Personality Revealed
By Mary Kearl
How you write your letters -- dark, small, large, curved or angled -- can give insight into your personality and innermost thoughts, says Michelle Dresbold, handwriting analyst and author of "Sex, Lies, and Handwriting: A Top Expert Reveals the Secrets Hidden in Your Handwriting." Read through the photo gallery below to learn about what writing traits reveal about the person behind the pen. Note you'll need to disable your pop-up blocker to view the slide show.
By Mary Kearl
If You Don't Do This You Have No Follow-Through
Have No Follow-Through
"Somebody who crosses their 't' halfway doesn't follow through in life. He starts something, but doesn't finish it. But if he crosses his 't,' he's completing it. That physical act will translate into other areas of his life over time, which is just a small example of how you can change traits in your writing to be better in life," says Dresbold.
Signature vs. Handwriting
"You write your signature for other people. Your signature is how you want to portray yourself to the world, while the rest of your writing displays how you really are. If your signature is very different from the rest of your handwriting, what you show to the public is not necessarily what you feel inside. You can have one image for the world and another image of yourself internally," says Dresbold.
Recognize These Signatures? From top to bottom, they belong to Charles Manson (notice the swastika), Liberace (there is a piano in that scrawl) and Beatle Ringo Starr (notice the star within the Starr)
Detect Lying in Writing
"If you speak the truth, you don't have to think much about it," Dresbold explains. "When you lie, you hesitate, because lying takes extra thinking. In writing in which someone is lying, there will either be a gap, the words will tighten up (as a person who's lying tenses up) or they will move out of alignment. If you practice noticing this, you can really tell when someone is lying."
Which Note-Writer Do You Think Is Lying?
If you thought John was lying, you're right. Notice the spacing and change in writing style between "I got" and "a flat tire."
The Ideal Handwriting
"Extra-round-looking handwriting indicates when someone is almost too young and relaxed, or too easy-going. Ideally we want a combination of curved and angled handwriting, at least for an adult," Dresbold says.
Israel's fourth prime minister, Golda Meir's autograph embodies this balance.



