Know your Balls !!!

Yeah….i know it is cricket season…and most of you would be glued to the idiot box trying to know the in’s and out’s of each ball in IPL season. Though I am not an avid cricket buff but the sheer engagement of the masses to this game gives me a bloody rush. While looking at one of the high performance bouts I did some introspection on something which influences our life’s more than that ….our body language. Like in cricket once the ball is released, the trajectory of the ball is influenced by all of the nuances of bowler’s stance, approach, aggression, intention, contact and follow through because they are all connected in one swift motion. Similarly, each interaction we engage in conveys a different body language which is a function (read balls) of facial expressions, verbal tone and the words we choose.
We’ve all heard the saying “Never bet against the person with passion.” Similarly, even the most skillfully worded communication falls flat without the key ingredient of positive body language. All of us on an average have atleast ten interactions in a day in our lives; each interaction creates a new file folder in our brains where a new file lands in one of the folders …a good interaction or a bad interaction folder. Many times we begin to enter into the interactions based on the beliefs formed from our previous experience however the in true sense the resultant consequence of an interaction is based on our own body language in an interaction.
As a spouse we ignore or become incensed by transgressions depending on whether we believe the bodylanguage. Think of a time when a friend behaved in a way that appeared insensitive or inconsiderate. Did you give her the benefit of the doubt? Why or why not? Our body language shapes our world just as the presence or absence of follow through influences the flight of a ball that has been released by the bowler.
If you engage with positive body language as the starting point, you can concentrate on getting the desired outcomes. Listen actively to the other person’s viewpoint. In most conversations we focus on getting to the answer instead of really understanding the other points of view or truly clarifying our own. When you understand where someone is coming from, you can perhaps find common ground to begin a neutral conversation that can progress in a healthy way rather than indulging in the “ain’t it awfuls” or finger pointing interactions.