Your "Best" Writing

When people give me writing to analyze they almost always apologize that it is not their "best" writing, and follow up with some reason why.

But I don't want their "best" writing, and neither do you if you are going to be looking for personality traits in the script.

Think of a little child, whom you tell to be on their "best" behavior.

What does that child do?

Assuming they really are trying to be on their best behavior, they will try to behave in the way that they have been taught is the "right" way to behave. This will be what they have been told by parents or teachers.

In succesfully doing so, the child will hide most of his/her natural personality, and show only what s/he has been told is acceptable behavior. If you really want to get to know that child, you want to observe him/her playing, mixing with other kids, and generally being free and open.

The same happens with your best writing.

At some point in your life, you were taught to write. At that point, correct writing was what the teacher wrote on the board, or what was shown in the writing text book. You copied that to the best of your ability to create what was expected of you, and what was considered good writing.

You may or may not at a later time in your life had an interest in good writing. If you did, it was probably because you didn't like the look of yours, or that others were having trouble reading it, so you once more decided to adopt a "best" writing style.

Either way, the chances are that you adopted a style that someone else created and copied it carefully. Whenever you varied from that style, you considered it a mistake, or bad writing. So in your mind, good writing is actually someone else's writing style.

And in analyzing handwriting, obviously, we want the personality of the writer him or herself, not someone else, or (what would actually be the case) partly someone else.

So for analyzing, we want not the best writing, but what I refer to as your "normal scrawl." How you write when you are in a hurry, or just writing a memo to yourself. Your off-camera writing style.

This is where the real you shows through with less influence from others.

So anytime you are analyzing writing, yours or someone else's, make sure it's the writer's "normal scrawl" and keep the "best" writing for thank you letters and official documents.

Find out more about what your writing says about you...

Handwriting analysis and stress reduction

These are stressful times for many of us and we have all probably heard the standard ways of coping with it: exercise, eat right, get enough sleep etc.

But here is a way you may not have thought of ... and it's worth your while to try it because it really does work wonders.

Use your handwriting to reduce your stress.

How?

Take a clean sheet of paper, and a pen you like (or a pencil) and just fill the page with gently flowing "e"s.

Choose your favorite color of paper, felt pen or crayon if your visual.

You cannot be stressed or angry and write soft edged "e"s at the same time, and once this exercise has taken you away from your troubles for a while, it will be easier to look at things objectively and take things more easy.

For more on handwriting analysis...

Get a job with help from your handwriting

When you go for a job interview, or even when you are writing your resume and cover letter, do you know what your soft skills are? Do you know what personal qualities the employer is looking for?

Your writing can help.

You may think you know yourself pretty well, but by examining your handwriting you may find other gifts and strengths you hadn't thought of marketing for the job.

Here are some job applications for personality traits and how to identify them from writing.

The ability to concentrate well on the job in hand: shows in small writing.

Ability to sway others to your point of view with passion, feeling and persuasivieness: your writing will have a far right slant.

Ability to persuade others to your point of view using cool, analytical logic: your writing will be upright, with sharp V formations at the baseline.

Creative, imaginative, always coming up with new ideas: your writing will have large upper loops on l,k,f, h

Good at turning ideas into practicalities, making them work, taking action on them: your writing will show large lower loops on j,y,g,f

Clear thinking: your writing will have no "lead in" strokes on the letters. This traits is a two edged sword. It also means blunt and direct - so not appropriate if extreme diplomacy is required!

Well organized: you will have equally balanced top and bottom to your lower case "f"

Loyalty: you're i-dots will just be round dots, not drawn lines or shapes or jabs.

There are a great many more traits that can be found in handwriting that can help you get a job, or as an employer, help you hire the right person.

It obviously would not be a good idea to claim to the employer you have any particular quality because it shows in your handwriting!

So once you've identified the qualities you want the employer to know about, think back, and come up with real life, true stories of when you used these qualities, and have these ready to offer at the interview.

Here you can find many more traits the employers are looking for.

In tough times, it's the extra something you offer the employer that is likely to get you the job. Know yourself. Know what you can offer. And make sure you tell the employer about it, and the benefits it will bring to him (or her).

Focus on the Positives

After I have finished a presentation to a group, people always come up and ask me to look at their writing, and I usually give them a 20 second analysis ... a few of the more obvious traits I can see.

I have been doing this for many years, so I know what I can "get away with" and what is not a good idea to mention in this public setting.

I give positive traits, and may give one of the negative traits I have found are acceptable to say.

