What Your Fingers Say About You

This post originally appeared on RealSimple.com.

Does Each Finger Carry Its Own Meaning?

Yes. Just as with the palm, the fingers on your dominant hand typically showcase your work and public personality, while the fingers on your other hand relate to your behavior at home and in close relationships. Every person has some strong fingers and some weak ones. The stronger a particular finger, the more likely you are to exemplify its personality traits.

Here are the associated characteristics for each digit:

Thumb: Drive to succeed.

Index finger: Power, authority, vision, and influence.

Middle finger: Accountability, efficiency, security, growth, and wisdom.

Ring finger: Creativity, self-expression, and a yearning to be in the spotlight.

Pinkie: Communication style.

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How Can You Tell Which Fingers Are Strong and Which Are Weak?

Weak digits are bent, crooked, leaning toward another finger, bending forward, or have areas that are damaged in some way. If your finger stands up straight and tall, it’s strong.

What Does the Shape of the Fingertips Reveal?

Round fingertips: You desire harmony and avoid disapproval.

Square or flat fingertips: You strive for precision and loathe vagueness.

Spatulate fingertips (broad and flared): You love originality and despise routine.

Pointed fingertips: You like to put off practical affairs in favor of pursuing the unusual and the mystical.

Can You Learn Anything From the Spaces Between Your Fingers?

Yes. Rest your hands naturally on a flat surface, or hold them up comfortably up in the air. If your fingers are widely spread apart, then you’re probably independent and open to new experiences. If your fingers are held tightly together, you may be cautious, guarded, and self-contained. If your middle and ring fingers are spread apart, you’re not easily influenced by popular opinion. If those two fingers are close together, you tend to bend to societal expectations and rules. Look at the space between your pinkie and ring finger, too. If it’s extremely wide, that’s a sign that you’re dodging important conversations and that your relationships at home or at work could be suffering as a result. If the pinkie and ring finger are an average space apart (compare them to friends’ hands for a gauge), that means you’re an independent thinker.

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