114 I Can Read You Like a Book R
Don’t project too much in analyzing body adornments, though.
You can read something into accessories, clothes, or body language
that is yours, not his. For example, I usually clip my cell phone to my
jeans pocket. It looks very cowboyish, reminiscent of the gun in a
holster, I’m told. The reason I hook it there is because my belt—my
favorite belt that I wear almost every day—costs a lot more than my
jeans and I don’t want to scratch it. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Move toward the holistic
“Review” is its own, complete exercise. Look at people around
you and catalogue similarities and differences. Gather your own
pictures of people, and then review them as you become more and
more conscious of your filters and how they affect your judgments
of body language. You need to move to a point at which you can
look clinically at people.
What you don’t want to do is create Frankenstein’s monster in
using body language—piecing together hands, eyes, feet, and words
to create an incongruous picture.
