Reading the eyes and the expression of the face.

They looked into each other's eyes; hands raised ready to deliver a blow or ward off one.
"Never take your eyes off your opponent," my Tae-Kwon-Do master always warned us. "The mistake can have you down on the floor the next instant, humiliated in the eyes of the spectators, if there are any," the master cautioned us. "Always be on guard!"

I learned that well. I learned the importance of observation, of watching not just my opponents but also people in my surrounding. I have learned that the truth of a person's words can be seen in the eyes of the speaker. I have also seen and known that the expression of the speaker before and following the words indicates his sincerity.

The movement of the eyes and the expression of the face give us a lot of information on the actual meaning of the uttered words.

Have you noticed that a child or a person who tells a lie would never be looking into the eyes of the person the lie is directed to? Have you noticed the expression of someone who has something to hide?

Let me tell you of one occasion when I played cards with a small group of friends just to while some time away while giving some time to somebody to have a chance to be with someone. Yes, we were a group of generous people helping another friend out. What that help was for cannot be told as it was very personal. As it was merely a friendly gambling game, the stake was low, betting with ten cents to a maximum of twenty cents. At that time I took the opportunity to test my powers of observation. To make it difficult for myself, I who was the dealer of the cards, told my friends i was going to observe their face and their actions to prove that I could read their expressions and actions. We were playing 'twenty-one'.

Well, I proved myself right as from their expressions, I could see who was happy with his cards and who was not, either due to holding the minimum sixteen points or having exceeded the twenty-one points. Those who have the minimum points looked different from those holding more than twenty-one points.

At a certain time in the game, I surrendered the dealing to others so that they may perhaps win but since they were unable to read the expressions well, the had to give up the dealing to the others. This is so because the dealer either stands to gain or lose more per game.

During all those years in school as a discipline teacher, I had been able to use this knowledge to discover who was bluffing and who was telling the truth. Knowing someone is not telling the truth and so steadily telling the student you know you are being given false information, the student eventually realises the truth had to be told.

I must admit that I have so far only had the opportunity to deal with ordinary people. I sometimes wonder if it is any different with hardened criminals or people who are adept at fibs and lies.

Well, in my line of work, I would never have any opportunity to meet with such people. I suppose I will never know.

Nevertheless, understanding that it is possible to, to a certain extent, read a person's mind through his eyes and expressions can help us overcome some of the pot-holes in life. Being realistic I understand that nobody is too wise to overcome everything no matter how much experience he/she may have already had.

Just three years ago, I dropped into one of the worst pot-holes in my life. Fortunately, I survived and am going into another chapter of my life now. Perhaps,
I shall tell you about this new chapter of my life in time to come.