What we think is how we are. Through our body language we show our skills, our values, our beliefs, what kind of person we are, our cultural preferences, and even our purpose in life. By a handshake we reveal everything that anyone can ever know about us if they are sensitive to us in this way. We show what we are feeling every moment of every day. If we are expecting disagreement in a meeting we are about to attend, we show that in our body language.
When Rajesh expected disagreement in a meeting he ran a negative inner dialogue, imagining the worst that each person might say to each other. Consequently, his eyes went down and his left. At the same time, the muscles in his face became taut and he lowered his head. You wouldn’t have to have too many meetings with Rajesh in this state to begin to know what was going to happen next !
As we remember happy memories, we show that in our body language too.
When Meera thought about the success she had achieved in her involvement with the board of directors, she looked up and to her left initially (remembering what one of the most successful meetings looked like). She then started to smile slightly and looked down and to her right (as she associated into her feelings when the board had achieved a major agreement about the way forward in the business and had done so in a very creative way). She looked sideways and to her right as she imagined some of the conversations she expected to have in the next meeting. All the time she was rhythmically swinging her foot from side to side.
Our body language reveals the truth of our inner thoughts and feelings. There is little we can do about the subtlest of signals that we communicate to the world at large..........................
