In identifying various human beings, body language plays a major role in the current scenario. Body language is the language spoken from children to adults. It affects our life dramatically.
It shapes our relationships, friendships and negotiations through the impact it makes on others and others make on us. Body language is a universal language (except for cultural variations) used by people all over the world. Of course, it is not similar to other verbal languages as body language goes beyond verbal communication. Facial expressions are a vital part of non-verbal communication. They serve as important and necessary cues to those we communicate with. We often favour the company of people who are enthusiastic and live in their expressions and movements. Analyzing facial expressions is somewhat a tricky task because people deliberately control their facial movements so as not to reveal their true inner feelings. In several ways, using the eyes is the first step in establishing a relationship with a person we are communicating with at a given time. Eye contact reflects our confidence and many other personality traits. Moreover, it expresses the number of emotional elements that are part of our personality. Always we must stand erect, walk with the shoulders back and stomach in. So that people recognize your self-confidence, awareness and enthusiasm. There are many movements we make with various parts of our body. Especially our hands add emphasis to our messages. To be effective, all gestures must be appropriate for our purpose and natural to our personal style. We have an invisible space around us that we treasure as our own possession. Our interactions have to do with people entering this space or being kept away from it and vice versa. Mirroring informs the person being mirrored that we agree with him or like him. When we notice that others are mirroring us, we can safely conclude that they agree with us and have accepted us.
As children grow up with us as their mentors, they learn about the subconscious body language way before they learn the body language. They also learn about emotions we are expressing towards them through the tone of voice we use when speaking to them. Body language reflects differences in gender as well. Certain body language may be exhibited for reasons other than sexual attraction. For example, a certain posture or attitude may be struck out of habit for the sake of comfort or because of nervousness. In recent years, western and contemporary values and ideas have become more popular and have either influenced, altered and even replaced some of the more traditional gestures. Understanding human behaviour is a complex thing. No two people behave in precisely the same way. Nor do people from the same culture all perform exactly the same gestures and body language uniformly. In the world of gestures, the best single piece of advice is to remember the two A’s – “Ask” and be “Aware”. If you see motion or gesture that is new or confusing, ask a local person what it signifies. Then, be aware of the main body signs and customs around you.
Gestures must not be interpreted in isolation but in clusters. We must remember that gesture clusters are kaleidoscopic and change from moment to moment and movement to movement. Sometimes gestures do not mean what they signify, since the person may be making out of habit or because of acquired mannerisms, interpretations which are then taken on another colouring. One must be aware of the incongruent nature and inconsistencies in verbal and non-verbal expressions. Sometimes there may be attempts to fake gestures. Accurate interpretations come through patient observation, perceptiveness and experience. One must not jump into conclusions immediately on registering a gesture. Interpretation envisages taking into account the context, gesture clusters, the cultural background, peculiarities and physical state of that particular person according to my point of view.
When working in an organization, the performance of each employee is different. Some are working like snails. Some are working like cheetahs. Some are born leaders and some are born followers. Yet, there can be super players who are good at working parallel tasks simultaneously. Hope you had noticed that in any organization, there are negative grumblers too. They are the people who cannot be satisfied by any means. Even, there are positively driven personnel who are working like a dynamo without getting tired. Some are boasting characters whereas some are simple and down to earth characters. Think to which category you fit in.
Deborah Bull who is an English dancer, writer and broadcaster and former creative director of the Royal Opera House has once mentioned that,
“Body language is a very powerful tool. We had body language before we had speech and apparently, 80% of what you understand in a conversation is read through the body, not the words.”
Life is full of surprises. When living in this world, I guess we need to keep your eyes open and use your brains 100% when dealing with different persons in society. Most of the time, there are hidden enemies as your true friends. They are the people who get mental satisfaction by seeing you physically and psychologically unstable though they pretend the opposite. They are the ones who exaggerate what you said/did and have back door conversations with your superiors by tarnishing a bad image about yourself. Therefore, we need to be smart enough to identify such people as well as to boost your personality using body language as a valuable tool to build up your overall character. That is how I see it, folks!
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