Continuing the top ten secrets of body language. .  .

Secrets of Body Language #5) The layout of your office affects communication

The exact way in which you layout your office has an impact on how clients, investors, staff and customers view you.  To achieve good collaboration, try not to sit people directly across from the desk (this leads to competitiveness). Instead, sit them t the side of the desk. This helps interpersonal communication, vastly improving your business communication skills.

Secrets of Body Language #6) When people are resisting you, hand them your business card

People who are trying to block you (or who are resisting you) will cross their legs and arms and place objects in front of themselves. A great way to make them more open and agreeable is to give them your business card. This forces them to undo their closed-off body language, which will make them more agreeable.

Secrets of Body Language #7) Stop being so over-the-top and excitable

There is a trade off between being likeable and being viewed as powerful and authoritative. People who show much expression and gesture a lot are often easier to get along with, but they also appear less powerful. If you need to appear authorities, limit your movements.

Secrets of Body Language #8) To defuse hostility, realign your body

Standing directly opposite someone can create feelings of hostility. To defuse the situation, simply turn your body a little so you are not standing face to face. Both you yourself and the person you are speaking to will feel less hostile and more comfortable and relaxed.

Secrets of Body Language #9) Leave on a positive note

At the end of a meeting, you want to make sure that the positive feelings you created when talking to someone last once you’ve left them. To do this, stand tall, make eye contact, smile, give a compliment, shake hands and walk away. This will give a last impression of confidence and friendliness.

Secrets of Body Language #10) Let other people know you’re changing your body language before you do it

Many people become confused when they start to change their body language. The reason is that, even though they are improving their body language, the people they know appear to be reacting to them differently and more negatively rather than positively. This is simply because the people who have known you for years will not understand why you all of a sudden appear so different. Do them a favour. Let them know you’re changing your body language before you do it.

Make use of these body language secrets and you will achieve good communication skills very quickly.

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The link between an individual’s body image and the media they consume can either be a positive thing or, much more likely, a terrible negative which leads to low self esteem and even quite severe depression.

Many people these days have more exposure to other people on TV than they do to people in real life. In other words, their average impression of another human being is taken not from reality but from the media.

The average person spends 34 hours a week watching TV. While watching they will see thousands of actors / models / celebrities / stars. This quite likely eclipses the number of people they see in real life. And this is without even taking into account magazines, games and other forms of media.

After a time, this life style leads us to think that the way people are depicted in the media is the way people are supposed to be. This is why the link between body image and the media is so influential.

We are naturally predisposed to compare ourselves to other people. If our average “other person” is the type of model / star / actor we see on TV, this is the person we will compare ourselves too.

It isn’t hard to understand, then, why so many people think, “Why am I not as thin / toned / good looking / fit as the people on TV and in magazinges?”

The Health Issues surrounding Body Image and the Media

The health issues regarding the link between body image and the media are alarming:

• Girls are dieting sometimes as young as 6 years old
• 80% of women aren’t happy with their body image
• 80% of men aren’t happy either but won’t freely say so
• More and more weight loss pills are being bought
• Depression among teens is rising considerably

How to erase the link between body image and the media

It is all too easy to wish that the media would represent people more faithfully, that they wouldn’t just show models. Whether this would be right or wrong is, sadly, irrelevant, because it’s not going to happen. Good looking people sell TV shows and TV production companies want money. The buck stops with us, we regular men and women.

So, what do we do about body image and the media?

The most obvious answer to solving this problem of body image and the media is to either watch less TV and read less magazines or to change the content we expose ourselves too. Watch shows that represent people more honestly.

But then you wont be able to talk about shows with friends at work and so on. . . .

So, what do you do?

Another answer to the problem of body image and the media is to watch the same shows but to also make sure that you meet enough people such that your average idea of body image is based on reality rather than media. Watch your favourite shows, then go and meet a ton of people.

You can’t just meet people out while socialising though. We all get dolled up when we go out to bars and clubs and other social venues. These place don’t provide a healthy idea of body image either. Rather, we have to meet people when they’re not dolled up. Doing so is easy. Just open your eyes when you’re out on your way to work or doing something else mundane. Observe how people look most of the time. This will correct your impression of body image.

But my kids just want to watch TV and play games. . . ?

Find excuses to leave pictures of regular people all around the house. Put pictures of family members and friends, leave magazines around that show people in a true light, change the media that’s in the house.

But this is just the media’s fault, right?

Nope. You’re 100% in control of the media you expose yourself too. Change your media, change your life. And if you do this, the media will eventually change too as they’ll be losing sales. The power is ultimately in your own hands.