Graphology or handwriting analysis has always attracted curiosity. People claim they do not believe but will never flinch from knowing what one’s handwriting indicates. Graphologists say that these days besides individuals, even companies have begun to ‘character-profile’ individuals based on their writing samples.

Having studied it for a while, I would think that taking it to the point of giving it undue importance can actually be harmful. Graphology is fine for a light humorous discussion or some fun hours at office. The problem starts when people decide to ‘change’ their handwriting in a bid to solve problems in their lives. This method is known as ‘Graphotherapy’ and a graphologist might actually advise you to change the slant of your ‘g’ and ‘y’ to invite happy times.

Imagine a person whose baseline is slanting downwards allegedly indicating a sense of pessimism, depression or illness. Analysing that in co-ordination with other strokes, a graphologist will suggest that you try and make a moderate upward change in slant to your writing. This is a very tiresome effort and one which requires a person to give himself constant positive affirmations. Have known people who tried to change their handwriting, some succeed, but most give up after a while.

There is vast literature on the internet on how to change handwriting to achieve success. According to Brainwriting.com, there are “200+ characteristics that can be determined from how a person writes. This includes temperament, emotions, moods, self-esteem, intelligence, social ability, drives, energy, imagination, fears, defences, and potential problem areas.” The website goes on to add that neuro-scientists who have tested and studied handwriting throughout the years have noted that people who share similar stroke patterns do in fact share the same traits within their personality. That however, does not mean that tomorrow if you simply change your handwriting to make it look similar to how successful people write, you will also become successful.

Dr. Parag Khatri, a graphologist, says that Graphotherapy is all about creating new pathways in our thought process and it usually takes at least three to six months for changes to be visible. I would think 3-6 months can also be used to put in more effort in what one is pursuing to achieve. There is no easy way to attain success in life. I have personally also come across ‘certified graphologists’ who advise people to change signatures to achieve success. With one such graphologist, all students that trained under him had a similar look to their signature. There is no guarantee that all his students will attain success in life, may be they all will but that could be because they may have worked hard for it.

At PaGaLGuY headquarters itself last February we had some good fun while I attempted to read people’s handwriting. By now, everybody has even forgotten what I said though I was asked to send my remarks on email.