Right Margins: Are the right margins in their lines of writing fairly even? Or do they over-shoot and bump into the right edge of the paper and have to squeeze in a couple last characters? It would equate with their own ability – or inability – to plan and control. The right margin over-shooter no doubt does a few other things with too little planning; they may go out to spend $20, and spend $100.
Tell them they have done so recently, and you’ll almost always have a solid hit.
The neater margin would be good for the admin stuff where planning ahead and sticking to it are needed. Then again, the right margins may be very wide. These people hold back from moving forward, into the future; even more so, if the
individual letters are narrow and squeezed tightly together. Fearful, shy or repressed, possibly, they prefer the familiar to the new; they resist change and favor nostalgia and the system/status quo, with only a few small changes they’d like. (In their salaries, possibly.)
Still More Clues
Goatee and mustache guys: I see this forever in shrinks, people involved in psychological things. One government psychologist swears that the research shows that people will tend to comply with a mustache and beard person more quickly than to a face without it, which is why he wears one! I think I do see a pattern where those men with the goatees are more likely to be involved in psychological interpretation and manipulation/power issues with other people.
Full beards are less conventional guys. They are also likely aware of being so, and can likely be pugnacious about it, if pressed. Employers tend to have a bias in seeing bearded guys as less likely ‘team players’; more radical in their views. As most professional headhunters will strongly advise you, job interviews go over far better if their client doesn’t have a beard!
Men’s Belts: If you see ridges in his belt crossing adjoining belt holes, showing that his weight has been changing over the past year or so, you can go into that. It may be worry, illness, will power – or someone else’s belt. (This is similar for women.) I’ve had hits more than once – on men – with losing weight on this one.
Worn left heel: You can talk about their long hours, behind the wheel, in a car, “. . . on the road . . . usually driving; not so often the passenger, I see.” As well, had this person the money, they might well have bought new shoes by now … cue in the lack of money lines.
Shoes: I am a shoe studier. I have found that this is one part of the clothes that gets overlooked when it comes to peoples’ image-making efforts. I cannot count the number of women with adequately groomed hair, makeup, clothing, nails – and
their shoes are ratty! There seems to be a conspiracy about women’s shoe design; the truly fashionable stuff has pointed toes and illogical pointed heels.
One podiatrist I spoke with said that he blessed the inventor of these shoes every morning, as he would surely gain some of the wearers as clients after they were forty years old! I see this motion-hindering shoe design for women as a form of modern foot-binding, possibly subliminally designed by men to keep women in an awkward, weakened, less capable situation.
In looking at women’s footwear, I see the woman who goes along with this damaging practice to be willing to assume the dependent ‘weaker woman’ role. I find that those who show signs of the ‘simplification’ mentioned in the handwriting paragraphs will likely wear lower heels with less-restricting toe designs. A truly intelligent woman will refuse to put herself in a subservient role merely to appeal to men or fashion.
The heels on high heels will often tell you about the women’s financial stature.
Heels on women’s shoes wear quickly, and even the best of them will get scuffed and often irreparably damaged. The leather (or whatever) around the heel will get
loosened and scraped. Whatever the rest of her clothing says, this clue will tell you she hasn’t the money to buy shoes often enough, or is unconscious about such details, or is a slob.
Essentially, the same applies to men’s shoes, except that they are usually designed a bit more for comfort. Men who wear very different kinds of shoes are very different kinds of people. I have seen many suit, jacket and tie men who looked like they just stepped off the clothing rack, but their shoes were some expensive, specially-designed odd sort of comfortable lumps.
This guy is going to possibly be bright, and have some uncommon opinions on some subjects – and likely will be more than willing to tell you about them. The same worn, ratty shoe remarks I made about women apply to men, as well. They don’t have the money to buy more shoes. My shoe-watching report is that it’s a moderately rare man – no matter how well dressed – who has a good shoe shine, especially on the back of the heels. When you find one, you can rightfully go on about his sharp attention to details that other people blindly miss, etc.
