“Actions don’t always speak louder than words”

Your nonverbal signals won't always convey what you intended them to.  Maybe I feel more comfortable with my crossed arms, this is maybe due to my “baseline behavior”, someone judged may be “ I am not open” or ”I am not interested”, which may be not fully true.

Actions don't always speak louder than words. Due to our baseline behaviors our  cultural differences, educational differences or may be due to some medical problem, our body language does not support our words.  Due to our wrong understanding or due to wrong body language whole verbal communication sabotaged. 

Some people feel uncomfortable making eye to eye contact, it does not mean always, that they are hiding something, or they are telling always lie or they are in a hurry. A single gesture can have many meanings, or mean nothing at all.  During a conversation, for example, you might look at your watch for any number of reasons.

Cultural biases are also responsible for judging language of others, maybe someone came from that background, in which he makes habit to putting hands in pocket always, or stand with open legs or anything else, but we judge him on our biases. What's deemed proper and correct in one culture may be ineffective or offensive in another.

It is his non-verbal communication, which may be wrong for me, but normal for him.  It is his beliefs and values, which determine his body language, which does not suit to me.

Due to the number of reasons our body language can be misunderstood, and in a first meeting with someone the chances of these mistakes increase 100 times.

We always try to match non-verbal communication with our verbal communication as per set beliefs of people, but it’s always not all possible.

So, “First impression is the last impression” please don’t go always by this rule, give a second thought and a second chance to someone, sometime what we saw with our eyes is also not a full truth.

Contributor: Manish Bali