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SILENT LANGUAGE OF GESTURES

”IF personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures,

then there was something gorgeous about him. . . .” --F.

Scott Fitzgerald, regarding Gatsby. Fitzgerald’s

character Gatsby was known as a gentleman not by words

but by things not spoken. He had mastered the art of

nonverbal communication.

Silent Expression is the single most powerful form of

getting a message out . More than voice or even words,

body language cues you in to what is on another person’s

mind. The best speakers are sensitive to the power of the

emotions and thoughts indicated nonverbally. Nonverbal

Script ranges from facial expression to body language.

Gestures, signs, and use of space are also important in

instinctive kinesthetic expression . Let us now explore the

role of non verbal communication in our lives, where we tend

to use gestures and the most widely used gestures all over

the world.

People all around us on a daily basis are speaking to each

other without the need of language and speech. Is this

possible. Definitely yes. The world is a giddy montage of

vivid gestures- traffic police, street vendors, expressway

drivers, teachers, children on playground, athletes with their

exuberant hugging, clenched fists and "high fives." People all

over the world use their hands, heads, and bodies to

communicate expressively. It just takes an observant eye

and turning a spotlight on oneself to see how much we use

out hands to say something without words from moment to

moment.

. For example you threw a flying kiss to your husband as he

steps out of the home for office he feels loved without your

saying it. Without gestures, our world would be static and

colorless. The social anthropologist Edward T. Hall claims 60

percent of all our communication is nonverbal. In that case,

how can we possibly communicate with one another without

gestures? Gestures and body language communicate as

effectively as words- maybe even more effectively. We use

gestures daily, almost instinctively, from beckoning to a

waiter, or punctuating a business presentation with visual

signals to airport ground attendants guiding an airline pilot

into the jet way or a parent using a whole dictionary of

gestures to teach (or preach to) a child

We all have our own vocabulary of gestures, just as we

have a personal vocabulary of words; it is what makes us

unique. Despite this individuality there are certain

gestures understood by all over the world despite cultural

differences. Bear in mind that the following gestures are in

general use, but there may always be exceptions. In

recent years, Western and contemporary values and ideas

have become more popular and has either influenced,

altered, and even replaced, some of the more traditional

gestures, Here are some examples of somewhat universal

gestures