Do I have to be able to perform, use gestures?

Don't worry! Gestures are not the problem. Take the time to learn about body language so that you can interpret other people's thoughts or attitudes, but not so that you can start making conscious, purposeful gestures.

The wrong gesture or a gesture at the wrong moment seems unnatural and often ridiculous. And whether you want to or not, you'll be exposed by your body language.

Not even trained actors make conscious gestures. They have learned to take on the role, to try to become the person they are portraying. In this way, the gesture seems natural and is made at just the right moment.

For us, things are simpler. We just have to be ourselves. One of the most stupid pieces of advice is to pretend to be someone else in order to appear natural.

Making a conscious gesture at the right moment is much more difficult
than most people imagine! The gesture comes, strangely enough, just BEFORE you speak,
earlier than most people think
.

Actually it's not so strange. When we talk, or when we start to write, the sentence is already finished before we start! Otherwise we couldn't talk or write.

You don't put your pen on the paper and then start thinking about what to write.
And, you don't say one, two or three words and then think about what you're going to say next!

Your thought was already finished before you began talking or writing. And your thought is evident in your body language, which is faster than your words.

NOTE! My advice to avoid conscious body language doesn't mean that you should avoid learning what other people's body language means and how the meaning can vary between different cultures. It can also be worthwhile knowing that some of our more common gestures can be considered impolite or be misinterpreted.

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Copyright © Bengt Hemlin 2002