Does your client ask questions? Want to know? Curious? Or does she seem not to know what is expected of her? Is she a first-timer, or someone who will be intimidated? Passive? Is she testing you by trying to say too little? Is she/he lying, exaggerating? I cannot give any hard rules here, but these are questions you should ask yourself.
Cigarette-stained fingers can give you a clue. Pet hairs on their clothing can lead to animal lines; even something about animal rights could be a good hit for them.
I find that if I wished to plagiarize, or attempt to paraphrase, Gail Sheehy’s great volume, “Passages”, I could add another sixty or eighty pages to this book. You’ll just have to read her book. You, too, will find tons of useful information here:
statistical stuff, insights into the problems and viewpoints of different age groups, and excellent quotes.
There is a basic point of view that I’ve worked out in figuring out people.
It’s this:
People ADD to themselves those things that they feel that they LACK.
Consider the guy with the black t-shirt with the bloody skull on it and some macho words about stomping on your face . . . who also has a large knife in his pocket.
What you know about this guy already is that he feels frightened and
powerless! Otherwise he wouldn’t need to add all those things in order to feel better about himself – more powerful and less frightened.
Of course that woman with the extreme makeup feels ‘unattractive’ without it, doesn’t she? I’ve met women who would just not be seen in public without their
‘face’ on.
So look over the people around you. What do they feel they need to add to themselves in order to feel ‘all right?’ Do they feel powerless? Ugly? Too short?
Too dull? Too ordinary? Too fat? Too thin? Too old? Too weird? (These hide in clothes that make them look just like everyone else!)
In the military prisons, I’m told that there are a lot of guys with ‘Death Before Dishonor’ tattooed on themselves.
And what about the guy who has the woman’s name tattooed onto his body?
Isn’t this an attempt to keep her ‘with him’ forever? I’ll bet there will be problems with this guy when she wants to leave the relationship! Odd ‘ownership concepts about the woman being ‘his’ woman . . . Maybe he’ll say, “I won’t let you leave.”
Won’t ‘let’ her leave . . . That’s a frightening statement! What will he do, chain her up in his basement? Duct tape her to the chair? Bury her body in the garden out back?
What do the bumper stickers on their car proclaim? Lots of bumper stickers filled with quotes and group affiliations and slogans? This person is likely
argumentative and outspoken. Don’t get them started if you cannot stand lectures and tirades.
What is the message of their t-shirt? Keep in mind that all animals, messages or things on their t-shirt are, in some way, mirroring them and how they wish feel about themselves.
Of course, they are trying to convince you to think of them like that, too!
Does the teen-aged girl have a Playboy bunny symbol on her shirt? Does the skinny, awkward teen-aged guy have a Terminator robot on his shirt? The meek-looking guy with the huge, roaring lion?
Are they lonely, frightened, depressed people? They will have four or five plaques in their workspace with uplifting messages, or three-by-five cards with cheerleading ego-boosters taped on the dashboard of their car. They may have a lot of religious symbols and quotes around them; pictures of bleeding Jesuses staring over their shoulders. Every time they see them they get a little boost that they feel they need. The more of these items they have, the more severely they feel the need for them, and the stronger the feeling of lacking, incompleteness, insecurity, or depression they are announcing to others.
They are saying, “This is what I cannot seem to find in myself anyplace, so I have to try to add it from the outside to feel right.” It could be said that they are naive enough not to know that they are publicly announcing their inner worries and fears to the more alert part of the world. Still, they are actively doing something about it.
Are there lots of defining labels? Their job title on their desk? Their
astrological sign? They’re trying to determine, and proclaim, just who they are – to others, and to themselves. This is how they want you to think of them.
Sometimes, you’ll see some extreme example of this: the woman with far too much time spent in coloring, combing, painting and dressing, or the guy with the shoes with slightly higher heels and the toupee and the expensive brand-name watch.
You can sigh to yourself and think what a shame it is that these people really feel that they desperately need all this stuff just to feel normal and acceptable!