For example, stubborn is generally considered a negative trait (although many very successful people are stubborn as mules!). Procrastination is another that no-one seems to mind being made public.

So I will list about a dozen or more traits, including one "cheeky" one, like stubborn or procrastiation.

The individual goes back to their friends, who ask "What did she tell you?"

You know what the first, and often the ONLY, thing they will answer?

Yes, you probably guessed it. They will repeat the negative trait, or which ever trait they most disliked hearing. Or, in some cases, the trait they thought should have been present but wasn't!

They are focusing on the negative.

If I don't offer a negative trait, people ASK for one. They are looking for it.

Don't focus on the negative, either in your writing or in your life.

Focus on the positives. Use the positives, nurture them, make them stronger.

What you focus on expands.

Focus on your negatives (again, either in your writing or in your life) and the negatives will expand and fill your life.

So, focus on the positives and watch what they can do to make your life happier and more fulfilling.

Would you like to know what your writing says about your?

Women love recipes and to know more about other people!

So how do recipes and knowing about other people relate to each other?

And how does all this relate to handwriting analysis?

Because they are brought together in a unique, fun way in Treats 'n Traits: Delcious Recipes to fit your Personality!

Can't think of what to give a friend for a hostess gift, for a birthday or other occasion? How about Treats 'n Traits?

It shows the reader how to indentify 15 Personality traits from writing.

And then it gives one delicious, original recipe written especially to suit that personality.

Try "Far East Fantasy Salad" for the person who's writing shows them to be a Dreamer.

Or "Really Cool Coco/Pine Pie" for someone who is always Cool, Calm and Collected.

It's great fun.

You learn something neat, and you have this great selection of yummy recipes to boot.

Try a free taste of Treats 'n Traits here...

And then go back here to get the rest!

So why would I want to analyze handwriting?

So why would you want to analyze handwriting?

Because it allows you to find out things about yourself, or other people, that you might never otherwise find out.

It shows the motivations behind the actions, which explain why the actions happen or happened.

For example, Joe flies off the handle quite unexpectedly once in a while, but the rest of the time he's really quite calm and poised. Does he just have a very nasty temper that he manages to hide most of the time?

No. The likeliest explanation would be that Joe, writing with very heavy, upright writing, does not naturally express his feelings or frustrations. He just hangs on to them and they build, and build and build.

One day, another frustration occurs, and although in itself it is nothing earth shattering, or even that frustratins, it goes on top of the pile of other frustrations that have been building up. It is the straw that broke the camel's back.

Joe explodes. He just lets it all out. It sounds like a blast of a violent temper, but it's not. It's a release of all that pent up emotion.

Knowing this, someone who truly cared about Joe, could help him talk about what is getting to him on a regular basis, encourage him to "unload" gently in small doses, to the volcanic erruption doesn't happen.

That's just one example.

Was she telling a lie when ..... if it's written down, you can tell.

Will he be good for this job, where we really need someone who is good at coming up with new ideas? His writing will tell.

Can I trust him/her, will she be careful with money or a spendthrift, will he be loyal?

Will he enjoy socializing or turn into a stay-at-homer? Will she always be talking, or can she listen ... or just enjoy silence?

It's all there in the writing. Whatever you want to know about a person's personality, you can find it in their writing.

Use it to help your interaction with others, socially or at work.

Use it to make decisions for business, or your personal life.

Use it to gain insight into how better to relate to someone.

It's not magic. It's scientific.

Each stroke you write is body language, and just like any body language it gives amazing insights into someone.

Don't let the word "analyze" puts you off - this stuff works!

For more on learning handwriting analysis...

When people write in all capitals

When someone writes totally in capital letters it's because they don't want who they truly are to be seen. They may well be totally unaware that that is why they are doing it, but that doesn't change the fact that it is!

People who are just looking for clarity sometimes print. Engineers, accountants, architects are some of the employment groups who very often print because exactness and accuracy are so important in their line of work.

However, capital letters provide no further clarity than printing, so all caps is not done for clarity.

The least possible is revealed from writing in all capitals. Printing shows less than script, but when all the writing is in capitals, it hides even more.

Most handwritten ransom notes, for example, are written in all capitals!

You can get something from it however. For example, the slant will still tell you the emotional make up of the writer (the farther to the right, the more the emotional expression), and the heaviness of the writing will still tell you how deeply emotions affect this writer.

There are a few other indications that will still show through in all capital writing, however, the main thing to think about is that this person, knowingly or unknowlingly, is hiding themselves away. The question is "why?"

For more on handwriting analysis...