expressions are just too fleeting to see quickly enough, I think, or too many to see all at once. I usually realize someone smiled (or any expression) a second or two after it happens, but can't catch enough details to know what kind of a smile it was.

When someone smiles at me, I just assume, they´re being friendly and I smile back. Simple. I am NOT good at detecting hidden meanings of anything.