More Than Just BODY LANGUAGE

 

Very often, we are counselled and advised to be cognizant of BODY LANGUAGE, both our and everyone's else.  BUT, WHILE it's true that facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and even the use of space are the best indicators of BODY LANGUAGE, HOW often are we advised while BODY LANGUAGE often complements verbal communication, HOW strong has been the messaging that unspoken words OR that eerie silence are equally very effective tools to complement those tell-tale signs that help us understand things well☝☝☝

To be brutally frank, WHILE BODY LANGUAGE keeps me alert [and awake, frankly] for those tell-tale signs, I am ten times much sharper and more conscious with eerie silence because to fathom and comprehend that eerie silence could be like playing with Russian Roulette.  Unless one knows a person deep enough inside out, to decipher and understand the eerie silence coming from a person one is NOT very much familiar with would be like reading and understanding any Tom, Dick and Harry.  In that branch of mathematics under probability, reading and understanding empirical data spans from zero [which is IMPOSSIBLE] to one [which is CERTAIN].  This is akin to saying that there is very little room for mistake because it's kind of like hit OR miss💚💛💜

BUT that explains the legitimately pressing reason that we should go way and beyond just BODY LANGUAGE.  Learning the rudiments to understand silence is equally pressing.  To be frank, NOT all people are openly vociferous.  So, that's likely your takeoff point to understand silence.  Is that person really silent by his very nature?  OR did his decibels just nosedived for a reason?  Indeed it's ten times complicated if you're facing a stranger WHERE you hardly have any references to piece together an equation like 1+1=2.  Admittedly, many times in the past, I did engage and interact with a stranger and suddenly, I was faced to decipher and understand that eerie silence.  HOW do we handle that?  Understand the very context therein.  It is imperative to confirm that the two protagonists are on the same page with the context!!!

WHAT happens WHEN we miss out on that 'undelivered' messaging of an eerie silence?  Could be a 'huge divide' between parties no less.  Obviously, HOW can protagonists be on the same page if you DON'T end up correctly 'reading' each other?  I remember getting squeezed in a 'boardroom impasse' because my internal stakeholders were in loggerheads with my external stakeholders.  HOW did things lead to that point?  Hmmm, every time there was a standoff, the meeting got adjourned, ouch😡😡😡

Our takeaway:  There is this other somewhat odd school of thought which espouses that silence is a manifestation of a cool handling of a situation.  I'd say YES and NO, that's like playing Russian Roulette, that's a hit OR miss no less.  So WHAT'S the FIX for that eerie silence?  Keep talking sans the emotions because it is very likely, the other protagonist will eventually react OR speak up.  YES dude, this is MORE THAN JUST BODY LANGUAGE💥💥💥