Understanding Communication and Character Analysis

How can you exchange just a few words with someone,

or share a meal, and judge their

career and achievements over the next 20

or 30 years? Did Zeng Guofan have a method?

Well, with this question in mind,

I looked through Zeng Guofan's diaries.

In his diary entry from the 25th day of the ninth month

in the eighth year of Xianfeng, I found a passage

containing Zeng Guofan's secret to judging people.

The original text goes like this: To judge fame and success, look at bearing.

To judge wealth and rank, look at spirit. To judge good and evil, look at the nose and eyes.

To judge truth and falsehood, look at the lips. To judge resolve, look at the fingers and nails.

To judge turmoil, look at the heels. If you want to judge order and coherence,

it is all in one's speech. More or less, his advanced

wisdom in judging people can be summed up

in this one sentence.

Let's explain it from back to front.

The fourth line: If you want to judge order and coherence,

it is all in one's speech. A person's logic,

organization, and train of thought can all be expressed through

language.

If, when communicating with someone, their key

points are clear, their logic is rigorous, and their speech is

lucid and understandable, with strong structure

and systematization, it shows that this person

is very capable with language and also in thought.

In practical matters, they will not be lacking either.

That's what “if you want to judge order and coherence,

it is all in one's speech” means. When you chat with someone,

if what they say is incoherent,

their key points are unclear, and their logic is muddled,

it shows that this person is somewhat confused.

If you entrust them with a major responsibility,

problems may arise. Language is the shell

of thought.

If that shell has serious problems,

it means their inner workings are also chaotic.

The second line: To judge resolve, look at the fingers and nails.

To judge turmoil, look at the heels.

This sounds a bit mystical.

What does “to judge resolve, look at the fingers and nails” mean?

Please remember this:

The hand is the second face. The hand is the second

brain. In other words, many of our thought

processes are manifested in our hands.

Don't look at a person's face, look at their hands.

Fingers, fingers—the fingertips represent the head.

Lots of hand movements show that the brain is

actively thinking. A person

will reveal much of their inner

activity through their hands. Faces are full of lies,

but hands reveal the truth.

For example, when a person is speaking,

if their hand is pressed against their temple,

that's called the gun pose,

and it means they are full of pain.

But if their hand is placed underneath,

it means this person is rather arrogant,

with excessive, inexplicable confidence in their looks.

If, while speaking, their hand covers their nose

or mouth, it means they disagree.

They don't even believe what they themselves are saying.

If, while walking, their hands are kept behind

their back and out of sight, it shows that person has

a sense of security and feels they can control the situation.

If, when communicating with others, they don't

Constantly pointing at someone is an attack

and an offense. It shows that this person

has aggressive tendencies.

You see, the hands are the second face.

Hands make many gestures. If you hold them

up like this, it is called steepling.

Steepling has a self-expanding

effect and can increase authority,

but if you keep steepling repeatedly,

it also indicates a lack of authority

and that you feel somewhat insecure. Also,

this is called resting your chin on your hand. When we are especially engrossed,

we cannot help but

rest our chins on our hands. This is called double chin-resting.

When you are reasoning with a woman,

if she rests her chin on both hands, it means

she is already fascinated by what you are saying. These

are all very interesting phenomena.

If, while listening to a lecture,

someone puts their hands together in prayer,

this is called worship. It shows they are emotionally engaged,

they already agree and feel that what you say

makes so much sense. If, while listening to a lecture,

you notice that someone constantly

fiddles with a small object in their hands, or makes

an unrelated movement on the table,

or keeps spinning a pen in their hand,

while also shaking their leg, it indicates impatience.

It shows they are very anxious and do not want this

kind of content anymore.

They do not want to be in this setting anymore.

They want to change the situation,

they want to leave immediately.

So I remind everyone, when communicating with leaders or clients,

keep your hands quietly on the table.

keep your hands quietly on the table.

Do not casually fiddle with things,

otherwise it can trigger the other person's negative emotions

and negative judgments. We can judge a person's

inner world completely just by looking at their hands.

The hands are the second face.

So what does “storms can be seen in one’s feet” mean?

In traditional Chinese culture,

it is believed that the way a person walks can foretell

how they will conduct themselves in life.

If, when walking, someone is arrogant

and conceited, with their chin raised and lips curled,

then such an arrogant person

will certainly stumble in their future work and life.

When the heavens are wild, there is rain. When people are wild, there is misfortune.

If someone is arrogant and conceited,

they will certainly have conflicts

in their interpersonal relationships and certainly suffer

attacks from others. When people walk,

everyone can observe their gait.

When going down the stairs, let others walk ahead.

Do not walk. Stand on the high

steps and watch these students’

gait as they walk forward. If it is straight,

even-paced, and steady, it shows that this person

has a stable mindset and a smooth life,

with no major setbacks ahead.

If their pace alternates between fast and slow, and they stagger from side to side,

swaying unsteadily, it shows that this person

has an unstable mindset and an unsettled temperament.

Also, there may

be some setbacks in the future.

Of course, none of this is causal,

it is merely a matter of probability and correlation,

so we should not overinterpret it.

If you're interested, just read some books

on microexpressions.

Second, assess good and evil by the eyes,

truth and lies by the lips.

What does this mean?

If a person's heart is upright,

their gaze will be upright too.

If their heart is crooked,

their eyes will wander.

Through a person's gaze, we can see

their inner world.

When someone is lying, they do not dare

look you in the eye.

Also, if they are indecisive,

their eyes will certainly dart around.

That is what it means to assess good and evil by the eyes.

“Truth or lies, look at the lips” means that if

someone tells too many lies, their mouth will visibly

shift to one side and become crooked.

You may notice that some people

in service professions, when they smile at customers,

have crooked mouths, their mouths twist when they smile.

What does that indicate? It indicates insincerity,

a smile that has been forced out.

Their mouth is asymmetrical, or crooked.

Also, if someone says insincere things too often,

their mouth may also become crooked

when communicating. This is called being true to one's heart

and speaking from the heart.

When you speak this way,

your mouth is straight. This is called assessing good and evil

by the eyes, truth and lies by the lips.

Our focus is on the first line of Zeng Guofan's

secret to judging people,

“Judge achievement by bearing, wealth and rank by spirit.”

What achievements can a person make in their career?

You can tell from their bearing. People with bearing

attain achievement and rank.

What achievements can a person make

in terms of wealth? You can tell

from their spirit. People with spirit have wealth.

What is bearing? It means having a steady mindset.

What is spirit? It means having plenty of energy.

Those with abundant energy retain their wealth and rank,

and those with steady mindsets retain their achievement and rank.

If you know a government civil servant

with an official post in the system,

assess them in the face of all kinds of challenges,

all kinds of pressure, and the ups

and downs of the workplace.

Is this person's mindset steady? If their

mindset is stable, positive,

optimistic, and sunny, then their

prospects are limitless.

Achievement and rank depend mainly on mindset.

If you meet an entrepreneur,

facing setbacks, pressure, and challenges,

developing products and maintaining client relationships,

attending meetings by day and staying up late at night,

anxious and sleepless, unable to sleep.

Under such enormous pressure,

see whether this person can come to work the next day

looking energetic and full of vitality.

If he is lazy and listless,

then I'm afraid his path to wealth and honor

will not last long.

So, in our own words, what Zeng Guofan

meant by this

is having ample energy and a steady mindset,

being gentle yet resolute, and able to endure.

If one is neither gentle nor resolute,

prone to losing their temper and unable to bear grievances,

lacking energy and mentally unstable,

then even if such a person has status,

wealth, and honor before them, they cannot hold on to them.