Eyes angle up/mouth turns down
In this picture we see a person with up turned eyes but a down turned mouth. Does that make her an optimist or a pessimist? The answer is both and neither. Her eyes will tell you how she thinks and talks while her mouth is going to tell you how she is listening. Her up turned eyes reveal that her outlook in life is optimistic. She has a feeling in both her personal life (left eye) and professional or external life (right eye) that things will usually turn out positive.
In this picture her mouth is turning down which indicates she is mistrustful of what she is hearing. If being somewhat guarded about what she hears is a persistent attitude, then her mouth will turn down even when she is totally relaxed. It is a feature that I see on my own face. My wariness about what others tell me was developed over years of practicing law. So many
people give me a rationale for their own out of line behavior that I began to take every client's story with a grain of salt. Ann points out that I am always ready to hear the worst.
In summary, this is a picture of a person who is optimistic in their outlook and has a belief in a positive outcome but who is suspicious about what others tell her. Remember a mouth is one of those features that changes to reflect the person's current state of mind. If she was listening to someone she really trusted her mouth may not turn down at all. |
Thin lips and a gab line
Another seeming contradiction is a person who has thin lips with a "Gab" line.Thin lipped people are reluctant to put anything out there they cannot prove or back up and they hold a lot inside. A "gab" line belongs to a person who talks a
lot. How do we square these two features?
This is a photo of Ann Marks, my business partner, who has thin lips and a "gab" line. There is a strong correlation between people with thin lips and people who at some point in their life received a lot of criticism or were often told how to act or behave. Consequently, they learned to guard what they say to avoid being criticized. In fact, a person with thin lips may have ten thoughts that go through their head for every one that finally comes out of their mouth. You may be sure that Ann will hold her tongue unless she is sure she is right.
However, she also has a line that starts in one cheek and runs under her chin up onto the other cheek. In my book I call this a "gab" line but it might be better named a "talk" line. It is not surprising to find this line on a person who once they get started can talk the birds out of the trees. Is there a contradiction when a person also has thin lips? No, the talk line only indicates how much time the person has spent talking not how much they enjoyed it. Therefore, we can often find this line on people who talk for a living. As a speaker, I have one of these lines.
In Ann's case, she has always talked for a living.She began as a school teacher and taught for over twenty years. Later she worked in outplacement as a coach. Her job required her to make an endless number of presentations with phone follow ups.
There is no real contradiction. A person can be very guarded with their personal thoughts and opinions and yet still talk for a living. I have also seen this "talk" line coupled with thin lips numerous times on teacher's faces. They can talk for hours about what they know but they may be reluctant to take a position on a topic that they don't know much about or for which they could be criticized. |
A Challenge with Semantics
The true test for the validity of face reading is the feedback you receive from the person who has just had their face read. After all, we each know ourselves better than we know anyone else. So, after every reading I ask the person for their feedback. I usually ask, "What did I miss?'
Occasionally a person will tell me I missed something that I did not even mention in my reading.
For example, a person says to me "You got me on everything but you said I am organized and I am not." Actually, I never said they were or weren't organized. But something I did say triggered this thinking.
Another example was when I told a man that his beard was really a chin extender which gave him the appearance of having a bigger chin. I said the illusion of a bigger chin gave him a rougher, tougher appearance and that it might be beneficial in keeping other people from trying to run over him. He said, "No, that is the only thing you missed. I wear a beard because I have a weak chin and I look better with a beard."
I asked him,"How do you look without a beard?" He said, "Without a beard I don't look good. I look weak." We may just chalk this experience up as a communication challenge that we can all have in nearly every conversation.
If you experience a similar situation when reading someone's face, the most important thing to remember is the exercise is about connection, not correctness. Their feedback is the heart of the exchange. By taking in their feedback, you may learn more about the person in a few minutes than someone who has known them for years. |