Body Language: 101 by Hanif Raah Page A

an astounding 93 percent.
Why is Body Language Important?
    You would say something that amount to 93 percent is significant. This number itself – even if many say it approximate – is hugely impressive. This indicates how important it is to learn to read body language – because the actual message comes from there. It is indeed very important to know what the other person really wants to convey. This type of information would make your life quite easy.
    Most people are able to “pick up the signals” even if they do not actually know how to read body language. For example, you enter a room and you “know” whether they were talking something friendly or arguing about something. The body language of the people in the room will “tell” you the mood instantly, though if you were asked why you deduced that you wouldn’t be able to explain.
    Learning to accurately read body language is a skill like any other. We all love Sherlock Holmes and his amazing observation skills. Detectives, FBI agents, people working in intelligence and espionage, professional gamblers, magicians, and the like, are trained in the art of reading body language. They use this skill to fool you into believing that they are what-they-are-not.
    There are many signals that your body will send involuntarily. For example, you’ll grimace at the sight of vomit or feces; you may smile at the picture of a kitten playing or flowers blooming. Knowing what these signals are would help you control communication so you could “transmit” the message you want transmitted.
    Knowing to read body language would help you:
    - establish leadership and maintain it in spite of competition;
    - establish a friendly and conducive environment formally and informally wherever you go;
    - amplify and optimize your persuasion powers and thereby being able to get people to do what you want them to do;
    - win people’s trust;
    - ensure that you choose friends, colleagues, employees, etc. better.
    These are only a handful benefits you may gain from learning to read body language. The best is that you would be able to stay in control of most situations because you would know not only to read other people’s signals but also know what signals you should send when and where. Sounds like a foolproof recipe for success!
Reading Body Language Is All In Context
    You already know to ready body language, even if you may not know that you know. Some examples:
    -         you know when your boss walks in a foul mood even before he says one word;
    -         you know your spouse is worried about something even if he/ she acts like nothing happened;
    -         you know your child is hiding something without any real reason whatsoever;
    -         you know when your lover is cheating without a shred of proof;
    -         you know that someone is going to give you good news or bad news before they even opened their mouth;
    -         you know that someone is ripe for a fight even if that person never addressed you in any manner;
    -         you know that someone dislikes you without them saying it words; and so on.
    This “you know” is you reading body language involuntarily. Autistic people cannot read body language; they only understand and process words – hence, it is easy to “cheat” them because they process only what is communicated through words.
    Most people know to read what others convey through their body language. However, that will not help you too much. Only when you learn to identify the finer signals conveyed and interpret it voluntarily you would be able to benefit fully from this knowledge.  This is because when you reach that level, you no longer wonder or doubt what you see; you know for sure and that knowledge would put you in an advantageous position. It’s almost like you are able to read that person’s mind.
Personal Telltale Body Language Signals
    You would find it easy to “understand” people whom you see