How Mentalists Read Your Mind The Art Of Cold Reading or Mind Reading | Page 78

tell you you're right or wrong, or they may be expecting you to tell
them more. In the latter case, watch their physical reaction. If you
see some reaction that tells you you're on the right track, take up
where you left off: "He's worried about the decision," for example.
11. Cover your errors. Since you are in fact just asking questions
and repeating information back in a different way, you shouldn't
really make mistakes as you would if you were guessing things.
That said, sometimes a question will simply be off the mark, and
this can ruin the illusion if you don't recover quickly and gracefully.
Suppose, for example, that the person says they are not on the
verge of making a big decision. There are myriad ways to handle
this. One would be to say that poor, dead Uncle Bill (if you're
communicating with the spirit world) must be talking about
someone else that you both know, a relative perhaps. Another
would be to change the time frame, to ask, "But you made a big
decision in the past year, something of a new start." Still another
way would be to subtly change the way the question is framed:
"I'm sensing something new is happening in your life or is about to
happen." You don't abandon the original line of questioning. Rather
you twist it just a bit until it makes sense to the subject. After all, if
they then admit that something new is happening in their life, they
must feel a little foolish for not recognizing the psychic message
you were getting about the decision.
12. Make a positive analysis of the situation. Once you've helped
the subject to open up and you have some idea of what you're
talking about (or at least the subject believes you know what
you're talking about), you can bring the reading to a satisfying end
by relaying a message from the deceased friend or relative, or by
simply giving some prognostication based on your ability to see the
future. You don't need to be exact, and you don't need to give
advice. Just tell the subject what he or she wants to hear: that
everything will go well. You could say, for example, "Billy wants
you to know that he's always watching over you, and he misses
you. He's happy, and he wants you to be happy, too. And you will
be. You're going to make the right decision." You may, of course,