I have done two books for newcomers to graphology. The first The Trait Directory shows as many indicators as I could find for nearly 300 personality traits and has room for the reader to write them in as well. This allows the reader to fix the indicator more firmly in mind. The book is most useful when you have to decide among several traits which one fits the writer best.
My second book is The Alphabet Speaks and each letter is shown with the different stabs, loops, shapes associated with the letter with an explanation of what this indicates.
These books are available through me. I can mail a printed copy already bound for:
The Trait Directory........................$15 plus postage or as an e-book you can print for............$10
The Alphabet Speaks.....................$20 plus postage or as an e-book you can print for...........$15
I can accept payment thru PayPal or money order.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Handwriting Tips
Just read a blog on how to write with information on holding the pen and how to practice. It is so good I am adding a link so you can read it in its entirety.
http://aaarticles.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/handwriting-tips/
http://aaarticles.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/handwriting-tips/
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Fears, Defenses, Resistances, and Escapes
The fears that show in handwriting are mainly fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of ridicule, fear of success. There are nuances for each of these fears but they mostly boil down to these four.
Once you have found the fears in a writing you must try to identify why it exists. Then what are the defenses for this fear. What are the resistances and escapes. To give you an example I will use myself. My writing shows I have a fear of loss or rejection. My defense is to be a people pleaser. The resistance is to avoid conflict at all costs and my escape is to manipulate others to fight my battles.
I had a very happy childhood and found the fear of loss or rejection puzzleing. My teacher Ron told me it stemmed from very early childhood. I said my parents divorced when I was 3. Instead of being told about the divorce we were told our mother had died. I do remember the anger I felt when told my mother had died. I don't even remember how old I was when we learned the truth that she didn't die until I was nearly 7. In the last few years I have learned what I thought were recurring dreams were memories. One was of myself trying to reach a baby bottle under the bed while a baby cried. The other was of 2 women coming to the house and being turned away and one of the ladies crying. But I was about 25 when I learned I had a half sister. To make a long story short in todays world she would have been charged with child endangerment and it was one of the things that led to the divorce.
To go on my defense became to be a pleaser while my stubborn German background threw in some "silent rebellion" in the form of backwards formed capital I's and lower case f's. My avoidance of conflict has made it hard for me to say NO and even now that causes me to take on more than I should.
As for the escape I find I hint at what I want or need done and hope others will take care of it for me.
At least I am aware of these things and to know yourself so well is a valuable lesson. Through my studies of graphology and writing the Alphabet Speaks I have made some changes. Becoming a bit more analytical, a bit more reserved, and I can actually say NO now and mean it.
So look at your writing. Did you identify your fear? Do you understand what your defense is and the resistance and escape? If not lets get together.
Once you have found the fears in a writing you must try to identify why it exists. Then what are the defenses for this fear. What are the resistances and escapes. To give you an example I will use myself. My writing shows I have a fear of loss or rejection. My defense is to be a people pleaser. The resistance is to avoid conflict at all costs and my escape is to manipulate others to fight my battles.
I had a very happy childhood and found the fear of loss or rejection puzzleing. My teacher Ron told me it stemmed from very early childhood. I said my parents divorced when I was 3. Instead of being told about the divorce we were told our mother had died. I do remember the anger I felt when told my mother had died. I don't even remember how old I was when we learned the truth that she didn't die until I was nearly 7. In the last few years I have learned what I thought were recurring dreams were memories. One was of myself trying to reach a baby bottle under the bed while a baby cried. The other was of 2 women coming to the house and being turned away and one of the ladies crying. But I was about 25 when I learned I had a half sister. To make a long story short in todays world she would have been charged with child endangerment and it was one of the things that led to the divorce.
To go on my defense became to be a pleaser while my stubborn German background threw in some "silent rebellion" in the form of backwards formed capital I's and lower case f's. My avoidance of conflict has made it hard for me to say NO and even now that causes me to take on more than I should.
As for the escape I find I hint at what I want or need done and hope others will take care of it for me.
At least I am aware of these things and to know yourself so well is a valuable lesson. Through my studies of graphology and writing the Alphabet Speaks I have made some changes. Becoming a bit more analytical, a bit more reserved, and I can actually say NO now and mean it.
So look at your writing. Did you identify your fear? Do you understand what your defense is and the resistance and escape? If not lets get together.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
To change or not to change
I have been thinking a lot about grapho-therapy lately. My original teacher did quite a bit of grapho-therapy and was especially successful with anorexics and bulimics who had no success with the traditional medical approach. He wanted to have one of his more promising students learn about medical signs in handwriting and to do grapho-therapy but she was too busy and then he became too ill.
First the writing has to be analyzed thoroughly. The analyst must decide what traits if any should be changed in the writing. Some people are happy as they are. Others don’t want to change because it would bring on too many changes in their lives. And remember a negative trait is not always a negative when it is tempering another trait.
Next does you client have things they want to change in their personality? Do you agree with the changes they think they want? You need to find out more about your client. What do they like and dislike about themselves. Not about their writing but themselves personally. It may be silly or trivial. the color of their eyes, length of their nose, they bite their nails, the shape of their ears who knows what they will some up with. You will be getting more of their writing to look at and may learn some fact that will help in the therapy.
