1. Mirroring
Let’s start with a classic! If your date copies your body language—resting their head on their hand, crossing their legs, getting closer—they’re looking to establish a more intimate emotional connection with you—and probably without even realising they’re doing it. The most exciting aspect of mirroring is that it extends beyond what your date is doing with their body to how they speak: how fast they talk, the tone of their voice—even the words they use!
2. Smiling
Yes it sounds obvious!—but in the heat of a first date, when your nerves are a mess, sometimes the simplest signs are all you need to let you know you’re doing okay! It’s not hard to tell the difference between a real smile and a fake one—and a fake one is hard to sustain as well. If your date just cannot stop smiling, not only when you’re talking but also just when they’re looking at you—well that’s as real as it gets. Enjoy the attention—and make sure to smile back!
3. Touching
Whether it’s an accidentally-on-purpose coming together as you enter the bar, a pat on your arm as they emphasise a point, or a hand on your back as you exit at the end of the night, if your date seems to find little reasons here and there to establish physical contact with you, they’re almost certainly into you!
4. Leaning
If your date is constantly leaning in while you’re talking, with their face, chest and feet all pointing in your direction, they’re displaying some serious interest. Best of all, they probably have no idea they’re doing it.
5. Looking
If you catch your date looking at you when there’s a natural break in the conversation and you glance away, they’re taking the opportunity to enjoy looking at you uninterrupted. Or if one of you goes to the bar, look out for the ‘sweep’: scanning the room apparently to survey the goings-on, but repeatedly returning to look at you. If you catch them looking and they look away with a shy smile, and then look again—you’re on to a winner.
6. Fidgeting
Far from a sign of boredom, in certain circumstances if your date is fidgeting it’s because they’re nervous in your presence, not uninterested! When we’re anxious our heart beats fast, our palms sweat, and we might laugh awkwardly. To ameliorate all these physical manifestations of our nerves, we often channel this energy into fidgeting without even realising it. So if your date is touching their face, playing with their hair, or twiddling their cutlery while gazing at you, there’s a good chance they fancy you.
7. Establishing and maintaining eye contact
We started our list with mirroring, a true classic of the body language roster, so it’s only right to close with another. We might consider eye contact a normal part of conversation, but all rules are out the window when it comes to dating. If we’re not into someone, our eyes naturally wander to what’s going on in the bar, out the window, to the exit sign… But if your date’s eyes are set steadfast on you—while you speak, yes, but especially when you’re physically apart—there’s little doubt left. They’re into you, they’re fascinated by you—and they’re drinking you in.
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