What can hands tell about you

Author: Stanislav BaranetsPhoto: InterMedia consulting

Do you remember novel of Stephan Zweig "24 hours of woman's life"? Description of hands of the players - a nice story about heroes characters.

Understanding people's gestures of hands is a key to understanding their inner world and their decisions.

1. Weakly hanging hands along the body - passivity, the lack of preparedness, a lack of will.

2. Crossed hands on the chest - a protective reaction, known isolation, some waiting.

3. Hands lay behind the back - a lack of willingness to act and to hide embarrassment, timidity, an awkward position.

4. A palm opened upwards - a gesture of explanation, persuasion, public presentation, devotion.

5. One or both hands hidden in pockets - hiding of difficulties, uncertainty, loss of immediacy.

6. A hand in fist - concentration, mastering emotion, desire for themselves.

7. Rubbing hands - a man possessed by nice, satisfying thoughts.

8. Hand something takes or does move in a certain direction - directly bodily, physical prehension; a sign of greedy, too much thinking about material possession rights.

9. Movement of the hands, closing a face or a part of it - the desire to hide, conceal, keep secret their condition, reverie or embarrassment.

10. Wiping forehead - erasing bad thoughts, poor concentration or representations for reconsideration.

11. Opened hand patting something pleasant to the touch (for example, another hand) - gentle humor, placid mood.

12. Hard rectified forefinger - a sign of concentration on the inner condition, without regard to other people.

13. Hands supported upper torso, on the basis of something (for example, on the table, back chairs, low podium, etc.) - the quest for spiritual support or inner uncertainty.

Gestures are a form of body language or non-verbal communication. Although some gestures, such as the ubiquitous act of pointing, differ little from one place to another, most gestures do not have invariable or universal meanings, having specific connotations only in certain cultures. Different types of gestures are distinguished. The most famous type of gestures are the so-called emblems or quotable gestures (see the examples below). These are culture specific gestures that can be used as replacement for words. Communities have repertoires of such gestures. A single emblematic gesture can have very different significance in different cultural contexts, ranging from complimentary to highly offensive.

Another type of gestures are the ones we use when we speak. These gestures are closely coordinated with speech. The meaningful part of the gesture is temporally synchronized with the co-expressive words. For example, a gesture that depicts the act of throwing will be synchronous with the word 'threw' in the utterance "and then he threw the ball right into the window." Other gestures like the so-called beat gestures, are used in conjunction with speech, keeping time with the rhythm of speech and to emphasize certain words or phrases. These types of gestures are integrally connected to speech and thought processes.

One say not for nothing that "a leader is one who is leading with hands." It is important to understand where we will be led, if these leaders have such gestures.