YOUR WALK TALKS — Another IPS

YOUR WALK TALKS — Another IPS

Another IPS (Inner Peace Symptom):  a growing awareness that the only thing that abides is the way you walk.  [How are you walking and how is your walk talking?]

Assorted studies have shown that the way you walk down the street increases your chances of being a victim, a target for challenge, or a welcome addition to a group.  The way you walk, they say, has a language of its own and the people around you are likely to make judgments about your probable character just by watching the way you walk.

A 2012 article in Scientific American magazine by Cindy May, a Professor of Psychology at the College of Charleston, delineates some interesting findings in one of the earliest studies conducted by personality psychologists Warren T. Norman and Lewis Goldberg in 1966.

The researchers asked college students to rate their classmate’s personalities before they had a chance to interact with them.  They also asked the students for their self-assessments about their own personalities.  The duo discovered a couple of remarkable things.

  • The group of classmates the psychologists asked to rate their fellow students (who were still strangers to them) for things like likeability, trustworthiness, competence, confidence and optimism tended to agree with each other about how each individual scholar was likely to behave.
  • Even more amazingly, the initial self-assessments of the individual students tended to agree with their group ratings.

For a fuller explanation of these findings, you can click the button below.

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Over the years, the data has continued to pile up.  The way you walk really does talk.

You might want to check out the following 2019 YouTube video, “Your Walking Style Reveals Your Personality, Career and Lifestyle,” which was uploaded by the Magical Indian.  It expands more fully on the idea.

If that’s so then it seems to me that all of the possible different ways you could walk are likely to evoke responses from the people around you and might even determine how you’ll be treated by them.

STUDYING THE MOVES

This video, “100 Different Ways to Walk,” is actually an “animation reference” put together by stop-motion animator and self-styled video wizard Kevin Parry in 2017 as a way to remind himself of the wide variety of ways a humanoid might walk.

It’s a thing Parry uses to develop the action in his stop-motion animation films.  It can also be a way for you to pay attention to the emotions and reactions different ways of walking might evoke in you.

Check it out and think on how you might react and what you might feel about a person if you happened to see someone walking past you using one of these different ways of moving through the world.

What would you think about this person?  What is your likely reaction to him or her?  Your responses to each of these ways of movement might be surprisingly different.

If you like Parry’s work, you may want to check out his official website.

click-here

My thought is that if the way you move your body can evoke emotions and reactions from other people who are watching what you do, then it’s likely that the way you are moving yourself through your world  – your actions and the ways you deal with others around you, the choices you make and the paths you take – can also cause other people to react to you in very different ways.

YOUR TALK STAYS TALK IF YOU DON’T DO THE WALK

The thing is, as American author, speaker and pastor John C. Maxwell succinctly put it, “Your talk talks and your walk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.”

“I have to start doing that!”  Oh, yeah.

“I NEED to do that!”  Uh-huh.

You hear that all the time, right?

talking-over-supper
“Talking Over Supper” by John Flannery via Flickr [CC BY-SA 2.0]
Every time there’s some new study and whenever some new idea or concept starts making the rounds, the noise level gets louder and there’s a flurry of “Me-too, me-too, I’m going to do it!”

What’s your initial reaction to all that?  Maybe you throw a little bit of a cynical grin?  Maybe a little snort or snigger?

I bet you don’t really take all the foo-fah-rah seriously.  You’ve heard it all before, after all.  People tell you what they’re going to do or what they need to do and how they are going to really, really do it…but, then, they never get around to it somehow.

Or maybe they tried something and it didn’t go as they expected.  It was really hard and the results were not what they wanted.  It was disappointing and not at all the thing.

So these folks are going to try this next great thing, and this time….hoo-hoo!  They will do it.  Right.

After a while, the blathering tires out your ears.

In our younger days we might have been surprised and even disappointed by the lack of follow-through.  Eventually it’s very likely that we pretty much stop paying attention to the pronouncements and declarations filling up the airwaves.  Instead, we start paying attention to the way the people doing all that talking are walking.  We give a heck of a lot more credence to the other person’s consistent action over a long period of time.

WASH, RINSE, REPEAT

Fact.  If you change back to your old behaviors every time you hit a speed-bump, nobody is going to believe you want a different world.

Talk is inexpensive.  All of us say things all the time about who we are, what we can do, what we’re going to do and on and on.  Walking is not so easy to fake.

walking
Walking” by oatsy40 via Flickr [CC BY-2.0]
If you stay the course (as hard as that is to do) you will gain credibility.  The longer you keep walking towards that goal you say you’re heading towards and the fact that you keep on doing it no matter what is very convincing.

