You’ve probably seen something about the murder trial in South Carolina. Alex Murdaugh is accused of murdering his wife and son (and ultimately found guilty of murder). He was on the witness stand for two days, and most of his testimony was televised.

Body language experts spent hours analyzing Murdaugh’s communication signals with his body. Their examinations included his courtroom testimony and videos of police interviewing him as a suspect.

The truth is we are all body language experts to some degree. We inherited a certain ability from our ancestors. Our brain sends messages to our body intended to help defend us from potential threats.

Many times someone will cross their arms if you start saying something they don’t like. The arm crossing may be a sign their brain is telling their arms to protect their body from a message their brain interprets as harmful.

It could be they are simply more comfortable with their arms crossed.

It can get a little tricky to figure out.

Body language comes in clusters. While the eyes are doing something, so are the hands and feet. When reading body language, all the different gestures must be considered along with what we say and how we say it.

Body language movements occur automatically unless we consciously tell our body to act differently. However, the more we are stressed, the less we can control our body language.

Big muscles are easier to control than smaller muscles. If your feet are shaking, you may wrap them around the chair legs and stop the shaking, but try and control how fast your eyes are blinking!

We will talk more about body language in future discussions.

Jim Leach’s book “You Can Tell ME, Effective Interviewing Made Simple,” is available at “booksbyleach.com” and Amazon.com.