Each trait has to be looked at to see if it is a fear, defense, resistance or escape or if it fits several of these categories. If it is a fear what is it’s defense? What are the resistances and escapes in play. What would be the first thing to change in the writing to cause the least damage? Once you have decided upon a change to recommend what do you expect to happen? Will this change be positive or negative? What about any peripheral changes? What might also change? Is this good or bad?
The first thing generally advised for grapho-therapy, and that is usually not one to cause problems, is to underline the name because things you underline are important. But what if your client is an adult with very high t and d stems (pride bordering on vanity)? To underline their name could make them obnoxious. Especially if they are aggressive and argumentative to begin or if their t and d stems are taller than the capitals (conceit).
Look at the t and d stems are they looped? Looped stems would mean a sensitivity to criticism. Is this acting like a brake on the aggressiveness? Then you don’t want to remove the sensitivity right away.
What about the e? Is it open or closed. If closed you could have them open the e so they are able to listen to others. To at least consider another’s ideas and opinions.
What if they have a looped t (fear of failure) and y that does not come back to the baseline (fear of success). Which should you change first? It depends up on the rest of the writing.
No matter what you decide is the change to make it is important to keep a close eye on what else is changing and if the changes are having any physical effect on the client. Headaches, tremors, nervousness etc. It may be necessary to stop or change the therapy in this case.
First the writing has to be analyzed thoroughly. The analyst must decide what traits if any should be changed in the writing. Some people are happy as they are. Others don’t want to change because it would bring on too many changes in their lives. And remember a negative trait is not always a negative when it is tempering another trait.
Next does you client have things they want to change in their personality? Do you agree with the changes they think they want? You need to find out more about your client. What do they like and dislike about themselves. Not about their writing but themselves personally. It may be silly or trivial. the color of their eyes, length of their nose, they bite their nails, the shape of their ears who knows what they will some up with. You will be getting more of their writing to look at and may learn some fact that will help in the therapy.
Each trait has to be looked at to see if it is a fear, defense, resistance or escape or if it fits several of these categories. If it is a fear what is it’s defense? What are the resistances and escapes in play. What would be the first thing to change in the writing to cause the least damage? Once you have decided upon a change to recommend what do you expect to happen? Will this change be positive or negative? What about any peripheral changes? What might also change? Is this good or bad?
The first thing generally advised for grapho-therapy, and that is usually not one to cause problems, is to underline the name because things you underline are important. But what if your client is an adult with very high t and d stems (pride bordering on vanity)? To underline their name could make them obnoxious. Especially if they are aggressive and argumentative to begin or if their t and d stems are taller than the capitals (conceit).
Look at the t and d stems are they looped? Looped stems would mean a sensitivity to criticism. Is this acting like a brake on the aggressiveness? Then you don’t want to remove the sensitivity right away.
What about the e? Is it open or closed. If closed you could have them open the e so they are able to listen to others. To at least consider another’s ideas and opinions.
What if they have a looped t (fear of failure) and y that does not come back to the baseline (fear of success). Which should you change first? It depends up on the rest of the writing.
No matter what you decide is the change to make it is important to keep a close eye on what else is changing and if the changes are having any physical effect on the client. Headaches, tremors, nervousness etc. It may be necessary to stop or change the therapy in this case.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Teaching Cursive
I used to wonder why printing was taught in the first place. Children learn so quickly to make rounds and squiggles when playing with crayons and pencils. Through a Canadian graphologist I have learned about a French lady's teaching method. Her name is Danielle Dumont and I would love to have her books. The problem? Well as teaching manuals they are over $100 and in French which I do not read. The idea though is so simple it is refreshing. She used ribbon for rhythmic exercises making patterns in the air with the ribbon. Then they make the same strokes on a blackboard where they can see the patterns. From this they learn to make letters. After all a small loop is an e, a large loop is an l. Of course in French le is a word so when shown that by breaking the exercise into 2 strokes or letters they have written a word the children get really excited. Now the y and f can be added as they also are loops. The cup shaped stroke is a short point and a tall point then they are shown to add a dot to the short point and crossbar to the tall point and suddenly they are making i and t. Humps become m and n and my is a word, if is a word, me is a word etc. The exercises can also be used to sharpen focus by making strokes that change angles like a string of v or w or to relax and calm down by making the loops ely.
I do understand that they are taught to print so they can read books but it just seemes cursive is the easier to learn and as they can make words so easily it stirs the children to learn to write sooner. Unfortunately, in today's world I have even heard teachers say they can barely read cursive and never use it themselves and some of our local schools spend barely any time teaching it. I believe they are supposed to give it 6 weeks in second grade but one teacher said she did 2 weeks. Then they go back to printing. No wonder students hate written tests that require the use of cursive. I think it ought to be the required writing after they learn to read.
I do understand that they are taught to print so they can read books but it just seemes cursive is the easier to learn and as they can make words so easily it stirs the children to learn to write sooner. Unfortunately, in today's world I have even heard teachers say they can barely read cursive and never use it themselves and some of our local schools spend barely any time teaching it. I believe they are supposed to give it 6 weeks in second grade but one teacher said she did 2 weeks. Then they go back to printing. No wonder students hate written tests that require the use of cursive. I think it ought to be the required writing after they learn to read.
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