Elangovan - Encyclopedia of Body Language: What Every Movement Says

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
BODY LANGUAGE

WHAT EVERY MOVEMENT SAYS

ALAN ELANGOVAN

Copyright 2020 by Alan Elangovan.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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CONTENTS

Even though I have always longed to write a book on body language for decades, it eventually came to pass at this moment. It is better late than never. Without mincing words, there were numerous things that stood as stumbling blocks to the success of this work but I must appreciate those who made this possible. Most times, we dont know how life-changing and impactful our little acts of kindness towards people are. This project has made me realise how extraordinary they can be.

Let me start from my doorstep. I have come to understand the importance of family in ones life. No matter how successful one is, if one does not have a stable family, ones success is incomplete. The grace that flows on my relations has always spoken for me positively. My dearest sister, Anparasi, was a source of inspiration for this book. Her laudable ideas led to the birth of this book. The beauty of her intelligence resonated in all levels. Also, her beautiful daughter, Haley Magdalene Kingmy conversations with her were often laced with deep insights. And my ever-charming trio, outstanding and excellent daughtersLaavenya, Pavithiral and SenaigaI have no precise words to describe the support, goodwill, and encouragements I enjoyed from them. When the whole world lost interest in me, they believed and stood by me. Their endless love for me was a catalyst for the success of this project.

Again, this book made me accept the fact that nobody is self-made. Countless experiences have culminated in the writing of this book. I am most grateful to my parents who brought me up in the right way; they ensured the environment was conducive enough for me to pursue my vision rather than be lost in the illusion of the world. My passion for understanding, reading people through their body movement started in my childhood.

Through intuition and curiosity, when I observed some deficiencies in peoples behaviour and movement, I would approach them to ask relevant questions. Many of them were always taken aback that I was able to make a right guess of their thought through their physical actions. I also learnt through the experiences of those who were close to memy family. Even at a very young age, a lot of people were surprised that I could spot inadequacies in their narratives. As you devour the pages of this book, you will come across recreations of many of those childhood experiences.

I eventually ventured in astrology and numerology. At this point, the behaviour of an average human being became crystal clear to me. Those things I was oblivious of during my childhood appeared clearer to me, and I kept learning for years. Even though some people may not agree with this dimension, I cannot wave it off due to the immeasurable contribution it made to who I am today.

At age ten, I had started reading books related to behavioural psychology. I was so much fascinated to the subject matter that I had little time to think of the essence of those books. Any voice of dissent could have talked me out of it because by then, it was passion without direction. I kept on reading books on psychology till I was nineteen. Unconsciously, I gave myself to practice, and they were working out well without my knowledge until my friend called my attention.

My days in the army were one of the most productive as I met with experienced colleagues on the field. They were ready to teach and correct and ultimately watch me grow in knowledge. I mastered the power of observation. For this, I am most appreciative to my ITD commanding officer, LTC Arthur Lee Huai Siang. He taught me how I could look the enemy with intimidation. This worked for me beyond the army as I deployed its usage while serving in the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

As I was growing older, I became uncomfortable with things learnt through personal experience alone; I wanted more and as such, I began to read books of experts such as Joe Navarro (FBI Special Agent, Ret). Dr Paul Ekman, Allan Pease, Elizabeth Kuhnke, Jan Hargrave, Janine Driver, Amy Cuddy, and Julius Fast, among others. If you read between the lines, you will hear the silent voices of these pillars of intellectualism in the work. I have read some of them to the extent that I can reflect their style in my own writing.

At this point, let me sincerely acknowledge the countless opportunities offered to me by the Ex-Commissioners of Immigration, Mr Eric Tan and Mr Clarence Yeo. I never knew how invaluable the experiences they offered me were until later on in life. I was also fortunate to work under a dynamic supervisor since 1999. Mr Goh Choon Kin, Mr K. Kurusamy, Mr Phua Chew Hua, and Mr Poh Seng Hock gave me the exposure to profile criminals and tutoring. Before then, I had heard senior colleagues complain about this concept, but my knowledge on different aspects of the work gave me an edge. I was so versed in the field that I was eventually made a tutor on criminal profiling by the authorities of the ICA. I am grateful to them for offering me the platform to discover my potentials, nurture them for growth, and deploy them to use. There were equally other passionate people, yet they still found me worthy.

I commend the resilience, love, and optimistic spirit of Ganiish Subramanian, my childhood friend. For the past forty years, he had been my greatest fan. Any time I was stuck in a rough road, he was there to lift me up. When I felt inferior, he believed in me. When I thought I was empty, he pointed at the numerous potentials in me. Apart from the institutions earlier acknowledged, Ganiish was one of those who shook me out of my shell. May the cord of our friendship be stronger. Also, in the line of appreciation are S.P.Selvam and Leo Pichay, for being a source of encouragement and support to me for decades. I never took our partnership for granted.

It would have amounted to pure disaster for me to assume that my personal knowledge was enough to write a book of this volume. On this note, I want to appreciate all the scholars, essayists, opinion writers, and experts whose works were referenced in any part of the book. I want to thank them for permitting me to drink out of their wealth of knowledge. Joe Navarro, Christopher Philip, Farouk Radwan, David Strater, Hanan Parvez, Vanessa Van Edwards and Cherry Khedira deserve a special mention.

The contributions of the editors, publishing team, and figures of authority who provided holistic reviews of the book are so much appreciated. Without their mechanical and technical contributions, this book would have eternally remained a manuscript.

The Latin expression Qui docet discit, which is translated as He who teaches learns, is one of my most admired wise sayings. On this ground, I want to extend my appreciation to all participants in my numerous training sessions. I learnt so many things by teaching them, many of which were used in making this book what it is today. In fact, the resolve to find true solutions to many of the issues raised during our discussions propelled me to write the book.