154 I Can Read You Like a Book E
a civil conversation, so why would I walk her into the ground unless
we were in a hurry to get somewhere? Change the picture a bit.
What if we were both walking the same pace, but Maryann was
complaining about something I’d done? The message of my body
language then changes to “I’m getting away from you.”
Lilt
A man headed for the gas chamber is not likely to do so with
spring in his step. The opposite is true when someone is walking on
stage for well-deserved recognition. Even an introvert will tele-
graph his thoughts when being recognized for brilliance by a bounce
in his step. I often sit in the airport sorting who is on business travel
and who is traveling for fun simply by watching the bounce in a
person’s step. I will often ask the person when I eventually sit
down next to him, and have rarely been wrong. The exception is
the new road warrior who still thinks it is sexy to jump on an airplane
for business.
Focus
Have you ever been behind (or maybe you are part of) an old
couple in an automobile just watching the cows eat grass? Then
you know where I’m going with the focus piece.
Let’s go back to the airport, where you can tell the people who
do not travel often. The adventure is the trip, not the destination.
They clog the moving sidewalks, miss moving up in line when it’s
their turn, and just generally do not seem to notice what is going on
around them. The reason is focus. The seasoned traveler sees the
