I was walking down the street with my cousin and I heard this guy shouting extremely aggressively behind us nearly looking like he was ready to murder someone. As soon as we heard him, neither of us looked back, and we made a point not to look directly at the man.
What followed next left something with me I'll always remember.
Usually I'd make it a strong point to stay away from people that shouted aggressively and looked like they'd chew your head off or shank you out of spite.
Mind you, we both did look intimidating ourselves. My cousin Mike is a pretty big guy and he'd rip your head off in a heartbeat if you hurt his family.
The entire time, my nuerodivergant superpowers were activated and I could almost hear every step behind us, the cars, the direction, all at once. My brain was processing a multitude of signals from the environment to keep us safe. I give props to my amygdala for responding quickly.
Mike and I decided to cross the road, and the guy on the otherside decided to cross at the same exact time and we were all going straight towards each other. At this point I could see him directly and he was clearly enraged. We were prepared and deeply vulnerable.
As soon as we met in the middle of the road, I impulsively blurted out something along the lines of "I hope you have a solid day man".
The moment I spoke to him, his demeanor changed in an instant. It was as if a wave of relief came over him like a bubble popping. His expression went from rage to acknowledgement. The muscles on his face immediately relaxed almost as if he wanted to cry.
When I think about that moment I realize that we all give off signals, data points, all out in the open for people to judge, to overlay their opinions, idealogies, beliefs, etc.
Those are data points, and our bodies are giving off and assessing a multitude of data points every moment of our life.
If you got this far, then you might be wondering what any of this has to do with Corporations using emotional insights that they collect from people.
Just like the man on the street, his physical being was like the title of this post. It signaled me and I followed the signals just like you did when you read the title.
There's been a long held belief that these signals should be hidden, protected, supressed, dismissed and to be wreckoned with.
I ask you to take a moment and pause, observe what you feel, the thoughts going through your mind and the sensations in your body.