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The Ultimate Body Language Book

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Ever thought about why our noses are down-turned rather then some other orientation, such as<br />

sideways or facing upward? <strong>The</strong> answer has nothing to do with preventing rain from falling in! Disgust<br />

is a very honest facial expression when it happens because it can happen in microseconds to indicate a<br />

particularly distasteful thought. <strong>The</strong> facial expression is rooted in rejection of spoiled foods which is<br />

why a large portion of it involves the nose which is used to detect off-putting scents. To evoke disgust,<br />

just imagine the smell or rotting flesh! In real life it instantly causes the nose to snarl and prevents us<br />

from stomaching potentially deadly foods.<br />

Chapter 11 - Emotional <strong>Body</strong> <strong>Language</strong><br />

Emotional Downtime<br />

We all check out and spend some time inside our own heads – even while out in public.<br />

It might not surprise you to know that everyone needs time alone every once in a while, or even once a<br />

day, but what might surprise you is that we actually need time to ourselves minute by minute. All day<br />

long we are bombarded with a multitude of people, from our coworkers, to our spouses, friends, to<br />

cashiers at stores and those who share our commute with us in the streets. Even with almost seemingly<br />

endless social interaction the research shows that every three seconds, on average, we ‘slip away’ to be<br />

with our own thoughts and to internalize what is happening around us. This ‘downtime’ allows our<br />

brains the time it needs to process, the information that is happening all around us.<br />

We know someone is in downtime by their body language which includes having the head titled away<br />

or to the side, shifting the shoulders at an angle, or looking to the right or left for a fraction of a second.<br />

<strong>The</strong> eye patterns in downtime are what psychologists call ‘conjugate lateral eye movements.’ All these<br />

cues are tells that the mind has moved into processing mode and is no longer accepting new<br />

information. Other cues indicating emotional downtime include pauses in breathing, subtle chewing of<br />

the lips, or very brief eye freezes or glazing over.

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