How to show your interest

Letting someone know that you like them can be nerve-wracking and difficult. However, if you were to never let someone know that you like them, then how will you ever find the one?

If you are lucky, they may come up to you and declare their undying love for you, but the reality is it often doesn't happen that way.

What makes things difficult is the social taboos and self-doubt that creep up on us. What do I mean by social taboos?

For example, a social taboo could be that girls should not approach a guy or that they should play hard to get. 

However, the truth is people are much more organic than that, and actually, the way you approach someone is the key here, not the act of approaching someone itself.

So exactly how do you express your interest in a way that will give you the best chance of attracting their attention in a positive way?

Be approachable

Contrary to popular belief, playing hard to get will not attract the affections of the guy or girl you love.

In actual fact, if you completely ignore someone or rebuff all of their advances, the chances are they will cut their losses and look elsewhere, unless of course, they are a stalker.

By being approachable, what is meant here is to be friendly, make sure your body language is not putting them off, and making eye contact.

Even just looking at someone, catching their eye and smiling slightly, can signal your interest to someone.

On the other hand, crossed arms, positioning yourself away from someone and having a cold body language can only dissuade a person.

So in order to make the first step or open up a channel of communication, then the key to it is to be welcoming and retain that aura of openness.

Being accessible is also about location. For example, if you are in a room full of people, don't cower away in the corner, or stick to the sides, as this makes it much harder for a person to approach you.

Instead, be where the centre of attention is, for example at the bar, or near the doorway. Essentially you want to be wherever the most amount of people are.

Talk to them

This can be a tricky one for some people. But the best way to get to know someone is to strike up a conversation with them.

If you are on the street, you are taking a bit more of a risk here, but in the context of an event such as a party or a club then there is no harm in going up and saying hello.

For example, you can ask them how they are enjoying the event/night, make a comment about the weather or ask them a question related to the event.

Smile

It seems so simple doesn't it? I mentioned above that making yourself approachable includes smiling and making eye contact.

But I felt this warranted a section of its own, simply because a smile alone can instantly open up a channel of communication.

People are much more likely to respond to you and come over and talk simply by the act of smiling alone.

Even if they react in a negative way it is useful in that it serves as a way of confirming whether a person may be worth pursuing and how they are likely to react.

The old saying that you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar, holds true here in that sense.