Two decades ago, teachers meticulously taught children how to write in four-line and two-line notebooks, encouraging them to develop a beautiful and legible handwriting. Perhaps they knew something about graphology.
Nowadays, neither the parents nor the teachers lay much stress on handwriting until the child sits for the board examinations. At that point, they insist students should cultivate readable handwriting just to score marks, especially in the board examinations. But handwriting can fetch you more than mere marks.
Before writing down your notes and words, think twice. Your writing serves as a window to your character, personality and mood.
This was stressed at the five-day workshop ‘Intensive training on handwriting analysis – Graphology’ held at Madurai Institute of Social Sciences (MISS). The Department of Medical and Psychiatric Social Work of MISS, ANUGRAHA, and Tamil Nadu Capuchin Institute for Counselling, Psychotherapy and Research, Dindigul, jointly organised the workshop.
“The fastest, easiest and the most accurate method of analysing someone’s personality is handwriting analysis, also known as graphology,” says Rev. D. John Antony, resource person. “The way you write and what you write tells your character.”
Study of character
According to Rev. John Antony, graphology is the study of human character through handwriting. Handwriting gives an insight into the mental, physical and emotional states of the writer. A careful analysis can reveal an individual’s intelligence, attitude, aptitude, moods, motives and interpersonal skills.
“There is a connection between brain and writing,” he explains. “It is not your hand, legs and mouth that write but your nerves, brain and stored behaviour.”
Rev. John Antony says an effort in cultivating good handwriting helps remove flaws such as negative attitude and indiscipline in an individual. “By practising a few exercises, learning strokes and techniques, one could get rid of not only bad handwriting but also personality flaws. And the therapeutic value is permanent,” he adds.
“Handwriting reveals your character and similarly, your handwriting can change your behaviour if practised perfectly,” he says. “Character traits have evolved over decades and we should not expect a sea change overnight.”
Assessing personality
Handwriting keeps changing with the changes in your personality. “The theory behind this fact, says Rev. John Antony, “is that all nervous and muscular movements have their origin in the brain. Handwriting is an instant photography that highlights an individual’s emotional, physical and mental behaviour.”
Graphologists look for minute details such as the slant of writing, size of the letters, margins, complete or incomplete letters, regularity of line spacing, pressure, speed, and degrees of the slants. Even the dots on the ‘i’, the cross on the ‘t,’ and the loop in the ‘g’ and ‘y’ divulge your hidden character and mood. Graphology can help an individual to identify the career best suited to him or her. It is also used in crime detection and forensic medicine.
Is there any way to cheat in a handwriting test? An emphatic no is the answer. Rev. John Antony says it is not possible for a person to conceal his or her natural writing and behaviour, or at least to maintain that concealment to the end. The cat will jump out of the bag at some point. For this reason, graphologists ask for a long write-up to assess.
“People who have planned to take graphology as a profession should work with conscience and should not misuse their abilities to hurt another individual,” says D. Helen Christina, Counsellor and Consultant Psychotherapist (Voluntary Service), MISS.
One of the participants, Phavalam, a counsellor, says, “My participation in the workshop has had a big impact on my life, I believe. I could witness my own transformation in my writing style.”
“The experience has been great and enrolling in the programme has been one of the smartest things I have done,” says Rani Chakaravarthy, another counsellor.
Janet Vasanthakumari, Head of the Department of Medical and Psychiatric Social Work at MISS, says she plans to organise workshops on graphology and neurolinguistic programmes in future.
So next time we put pen to paper, we need to be conscious that our handwriting says as much as the words we use. After all it’s all in our hands.
