Has your face ever blown your cover? Like totally betrayed you by sharing information before you were ready to share? Yeah, me too. I would often get the question, "Are you mad?" or the dreaded one, "What's wrong?" when I was in meetings. It turns out that my thinking face looks like my angry face. It got me into a lot of trouble.
A few years ago I learned about the seven universal facial expressions and oh man, why don't we teach these skills in school??
This year I decided to get certified as a Body Language Specialist. So I did it to be able share non-verbal communication skills with my clients and friends. It's life changing. Once you learn how to decode facial expressions and read non-verbal cues, it's impossible not to experience a whole new world.
What's come to me as a result of learning these skills is that I'm now able to rectify some of my own non-verbal communication. These skills help me in negotiations or meetings or even in social situations. When I see a micro expression of fear or surprise or yikes! contempt, I can offer more clarity on the topic or ease a pain point.
Not everyone wants to be a human lie detector (yes, I can teach you these skills!) but who doesn't want to win at putting people at ease and being a better communicator? So the next time you ask WTF (What's the face)? call me, so we can talk about it.