Importance of Body Language in Day to Day Life

” Your body language shapes who you are”

” Our bodies can change our mind then our behaviour and ultimately the results”.–Amy Cuddy.

Body language is the biggest superpower one can ever have. It has the power of making you as well as breaking you. The origin of the word body language (also known as kinesics) in German means movement. Body language plays a major role in almost all aspects of business, especially in leadership and management roles. It goes both ways round.

1) Your movement and gestures convincing your thoughts.

2) Another person’s actions and movements showing meaning to your thoughts.

The 7 % – 38 % – 55 % golden ruleThe 7 % – 38 % – 55 % rule is based on Mehrabian’s finding. It states that any speech consists of three properties –

You must be wondering why should one focus so much on body language in day to day life?

Well, below are a few examples of what correct body language can do for you

Let us see how to use body language in our favour and then also learn different ways of reading body language:

1. Facial Expressions – Eyes

Having a good eye contact can be positive showing interest, affection or attraction for the other person. It is also necessary for maintaining the flow in the conversation. If eye contact is not maintained properly it can mean the opposite. If you look into the eyes for a long time it can make people feel uncomfortable or even convey that you are lying.

2. Facial Expressions – Eyebrows

Raising eyebrows means the person is astonished. It can also sometimes mean disapproval. It depends on the situation. If someone has raised their eyebrows can also mean the person is expecting an answer.

3. Vocal

Tone, volume and pace of speech also can be a great indication. The emphasis on the words can change the message conveyed.

You can try this exercise and see the difference it can make.

Emphasize on the bold letters –

• I didn’t say you borrowed my pen.
• I didn’t say you borrowed my pen.
• I didn’t say you borrowed my pen.
• I didn’t say you borrowed my pen.
• I didn’t say you borrowed my pen.
• I didn’t say you borrowed my pen.
• I didn’t say you borrowed my pen.

The same sentence can convey different meanings in spite of having the same words.

4. Mirroring

If someone mirrors your body language it means the other person is convinced by what you are telling. The neurons cause mirroring. If someone smiles, you eventually smile back saying you feel the same. This mirroring can also be with gestures, tone of voice and even body angles. It’s a subconscious response by a person.

5. Body Posture

1. The seating position also says a lot about your personality type. You are sitting erect (showing self-confidence),  crossing your legs (insecure), crossing ankles (secure), sitting in the centre of the couch (confident), crossing arms (angry), sitting cross-legged (comfortable), keeping hands on your lap (closed-minded), kneel (aggressive), crossing wrist (insecure), leaning back on your palm (judgement).

6. Gestures: (Posture, position and movement).

Communication starts way before you utter the first word. The first thing that one can notice is the posture. Always stand facing the other person. Showing your back shows disrespect. The position of where you are standing in a room also depicts a lot. If you are beside the window or at the corners rather than the centre of the room shows you are not interested in the other person. Some bad positions are Hands in pockets, Hands on your hips (shows being over powerful).

So how exactly should one stand?

A normal posture is just like keeping your hands relaxed. The other person can store in the memory twice of what you are communicating if you use gestures. Hand and arm movement are the biggest movements the audience can see.

There are three types of hand movements: Give, show and chop

• The Give gesture shows options (Keeping your hands open),
• Show is just like showcasing
• Chop gesture (Just like we chop vegetables in the same manner if we keep our hands) shows a stronger opinion either by using it with one hand or both the hands. Your hand movements and communication should link. Eg: If you are saying the inflation is increasing and taking hand in downwards direction.

7. Palm movements

According to a survey if you keep your palm up 84% percent of the people comply. If you keep your palm down 52% percent of the people agree and if it is pointing only 28% of the people comply. Using finger shows arrogance.

8. Handshakes

Handshakes depict a lot about a person. If one person handshakes hard (dominating or powerful or competitive), light handshake (not interested), Rushed handshake (unconcerned), Lingering handshake (desperation), Intense glare handshake (aggression). The perfect handshake is the one with normal eye contact and touching the other person’s palm with their thumb around your palm.

Understanding body language can help you to be aware of the situation and also take control. What to do if the audience shows a dull response? Looking at the watch, just nodding, sleeping, playing on the phone. It’s important to engage with the audience by using good body language, eye movement or using humor or just by asking a random question.

Some tips to improvise: engage the conversation by nodding, smile, practice a good handshake, maintain good eye contact and don’t forget to dress amazingly.

Conclusion

If we don’t concentrate on what our body is doing all people do is pay attention to your body language. One can use body language to their advantage if known properly.

So, what should one do after reading this article? Go in front of the mirror observe your posture, recall your body movement while communicating. Appreciate the good movements, accept the flaws and improvise it and then get ready for an amazing impression of yours in front of the world.

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