When your words and your actions match each other and they demonstrate who you are, then people will start to believe that what you say really is what you do.

Positive thinker Ralph Marston, who puts together the popular positivity blog, The Daily Motivator, says it well: “What you say can make a big difference, but only if it is fully supported by what you do. Walk your talk, and both your walking and your talking will get great things done.

This YouTube video, “Why Our Actions Speak Louder than Words” was published in 2016 by biologist-turned-filmmaker Rob Nelson.   It adds another take on the matter.

Rob and his collaborator Jonas Stenstrom, another biologist-cum-filmmaker, put together a channel on YouTube, “52 Things” which is specifically geared towards “making better science storytellers with photo and video.”  They are producing a series of videos to help other science bloggers become better filmmakers.

Check out their Patreon page.  If you’d like to become a patron and support them in this endeavor, click here:

click-here

Here’s a poem:


NOTHING COMING

Hey, Braddah….

I’m sorry to see that I was right.

(I had so hoped I was wrong.)

You’re showin’ you cannot handle

Dealing straight with the trust

You were given.

 

The excuses and rationalizations

Are flying so thick,

I cannot even talk.

I have no advice for you…

No it’s-gonna-be-all-right,

No absolution.

This one’s yours

And you’ll have to fix it –

A D.I.Y. project.

 

You’re feeling guilty.

I can see that,

Uh-huh….

The shaky structure you have built

On this shifting sand of maybes and couldas and shouldas

Is getting washed away,

Undermined by the waves of murky thoughts

Generated by too many issues

That have nothing to do with me.

 

I’m sorry, man.

You’re the one who keeps on digging the hole.

And, for real, I’ve run out of hands to help.

 

Guess you’re gonna have to deal, Braddah-man….

Created by Netta Kanoho

Header photo credit:  “Haleakala Sunrise by lwtt93 via Flickr [CC BY-2.0]

……

SOME OTHER POSTS TO EXPLORE:

(Click on each of the post titles below and see where it takes you…)

……

Thanks for your visit.  I’d appreciate it if you would drop a note or comment below and let me know what you think.

24 thoughts on “YOUR WALK TALKS — Another IPS

  1. Hey, this was a useful article.

    A point I would make is that it can take a while to even know the way we walk, as we don’t see ourselves from a third person perspective, so I would recommend trying to film yourself walking.

    (Of course, you will be thinking about it too much if you know, so maybe ask a friend to do it in a candid way). Seeing your own mannerisms can be a great wake up call!

    1. Hey Danny,

      Cool idea!  It’s like recording your voice and discovering that you sound really, really different than what you think, I bet.  Thanks!

      Please do come again.

  2. Could not agree more, no one cares what you say you are going to do, but if you take the necessary action people will take that for real.

    I am a fan of Maxwell, and will have to check this book out. Like how they present the importance of how you walk. Never really thought of looking directly at a person’s walk. Great read!

    1. Hey Cliff:

      Thank you for the visit and for your thoughts.  I do appreciate it!

      Please do come again….

  3. Carmen & Ben says:

    I love when you say that your talk stays talks if you don’t do the walk.  This is so applicable to everyday situations and really got me thinking about how many times even myself have said stuff but I don’t take the moves that are required to make my talk a walk.

    Also, I’ve never thought about the credibility part that it’s related to the length of the walk… very super interesting article.

    Thanks

    1. Thanks for your visit and for sharing your thoughts, Carmen and Ben.  I’m glad you found the post interesting.

      Please do come again….

  4. Don’t just do the talk , do the walk. 

    Truthfully there is a big importance attached to the way we walk. I have seen people walk in a way that is so irritating and very far from smart and I have also seen people that just by the way they walk you wanna be their friend. 

    Walking here could also be term as taking action, like John C Maxwell said, your talk talks and your walk walks but your walk talks louder than your talk talks. We just need to always learn to take that first step and be smart about it

    1. Thanks for the visit and for sharing your thoughts, Seyi.  I do appreciate it.

      Please do come again….

  5. Chrissie Spurgeon says:

    What a fascinating article.

    I was really intrigued by the video which shows that the way you walk makes it more or less likely that you will be mugged – made a mental note there!!

    Whoever would have thought that you are giving away so much information by that way that you walk!

    Food for thought indeed.

    Very many thanks for your post.

    Chrissie 🙂

    1. Chrissie, thanks for the visit and for sharing your thoughts.  I agree.  That video really does make you think.

      Please do come again….

  6. Nancy Crites says:

    Hmmmm… this is food for deep thought! The way a person walk really does communicate so much, I appreciate this information, especially as a female who walks a lot and often at night I will definitely pay attention to what I am communicating.

