Understanding handwriting for better relationships
Understanding handwriting for better relationships
By Ati Nurbaiti
JAKARTA (JP): Your handwriting, graphologist Ness Shirley
asserts, illustrates your personality.
A disconnected horizontal bar of a "t" reveals impatience,
small characters show modesty and a downward line indicates
discouragement. A small left margin reveals a clinging to the
past, while a tendency to leave a large gap at the top of a page
shows a great respect for authority.
Before rushing off to practice and reflect on your handwriting
in this age of the laptop, Shirley says that handwriting doesn't
change much due to lack of practice.
"A change in handwriting reflects a change in personality,"
she explained while using her own daughters as examples. "My
eldest has got bigger handwriting now." Shirley said this
reflects her daughter's jump in self confidence after entering
the business world.
Shirley, from Scotland in Great Britain, is a graphologist.
Graphology, according to The World Book Encyclopedia, is the
study of a person's handwriting to gain information of his or her
personality.
Shirley said she studied the science 12 years ago at The
School of Graphology in Brussels, Belgium.
Managers in Belgium and France place high importance on
handwriting when recruiting employees. They look to see if the
perspective employee has a sense of autonomy and cooperation.
"Old companies look for tradition and conventionality in
recruits," said Shirley, whose services are often requested by
managers.
But she quickly warned that employees should not be afraid of
getting the sack because of their handwriting.
"When you gain understanding of a person it's very good for
better communication," said Shirley, who added that she
specializes is stroke analysis.
Shirley was talking to a crowd last week at the pen display in
the Atrium at Plaza Indonesia.
When her contract with the Mont Blanc pen company ends, she is
scheduled to hold a one-day introduction to graphology here in
March.
Handwriting, she continued, also reflects our "coping
mechanisms". It discloses a person prone to telling little white
lies as well as those who are good and those who are hostile when
coping with their surroundings. It uncovers a person with a chip
on their shoulder and a person who can't say no.
But Shirley knows the limits of her skills. She said she would
have to learn about other scripts, like Chinese, before being
able to study all handwriting.
An immediate challenge came from none other than Mrs. Maud
Girard, who teaches Chinese archeology in a number of
institutions in France and is the wife of French ambassador
Dominique Girard.
"It's a Taoist phrase," said Mrs. Girard, explaining what she
wrote, after refusing to be cajoled into writing Latin script.
"I would have to learn how people of the culture were brought
up to write, regarding pressure, slant and size for instance,"
explained Shirley.
"Psychology helps in studying handwriting, but a graphologist
must not pretend to be a psychologist," she added.
Where is the line then?
The World Book Encyclopedia states that many scientists
regard graphology as a pseudo-science because many of its claims
lack scientific evidence. Psychologists, however, consider the
study a useful diagnostic tool.
You can find out more at the one-day introduction to
graphology by Ness Shirley in March. Check with the International
Community Activity Center (ICAC) on Jl. Kemang Raya 14, South
Jakarta.