Let me hear your body talk.

(From Aberdeen Press & Journal (UK))

No matter what you say, your body language explains things much better than words ever can. Knowing what the signs are in this hidden language could be crucial to the success of a business or personal relationship, as Mike Lowson discovers When retail sales assistant Elaine was driving to work at 7.30am, she glanced out of her car window and saw a well-dressed young woman crossing the road with a small girl. The girl was wearing a pink coat and had her hair in pretty bunches.

Elaine pondered the scene briefly as she drove past. She thought how hard it must be to get your daughter up and dressed for nursery at that hour, and then get ready for work, especially as a single mum.

Two hours later, Elaine tells the story to colleagues on a specialist course in body language. The one-day seminar, held in Aberdeen this week, is evidence of an increasing interest in the most subtle yet often invisible language.

The tale is picked up by course leader Di McLanachan to illustrate how we make assumptions about people from what we see, long before we meet them. Who is to say that the couple Elaine saw were a mother and daughter, or even related? There was …