    “Your talk talks and your walk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.” This is so true walking and generally, body language speaks so much louder than words. Great awareness! 

    Thank you for sharing this important and thought provoking article!

    1. Nancy, thanks for your visit and for sharing your thoughts.  I’m glad the post was helpful to you.

      Please do come again.

  7. David ben says:

    Sincerely there is a great importance attached to the way we walk. 

    I have seen people walk in a way that is so disgusting and very far from smart and I have also seen people that just by the way they walk you wanna associate with them.  Someone told me that you have the ability to bring good and also bad things your way.

    Thanks for this article.  It would be of great help to us all

    1. Thanks for your visit and for sharing your thoughts, David ben.  I’m glad the post is helpful to you.

      I agree that each of us humans do have to ability to attract good and bad things into our lives.  Being aware of what we are doing and how we are seen by others as a result is a great tool to use to affect that.

      Please do come again.

      Please do come again.

  8. Hi Netta. Thank you for sharing this post you titled “YOUR WALK TALKS — ANOTHER IPS”

    Amazingly, our walk really talks a lot about us (I love the rhyme; walking and talking, lol, really nice). This is so true and I have had some experience on some occasions. Walking and scared especially in a calm environment, people will observe the curiosity in you and maybe use it as an advantage on you but if you walk with boldness, it is certain that nobody will take advantage of you.

    So I tried to walk with boldness always.

    1. Shifts, thank you for your visit and for sharing your thoughts.  

      My Si’fu (kung fu teacher) used to tell us that the way our bodies move affects the way our minds move.  In order to properly use Southern-style Praying Mantis, as his lineage taught it, the practitioner starts from a calm and peaceful, receptive place.  

      A lot of emphasis is placed on developing an awareness of the environment around her.  The practitioner is taught to pay attention and to stay receptive to the energy flow surrounding where she is standing — in the same way that a superb professional basketball player stays aware of the flow of the game as it is happening. 

      Ideally, if she is attacked she counters with a strong defensive move that is immediately followed by a series of well-practiced (and quite effective) attack moves.  The attack moves are built on what-happens-next and next and next.  

      The interesting thing about this style of fighting is that the practitioner cannot initiate an attack.   The beginning stance is absolutely one of defense.  It is called “begging hands.”  

      I was a lousy kung-fu fighter.  (I don’t like hitting people and I don’t like getting beat up.  The whole testosterone-drenched, ego-driven tournament mindset does not appeal to me.)

      However, I have found that developing receptivity to the environment and being open to the moves of the people around me has been a tremendous help in everyday living.

      My Si’fu laughed when I complained that the kung fu was making my mind move too fast.  I kept tripping over the other people in my daily life, I told him.  

      I had to learn to slow myself back down to a more finely tuned response to the people around me and work on decreasing the focus and intensity of my reactions to other people’s strategic moves.  

      It was an interesting time.

      Please do come again

  9. Superb, I love the quote by Pastor John C. Maxwell “…but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.” This quote is very correct. Just like the saying, action speaks louder than voice. The way we walk is like our action, our walk actually talks so much about us. This article is really nice.

    1. Techie, thank you for the visit and for sharing your thoughts.  I’m glad you enjoyed the post.

      Please do come again.

       

  10. Hello Netta!  I totally agree with everything you have said here especially the fact that nobody will believe in the change of your world if you keep going back to the behaviors you left behind. 

    I have saved this post so I can go over it again and write something down. Thanks!

    1. You are welcome, Joy.  Thanks for the visit and for sharing your thoughts.

      Do come again.

  11. Sammy Allen says:

    Dear Netta,

    Wow! This is one of the most creative and interesting posts I’ve come across. I appreciate your perspective and find it very real to me. I especially like how are you were able to put the way people communicate with one another in such an intriguing perspective.

    Keep me updated.

    L, Sammy

    1. Thanks for the visit and for your kind words, Sammy.  I do appreciate them.

  12. Very interesting and thoughtful article, I never knew how a person walks can describe what a person really is. In our everyday lives, we can all easily notice how a person walks, whether it’s walking down the street or at a mall the way but never tell who they really are. 

    I agree 100% on a walk the walk, when we say that we’re going to be doing something then we should back that up by actually doing it. 

    Reading your article really gave me something to think about when prejudging a stranger. 

    1. Thanks for your visit and for sharing your thoughts, Terence.  Body language is truly a powerful thing, I think, and that includes the way we walk.  I like where you took the thought.  Not pre-judging a stranger is a great strategy.

      Please do come again.

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