Some people have got trouble understanding why our gestures reflect our feelings. To make this as simple as possible, I will tell you about few examples that you are already aware of.

1. When was the last time you were about to fight with a person then discovered that your fists were clenched?
2. When was the last time your heart kept beating fast while watching a scary movie?
3. When was the last time you found yourself sitting with a curved back after something bad happened?

As you can notice from these popular examples, our bodies reflect our feelings with very high precision. Still, because you were only taught to notice these popular gestures, your mind never attempted to make any connection between emotions and the less popular gestures.

In this article, I will tell you about one of the less popular gestures, which I called “The I am in deep trouble gesture.”

Body language and the “I am in deep trouble” gesture

Do you remember the last time you scratched the side of your neck with one finger?
As you can see in the picture below, the scratching has to happen from one side and with one finger.

Do you know when you will take that gesture?

It happens when you feel that you are in deep trouble. Let’s suppose that you kept talking about a person in a bad way in front of a stranger only to discover that he is his brother. At this point, you might take this gesture.

Here is another example that would make that body language gesture clearer:

You invited someone to dinner, and when the check arrived, you discovered that you have no money to pay or that you forgot your wallet.

Here are the thoughts that pass in the mind of the person taking this gesture:

• What did I get myself into?
• Oh no, what did I do!
• I am done for
• I am in serious trouble.

Why won’t some people make that gesture in that same situation?

Why would a person go through that same situation described earlier but never take this gesture?

The one fact you must be aware of is that body language is only triggered when your emotions change. In other words, if a person was mean enough not to care about talking in a bad way about someone in front of his brother, then he won’t bother making that gesture since his emotions won’t change.

Our perceptions of the different situations aren’t the same because each one of us does his own calculations. If someone felt that he is in deep trouble, then there is a great possibility that he will take that body language gesture.

While cultural differences affect people’s gestures, you can still safely assume that people will make the same gestures when they experience the same emotions in any part of the world. Culture affects our conscious gestures, but our unconscious gestures result from the way our brain was designed.