Great Undertakings

A few weeks ago I walked into the cafeteria at school after work, handed the woman at the counter my card to swipe and was sort of preoccupied with my thoughts. "Are you a teacher?" snapped me out of my trance and back to the impending question. "No" I responded, shaken a bit from what I thought to be odd question. The lady behind the counter proceeded to tell me that she sees me around here a lot and thought that by the way I carried myself that I was a teacher.

There is something to body language. My mom always told me to walk with my shoulders back, chin up, and with determination. I have been doing this for so long now it is a habit. I didn’t realize how much poise had an effect on others perceptions of me until this incident. In one of my classes we are talking about a speaker’s credibility and how body posture affects if the audience views them as credible or not.

Slouching with shoulders down indicates being timid and afraid. This gives them little credibility. Leaning against something while speaking shows that the person is nervous and unsure of themselves. Most of the time when a person is leaning they are no longer directly facing the audience creating an automatic barrier.

Although those are just a few things speakers do I would like to be bold in saying that some of these concepts can be applied elsewhere. For example, when I see someone walking on campus with their head down and a slouched posture I think they are shy and don’t like to be confronted with new people. On the other, more extreme side when I see someone walking with their shoulders so far back they are almost waddling, nose up in the air, and greets everyone with a “hello” I think they must be stuck up and think they are above everyone else.

This is not an exhaustive list of ways that body language can affect your life daily. I believe that body language is such an important part of interpersonal relationships and is something that everyone should pay attention to.

Dear God, allow me to present myself in a way that will cater best to your mission for me. Help me to see others and respond fully to their needs. Amen