What else can I call the mental alertness to one\u2019s own nonverbal behavior. There are those who are attentive to their appearance regarding make-up, hair-do, clothes, but few people pay attention to the way they behave: Check out posture, eye angle, length of eye contact, tendency to smile or frown, etc. Let it be a category you check out as much as whether you\u2019re fly is open (for guys)\u2014what is it women check to avoid embarrassment?<\/p>\n
Another category I have become aware of is voice modulation to fit the size of the room and the distance to audience. Many people who should know better become habituated to speaking softly on a one-to-one basis, and they don\u2019t know or don\u2019t bother to raise (\u201cproject\u201d) their voice at a seminar, in a conference. It\u2019s as if they\u2019re blissfully unaware of the way they speak, thinking only of what they want to say. But that\u2019s an artifact of focus on content, logocentrism, the words all that count, and whether or not they\u2019re well articulated, pronounced clearly, or audibly is either of no concern and\/or out of the speaker\u2019s awareness. It\u2019s a form of obliterated consciousness\u2014 that is, a rejection of the inner-child\u2019s inclination to speak too loudly. It\u2019s as if one is hushing oneself.<\/p>\n