The professional horseman easily recognizes the silent language of horses: Ears back, ears forward, one ear forward – other ear back, droopy lower lip, three legged stance, tail wringing, whites of eye showing, flared nostrils, pawing, stomping, high head, licking and chewing and so on. It’s all body language that horsemen rely upon to help understand what the horse is thinking, his attitude and if he could be dangerous.
Relying upon these non verbal cues from horses is obviously a necessity for communication unless you happen to be working with Mr. Ed or a similar talking horse.
With our human contacts, verbiage is plentiful and words are faster and more powerful in completing effective communication. But, hold your horses for one minute, are they?
Not always.
The words people use may or may not be true at telling the entire story.
Just as horse body language always tells the truth, so does human body language. Sometimes you’ll notice that you get conflicting messages from the words used by a person and the body language that accompanies the conversation.
If you are not a student in the study of human body language, start studying. There are plenty of books available and internet articles to self educate.
You will learn about body language cues:
- Crossed arms could indicate a defensive position or idea resistance
- Eyes looking down and to the left can indicate lying is taking place
- Ear tugging may mean indecisiveness
- Finger or toe tapping may mean boredom
- Smiling with the mouth but not the eyes may mean insincerity
- Hands on hips may mean aggressiveness or readiness
Open palm may indicate willingness
You’ll be much better at communications when you start consciously looking for cues from body language as you instruct students, direct employees and negotiate sales.
While reading body language is an inexact science and partly an art, it’s a skill that anyone can learn and benefit from in all communication exchanges.
As we strain to hear and understand what a person is saying, body language is a way to “see” what someone is saying and compare the words chosen with the emotional message of body language. If the two messages oppose each other, then your job is to dig deeper to find the truth.