{"id":33991,"date":"2014-07-23T13:51:05","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T13:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=33991"},"modified":"2014-07-23T13:57:20","modified_gmt":"2014-07-23T13:57:20","slug":"how-changing-your-body-language-can-bring-success-in-life-and-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/07\/how-changing-your-body-language-can-bring-success-in-life-and-love\/","title":{"rendered":"How changing your body language can bring success in life and love"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Is your body language stopping you cold? Are your habitual body positions holding you back in love, life and in your career? Does continually slouching in your chair at work contribute to you feeling overwhelmed or depressed? Does jumping up and down and doing fists pumps into the air make you feel more powerful?<\/p>\n

In the last few years, a number of studies on body language have revealed not only how powerful body language is as a communication tool, but how you, as an individual, can shift the trajectory of your life and how you feel simply by changing your body language.<\/p>\n

Dr. Amy Cuddy, a professor and researcher at Harvard, did a now well-known TED Talk called “Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are.” It\u2019s one of the top 15 most viewed TED Talks ever.<\/p>\n

In it, she reveals several powerful tips for using your body language consciously to land a job or to overcome the handicaps that life hands you. She uses her own personal history of being involved in an accident that damaged her brain and left doctor’s telling her she’d never be able to reach her professional goals as an example of the power of body language. By understanding how to use her body to empower herself, she’s been able to accomplish things that were thought impossible.<\/p>\n

Body language is universal, cultural and individual, and it’s impact on our lives is constant. Every single day, people are relating to you based on your body language and you’re not even aware of your silent, powerful and unconscious use everywhere you go.<\/p>\n

Research shows that even individuals that are born blind use universal body language gestures. The expression of emotion through our body is a powerful form of release of both positive emotion, like that expressed when a race is won, to the feelings of loss and failure, by someone who loses in the same race.<\/p>\n

Amy Cuddy’s work introduced us to the concept of Power Poses and Power Posing. Think about Superman or Wonder Woman: They stand tall, shoulders back, feet spread and pointing forward, head upright and hands placed firmly on the hips. You feel the power just thinking about the picture right?<\/p>\n

What research now shows is that body positions can trigger certain hormones, which then trigger certain feeling or emotional states. Simply put, a power pose makes you feel powerful. Let’s dig deeper and look at five reasons you need to change your body language.<\/p>\n

#1: You’ll Get Better Results at Work (And Dating!)\u00a0<\/strong>
\nAdopt and use power poses everywhere you go. Your body can be your ally to help power you through tough situations. The real power of body language is demonstrated with Dr. Cuddy’s research results, that show when individuals applying for a job power-posed for two minutes prior to being interviewed, the interviewer chose all of the power posers to move forward in the interview process. On the other hand, none of those instructed to sit using body language exemplifying powerlessness were chosen.<\/p>\n

Powerful body language yields powerful results.<\/p>\n

#2:\u00a0Body Language, Not Facial Expressions, Will Tell You More About Intense Emotions<\/strong>
\nA popular TV Series called “Lie To Me” told the story of the world’s foremost expert on reading facial micro-expressions. It’s a fascinating show, but for the average Joe and Jane, we’re not going to be able to read micro-expressions very often, as they last less than a millesecond (on average) and require training to really understand accurately.<\/p>\n

That leaves us with a much bigger canvas to look at \u2014\u00a0someone’s body. Alexander Todorov, a professor of psychology at Princeton, has determined that body language more accurately conveys intense emotions. This flies in the face of what most of us believe, which is that the face tells us all we need to know about how a person feels. Through a series of experiments, Todorov showed that intense facial expressions cannot be accurately correlated to body language. So, emotions like winning and losing can look the same in the face but the body will display very different signals for losing or winning.<\/p>\n

When someone has a really intense look on their face, don’t focus there. Pay attention to what that person\u2019s body is doing to really know if he or she is mad, sad, happy or something else.<\/p>\n

#3: Body Language Can Reveal Your Insecurities<\/strong>
\nIf you don’t like yourself, your body language will tell me \u2014 sometimes within the minute I meet you, but usually within a short time. If you are lacking in confidence, your body language will give you away, and smart people are looking at these clues.<\/p>\n

Clues that you’re feeling overwhelmed, less than confident or unsure about yourself include :<\/p>\n