What can I instantly know about a person when I first meet them, the way Sherlock Holmes does?

HOW TO HAVE BRILLIANT OBSERVATIONAL FUN

Dear Angie Joan,

If you want to enjoy the delectable art of observation and deduction, tune into the Netflix show Sherlock Holmes and listen carefully (he talks fast and mumbles) to what he sees as soon as he sees a person, or quickly thereafter.

Can you do anything similar?

Yes, it is possible, outside of a fertile fiction writer's mind, to see the world as Sherlock sees it, but it requires practice, study, and the unfettered use of every sense you possess: sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste ~ plus a trustworthy intuition.

Here is a trial run:

Walk down a fairly busy street, or push a cart round a supermarket, or stroll around a movie theater lobby, and look with intensity and concentration at the faces and bodies and garments of the people who come toward you. (You might wear some cool, dark sunglasses so others might not know you are staring.)

Make a mental or written list of what your senses tell you, and the implications of what you pick up from those signals. Choose a few of the most memorable passers-by and quickly (a minute or less) build a character with a history, and go on to the next person, until you just can't look so hard any longer.

You don't have to test for whether you get the story right or wrong; you will improve steadily and a lot simply by peering perspicaciously enough to make a story.

If you practice often, your thinking will grow faster and deeper while you look, and you'll become more analytical and intuitional about evaluating what you see ~ not in an instant (although smell has a lot to do with quick and powerful first impressions) but soon enough.

If you succeed in observing enough people closely enough you will expose yourself to some marvelously good and some very disturbing surprises. You will see and perhaps even diagnose sickness; you will see happiness of hundreds of sorts; faces and postures of despair will haunt your dreams; there will be bodies full of zestiness; smiles of hope; glimmers of  genius; the sureness of stupidity; the blood of anger; the grins of deceit; and  delusion, illusion, and delight, among other commonplace expressions.

The question becomes: Why do you desire "instant" tastes and touches of a personality? Why do you most significantly wish to know in such a hurry?

Would you rather not take a long and leisurely time to get to know someone in a more profound way?

Do you feel that your quick impressions give you the upper hand?

Hope this idea gives you some productively happy hours.

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