Body Language – Your Non-verbal Communication !

Gestures are natural movements of hands and body accompanying verbal expressions. Sometimes your facial expression, movement of arms, feet or even legs may play a role. The posture of a person forms a powerful part of communication. There are genetic and environmental factors on the body language of a person.

Gestures emphasize or reinforce what you say. Greetings by raising a hand, showing the V-sign as a victor does in an election ,raising of trophy by the winner in a cricket or tennis match, handshake, clenched fist ,clapping hands as a sign of appreciating a speech of a person are some examples. Nodding of head as token of recognition, shaking it to show disagreement , pointing the index finger to threaten a person are very common gestures.

We come across many instances in everyday life that explains non-verbal communication. Take for instance, when a father returns home after a tough day at work, his little son can tell from his facial expression whether his is a good mood or not. A baby, with no training of any kind, can instinctively communicate with his mother. Likewise a mother can tell from the expression of her child what kind of day he has had in school when he returns home.

Where elders are concerned the influence of social activities plays an important role in determining the facial expressions and movements. In social gatherings a woman can tell whether the other woman is happy or not, in a crowd of people an experienced police officer can tell a thief from innocent people, a customs officer can pick out a smuggler at the airport. Human resources specialists who regularly carry out recruitment of employees naturally develop this kind of skill in judging the attributes of candidates by their expressions and movements.

A man may be able to make out a woman’s interest in him, though she may not have spoken a single word. The secret in these cases lie in observing the body language including facial expression. This ability for interpreting non verbal clues develop with experience. Even qualities like honesty, dedication to work ,fear anger, earnestness can be assessed from body language.

The way you stand or even your dress code can send a message. When someone makes a sarcastic remark about you his words may not actually mean what he says. You are immediately able to figure it out. How? It is through non verbal signals. When said in a contrived tone the words can just mean the opposite.

Facial expression is indeed the most powerful element in face-to-face communication. Strong messages can be conveyed without uttering a single word. A smile or a frown may be easier to interpret, but confusion, anger, fear, contempt, desire, happiness, sadness or excitement may vary from person to person. Involuntary facial expression easily identifies the emotions of a person. During an interview how you sit on the chair can tell the interviewer whether you are confident, positive or insecure.

There are a lot of discussions on the use of words during language classes in schools but use of body language is either not taught or given little importance. The impact of non verbal language can modify the meaning of your words. Sometimes these are referred to as para-language which may include the loudness, tone, accent, inflection and rhythm of speech.

Technorati Tags: Self-Improvement

Vote Result

Score: 0.0, Votes: 0