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Interpreting Body Language: Hands on Waist

You were talking to someone and as soon as you finished, he moved his hand and rested it on his waist, as illustrated in the picture below. What happened? Why did he do that?

As you know, in body language, a change in body posture always reflects a change in the person's emotions. In this case, where the person is resting his hands on their waist, the emotion can be described using the following phrase:

“You have asked for more than what I can handle. I don’t think I will be able to do what you want and I'm angry at you or at the person responsible for this mess.”

It could also mean

1-You have asked for too much.
2-I am getting aggravated and I may attack at any moment!
3-This situation is beyond my reach or abilities.

When Will You See This?

So when are you going to see such a posture? The following are some possible situations where this body language posture could appear:

• This is more than I can handle: You only have 3 days left to finish an assignment, then you receive a phone call from one of your friends telling you that it turns out the assignment is to be turned in tomorrow and not 3 days later. In this case, you may take this posture right after finishing the call.
• I am becoming aggravated and ready to attack You're attending a lecture and everyone is talking to his peer and ignoring the lecturer. At this point, the lecturer would suddenly stop talking and take this posture.
• That’s beyond my abilities You are at the gym, you can hardly lift 20 Lb in the biceps exercise, and then suddenly someone shows up and does that same exercise with 100 Lb. In this case, you may find yourself putting your hands on your waist.

As you've just seen, very slight changes to your body language can have a big effect on your relationships with people. In my book, How to make someone fall in love with you, I described how slight changes, such as keeping your back straight, can increase the chances of having people fall in love with you. The more confident you appear, the more attractive you will become, and nothing can make you appear more confident than a straight back.

Want to Know More?

Yes, what about all the other postures?

I don't have any background on body language.