Body Language (Part-ix)

   Body Language: Action Speaks Louder than Words
 

The Use of Body Language:
As man being social animal, we can't live in isolation. We need other people in stages of our life. The moment we come into contact with another person, we start communicating with him/her ( receiving and delivering the messages via verbal and non-verbal means) no matter the communication can be conscious or sub-conscious. In non-verbal especially silent communication tells us about the relationship between people. Often this is more important than getting the content of the message across. The exchange of ideas about this non spoken communication, which tells us something about the relationship between people, is known as meta communication. Actually it communicates about communication.

Only Words are not enough:
While connecting with a person, we also have to make it clear to one another how the content of a spoken message or term needs to be interpreted. For an instance, we do not tell or express one another very easily how we feel about the other person or how the words of a message need to be interpreted. To make the implication of our words apparent, we make use of body language. Body language is the language of body without spoken words and is therefore termed as non-verbal communication. Either we don't communicate with words all the time, but we make use of body language almost all of the time. Like the handicapped who can neither speak nor talk, the only option is body language or gesture. Therefore, in this special case, non-verbal communication is the primary option for them. By this example also we can estimate the importance and necessity of body language.


Complementary language:
Mostly body language takes place unconscious to us. Therefore, its very vital to learn to read what other's body language says and its meaning as well as what we are conveying to the world about us through our body. We can become skilled in using our gestures for a purpose; as well as to learn to understand and interpret body language of others. It is necessary to make a note that body language has different connotations in different cultures. So, how we can interpret body language depends on the situation, culture, the relationship we have with whom we are delivering the message and gender as well. This means that there is not one particular sign that has the same meaning for different communities over the world. If one doesn't bear this is mind, he can be in a big mess without knowing.

The expression of feelings:
Through our body language, it is easy to express feelings or emotions. For example, if we do not like someone, it is often difficult to say that directly to the person. However, we can make it clear either intentionally or unintentionally through our body language. The opposite is also true. We may say that we are angry through words yet our body language may be saying loud and clear that we are not. This can be very confusing for the receiver. This is usually described as giving out double messages--one message in words and an opposite message through the body.
Its also difficult to lie or cover up our feelings through body language. People may give their true feelings away by not being aware of their body language. Research has shown that most people pay more attention to and believe more readily, their impression of how a person acts through body language than what is said through words or verbal means. As a consequence we tend to doubt or put a question mark behind the spoken words if they do not correspond with what the language of the body has conveyed.