Dr. Thomas Lane Butts: How to Dress to Look Your Best

We put forth a great amount of effort to look our best. Good clothing that matches and makeup to cover facial blemishes are considered basic elements in looking our best. When you dress to look your very best tomorrow, remember that of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important. The human face reflects what is going on in the heart and mind.

There is a whole field of study called ‘body language' in which people develop the skill of reading what other people are saying by gestures, expressions, and general body movement. People who sit on the edge of their chair while talking to you are expressing in body language the desire to leave, no matter what they are saying verbally. If their body is turned toward the door, this bit of body language reinforces the edge of the chair position.

There is no body language more powerful than facial expression. I recently read a book on face reading. The most important part of the face in this study of non-verbal communication is the eyes. People will, unbeknownst to themselves, tell you things with their eyes they would not dare say in words. There are soft eyes, hard eyes, sad eyes, angry eyes, hate-filled eyes, dead eyes, eager eyes. The list covers the whole spectrum of human emotions, and they are detectable to those who have eyes to see.

The whole idea of studying body language, particularly the human face, is that body language does not lie. Body language is basically unconscious and it reflects true and uncensored feelings. People may try to deceive you with words, but it is almost impossible to deceive with body language. It is a type of communication that flows unedited from the core of the human heart and mind.

Think of the faces you saw yesterday. Do you remember the wordless messages being broadcast? Some were angry, some were anxious. Some were filled with unmistakable hurt even though they uttered not a single word about it. In some eyes you can see the chains on a human soul. Some faces mirror a calm and peaceful look in which the wearer of that face obviously has all the diverse elements of life in manageable units. Of all the faces you saw yesterday, which had you rather be like? Get ready for the faces you will see tomorrow. They will have unspoken messages for you.

What about your face? Whether or not you have a ‘beautiful face' is of far less consequence than you think. We have all seen mean-spirited people with ‘beautiful faces.' Journalist Walter Bagehot said: "Nothing is more unpleasant than a virtuous (good looking) person with a mean mind." We have all seen common faces made beautiful by an expression of gentleness and love that flowed from the heart. Beauty is not only in the eye of the beholder, it is more likely in the eye of the one beheld.

Did you fix your face before going out today? Perhaps you thought you did, but it doesn't really work. No amount of makeup can hide what is inside you. Your Brooks Brothers suit, Countess Mara tie and Swiss Bally Shoes may fool some people when they first see you, but when they see your unedited expression and look into your eyes, the cat is out of the bag. The real ‘you' comes out around the edges.

The best way to fix your face is to fix your life. Your face will reflect it - unmistakably.