Body Language

Body language can truly speak louder than words. Different body parts – eyes, hands, arms,

legs – can be used in different gestures, with each one having several meanings. Body

language is indeed a very powerful method to communicate with other people. 

Talk By Using Body Language

Even without the use of words, you can effectively send your message to another person, and

that person to you. The capability to understand body language can help you identify one’s

moods, emotions, feelings, and desires.

The use of direct eye contact indicates interest, positive thinking, and sincerity. However,

it could mean otherwise: mistrust, doubt, and suspicion. Lateral eye movements may mean the

person is lying, or inspecting his surroundings making sure no one or everyone is listening.

If one would try to recall or imagine something, he would tend to look upward. Looking down

may indicate as a submission to an authority, guilt, or domination.

Your hand and arm gestures can also display different meanings. If you talk while facing

your palm upwards, you show sincerity.  You may detect anger or fury from a person with a

clenched fist. And if you encounter somebody who taps or drums his fingers on a surface, he

is showing feelings of nervousness or anxiety. Arms crossed across the chest is a display of

defense and protection from an outer source, or simply indicate a disagreement.

Signs Of Attraction, Romance, And Flirting

You can show someone that you like him or her, and likewise, you can determine if somebody

is attracted to you. The most basic and first sign of attraction is the smile; the wider the

smile, the more he or she is into you. But you can also prove one’s attraction by the eyes.

If you are in opposite corners of a room, you could send a sign of romantic invitation by

giving a lingering, soft look.

Giving a quick look and suddenly looking away, and then back to eye contact is a form of

flirting and sign of interest. Looking from the eyes down to the lips and back to the eyes

again also indicates romance. Other gestures can also be signs of attraction, such as if the

person is facing you directly or leaning towards you.

You can also read from another person’s actions if he or she is neither attracted nor

interested. A hard look or glare could state “back off” louder than mouthing the words.

Never taking a peek, looking away, keeping the mouth shut the entire time, turning the body

away, shuffling of feet, fiddling with things, staring at people other than you, a neutral

or passive expression, unfocused attention, crossing the arms, and moving away are just some

of the clues that he or she is not interested to have a romantic encounter with you.

Detect Lies

You do not need to investigate to determine if somebody is being dishonest to you. All you

need is knowledge in understanding body language to spot lies.  The simplest way to detect

lies is to simply look for signs of discomfort, anxiety, and nervousness. Inability to look

directly to the eyes, fidgeting with the fingers, shuffling of the feet, sudden crossing of

the arms or legs, glancing around the room, and forced smiles are the most common clues of

lying.

Be Careful And Observant

To give a proper impression to a lover, boss, co-worker, friend, or even a stranger, you

must know how and when to use your own body language. Be careful in making gestures; other

people may misinterpret them. And likewise, observe other people’s actions as well to know

how to correctly react to them.

Studying and learning how to read and understand body language could give you three

advantages: (1) ability to control the situation, (2) know what others are thinking and

intend to say, and lastly, (3) know how to express without the use of words.

Through body language, you can impress other people, detect lying, and even know if somebody

is flirting with you. This article discusses what gestures are usually used in certain

situation and body gestures and movements that you must avoid.

How To Be Impressive

You can impress you boss, an interviewer, co-worker, and other people by simply showing that

you are confident through your actions, such as handshakes, posture, proper use of eye

contact, and hand movements. 

When shaking hands, make sure it is firm and your palm will come in contact with the palm of

the other person. Make an eye contact for about two to three seconds and smile slightly.

Maintain a good posture. When standing up, refrain from putting your hands in your pocket or

crossing your arms. Meanwhile, when you are sitting down, down sit near the edge with your

back tensely straight. This indicates that you are very nervous. Do not slouch as well.

Simply relax into the chair without tightening your back muscles.

When conversing, maintain eye contact to make an impression that you are indeed interested

and attentive to what the person is saying. If you are hesitant to prolong eye contact, the

trick is to simply look on the bridge of the nose of the person. You may use hand movements

when talking. The person you are talking to will think that you really know what you are

talking about.

How You Can Detect Lying

A person lying is easy to determine through his eyes. When he cannot look straight into your

eyes or is frequently removing his eyes from you, it means that he is being dishonest and

may be hiding something. He would also tend to touch himself unconsciously. He would scratch

his forehead, cover the mouth, or rub the nose. These are signs of discomfort due to the

situation of lying.

Other signs indicative of lying are sweating, fidgeting, trembling, speech errors, body

stiffness, and the like. However, people nowadays are already oriented that they will be

caught lying when they cannot prolong eye contact; thus they try to maintain calm and

prolong eye contact to cover up their lies.

Is She Or He Flirting?

The eyes can always send a signal of attraction.  Intense, prolonged eye contact is one

flirting signal, as well as the three-step eye contact. When  one caught the eye of the

other, he looks away, and then back again, it is a sure sign of attraction. Another common

flirting signal that both men and women observe is smiling and preening.

Men flirt by showing their masculinity by standing tall and squaring their shoulders.

Meanwhile, women loves to tease by tossing their hair, licking their lips, and showing some

bare skin.

Acts Of Body Language You Must Avoid

These are negative signs that you should start avoiding when interacting with somebody:

looking at the watch or clock and fingernails, crossing the arms, putting the hands in the

pocket, holding objects in front of you, stroking the chin, squinting, forcing a smile,

placing hands on the waist, rubbing the nape, slouching, tapping the foot, and the like.

Body language can truly send signals of emotions and state of mind. One needs only to learn

how to understand how one acts in order to determine what is really going on in the mind of

that person. That is the art of learning the secrets behind body language.