The quality of one's thinking is instrumental in moulding a highly individualised personality; and handwriting becomes an outward acknowledgment of personality which is just as indicative of character as speech and action.

Graphology teaches that each of us write a little differently : no two handwritings are exactly alike just,  as no two finger-prints are ever identical. The movements of the pen express the intellect, imagination, emotional stability, social adjustment, drives and tensions, creative potential, and executive capacity of the writer. Thus, a graphological analysis of a handwriting specimen becomes a behavioural indicator,  and a remarkably accurate gauge of the writer's character. Graphology can even foretell a person's future actions and future intellectual performance.

It is possible to discover, for instance, by the slant of letters,  some other revealing traits of handwriting -  to what degree a writer is extroverted or introverted. Freud's studies of the neuroses showed us the value of the term "unconscious." His findings have yielded symbols which are scattered throughout our dreams. Only a psychoanalyst can decipher them for us. Symbolic language will be found in handwriting too, because with the pen we project our conscious and unconscious drives.

If you are beginning your study of graphology, start with a specimen of your own handwriting, and then go on to those of your relatives and friends. Save all letters and envelopes, so that you can compare one specimen with another and thus train your eye. It is important when requesting a handwriting specimen to state that the writing should be done in ink and on paper without lines or margins. Also, obtain as many pages as possible, because some important character trait may not reveal itself until farther down on the page or several pages later. Graphologists place much value on handwritings that appear natural and unassuming. Since a reproduction of a handwriting cannot fully transfer the emotional character -  the energy and life of an original, a spontaneously written script in its original state is far more valuable than one that has been copied from a book or manuscript, or one that has been reproduced. Be sure to request for a signature too.

Examine your handwriting specimen (a magnifying glass proves to be an invaluable aid). Then apply one by one, the comprehensive and exhaustive criteria of the sixteen factors (the "form level of the script" will mean the shape of the letters, the style of writing, the appearance of loops, the connective form, garland, arcade, angular, thread and the rhythm.)