Finally, after umming and ahhing and with bittersweet feelings, I decided to move away from my business name My Alcomy…

Fillers in conversation, like ‘um’ and ‘er’, tend to be viewed negatively. However, there’s plenty of evidence that they serve a valuable purpose during communication. In this article, we’ll look at some of the suggested meanings behind these discourse markers, with the aim of breaking negative connotations. If you’re aware of your use of these utterances and are concerned about how you use them, hopefully, I can put you at ease.

With COVID-19 concerns and more working from home, could the desire for touch in the office be diminished for good? And what would be lost in the workplace if the handshake was no longer? According to Perth-based My Alcomy Non-Verbal Communication Specialist and Founder Sophie Halliday Zadeh, touch is one of the more important non-verbal connections people can make in an office environment.

It’s been a while (about 12 years) since I picked up a piece of clay and to be honest, I never thought I would. Now, I can’t stop creating and I’m combining two passions into one fun and exciting workshop series. If you’re in Perth, Australia, join me at an upcoming Sculpt and Sip class, for a glass of vino and to learn about emotion and expression, through drawing and clay.

Why do we judge people from the moment we see them? And when we feel threatened by them, what happens during our body’s emergency response to fear. Read about my involuntary nonverbal behaviours when I encountered a guy with Tourette Syndrome. Both our bodies reacting to a stimulus.

Read about my secret wedding, the emotions we tried to conceal and the body language and expression that reveal our true emotions. What are the nonverbal signs of tomfoolery?

I've been quiet on my blog for a while now because I lost my beautiful mother in May. I've wanted to share with you some observations during my experience of loss– of emotion and nonverbal expression– I'm finally ready to write about it. I'm not sharing my experience of loss as such, but what I want to do here is mention some behaviours that felt noteworthy, illustrating some of the nonverbal cues that I usually write about. 

It was sudden and unexpected, so much so, that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. Living on the other side of the world, I hadn't seen my mum for over two years. I was 'greeted' at the airport by my sister, who reluctantly stepped forth from behind her partner, his body temporarily and unknowingly shielding her from what she had to do. They were waiting right at the very back of the crowd, distancing themselves from the reality of what she was about to disclose.