Why learn to maintain eye contact at all? This is the question that may arise in the minds of many.
In fact, this skill has real benefits – it develops our cognitive skills, increases self-esteem, and the fact that it makes it easier to display the full range of emotions experienced during a conversation and, as a result, improves interpersonal relationships, should also not be forgotten.
How to Learn to Maintain Eye Contact
The first step is to determine why you may be having difficulty maintaining eye contact.
There are many of them: it could be lack of self-confidence, social anxiety, boredom, introversion, absent-mindedness and multitasking, etc.
Only after you have found and eradicated the root cause of the problem can you move on to further training.
Practice
Your first task is to get used to eye contact: practice first on close people, after which you can move on to strangers. To do this, of course, you will have to leave your comfort zone: meet new people, make friends, walk in public places, etc.
Good message
When you look someone in the eye, your face should exude friendliness and a slight smile should play on your lips. This is necessary to make your interlocutor relax – as a result, eye contact will acquire greater significance for him.
Slow start
If you have previously avoided looking someone in the eye, do not try to maintain eye contact for too long at first, so that others do not suspect that something is wrong with you. Keep eye contact short at first, and gradually increase its duration.
Workout
Practicing in front of a mirror is considered an effective way to get used to eye contact.
