Alice works at a local department store
she spends most of her day interacting
with customers and co-workers there's a
lot of talking involved but there's also
another form of nonverbal communication
that's being used just as often body
language body language is the process of
communicating through nonverbal signals
it includes things like our posture
facial expressions gestures and more the
meanings of these all vary from culture
to culture but we instinctively read
body language and interpret it as some
expression of moods feelings or
intentions so in Alice's case even
before she speaks she may be
communicating all kinds of things to
customers for example if her arms are
crossed and she's avoiding eye contact
customers may not find her to be very
approachable
however Alice could be in a friendly
mood even though her body language
suggests otherwise
and this isn't necessarily a conscious
choice that she's made this could just
be how she habitually presents herself
but if Alice is aware of these habits
she can work on improving her body
language changing your habits can be
difficult but if you take time to pause
and check in with yourself you can start
to notice them and adjust things to
become a better nonverbal communicator
this awareness can also be applied to
reading others body language let's say
Alice notices that her coworker is
unusually quiet as his body turned away
from her and is slouched over she may
pick up that he's upset or that there's
an unspoken issue at hand depending on
Alice's relationship with him she may
want to give him some space or ask if
anything's wrong being aware of the
various aspects of body language can
make all the difference in how people
perceive you and how you perceive them
be aware of how you present yourself and
you can say a lot without speaking
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