Thick skinned hands and soft hearted living
I like a good, firm handshake with a fella…look him in the eye, plant that hand in a deep grip a way down into the webbing of the thumb and forefinger, and give a good squeeze with the fatty palm of the hand. Boom! Respect! That’s a proper way for two men to shake hands.
My young grandsons are learning to shake hands. “Put ‘er in the vise” I’ll say and they will dig their little paw into my big ‘ol mit and give the best squeeze they can.
People remember stuff about us. How they felt when we greeted them is one of the things that makes an impression. Shaking hands (with eye contact) is one of those ways.
*I sold my last house on a handshake to a guy. We wrote a contract later but the handshake meant something to both of us. True story!
Why write a blog about something as innocuous as shaking hands with another person? Well, I’ll tell ya. The handshake - every nuance of it - is a reflection of the person offering their hand.
I have hands that look better when you put gloves on ‘em! Big ‘ol slabs with plenty of calluses, a scar on a few of the digits, usually a scratch somewhere and probably a torn cuticle. Trim-biting my nails is not off limits for me either once in a while. But I’m still a handshake guy. I don’t care that I’m no hand-model. Nobody looks at the hand if you look the other in the eye. “Put ‘er in the vise.”
So, again, why take the time to think about a handshake today?
Because how you greet one another speaks more than we sometimes think to the other. It sets the tone. It reveals something about you.
A good greeting reveals that (to you) it’s actually “good to meet you” or “good to see you” or that you “appreciate them taking the time to meet with you.” And the other person can feel that.
It’s a simple thing - just a big thing. I know we meet folks all the time in life. The way we greet them leaves an impact. If you focus on how you greet them (and why) it will help frame up what you expect from the time together and how to get to that objective. If nothing else, a great greeting will say something to you about yourself and remind you that you have a good hearted reason for connecting with others.
People tend to forget what we say but they tend to remember how we make them feel. Greet them well and you’ll be bringing your soft and good heart in the connection.
Think about it and then go do it all the more. Your head and heart, connected and coming out in a handshake.
Peace~
Craig
