silvergoldmagazine.ca
INSPIRATION
THAT TRAIL OF INK
– By Mary Ann Matthews, CGA
It is always interesting to watch a person’s reaction when
I give them my business card. Some will look at it and say,
“Oh, a CGA. You’re an accountant.”
“No,” I reply. “I’m a Certified Graphoanalyst – Handwriting
Analyst.”
The reactions can be amusing. A few have responded, “Hey,
great! I’ve always wanted to meet one.” Then they extend
their hand, palm upward, adding,
What I have to tell them is, that would be palmistry and
not my area of expertise.
Some react by taking a step away from me. This is puzzling.
Do they think that standing too close to a handwriting analyst
could be injurious to their mental health? Sometimes I
laughingly tell them that I won’t cast a spell on them... not
right away.
Others will immediately cover up any writing or printing
with their hands while saying,
The truth is, most of us really think that our handwriting
is messy. That’s about penmanship, not handwriting analysis.
Penmanship, messy or not, has no value in my world...
It doesn’t have to be in a language I know. To a handwriting
analyst, it’s simply graphic movement.
One of the most often-asked questions I hear is,
To the untrained eye, it really does seem as if our handwriting
is constantly changing. If we are writing in a hurry, the graphic
movement tends to look scribbled, lacking in structure and
form. If we are taking notes at a seminar, for example, the
tendency is to write smaller than we normally do. It’s just
because we want to efficiently capture as much information
as we can. Yet, it’s still illustrates who we are.
Sometimes we will cross a “t” in one way and then cross it
differently (or not at all) at other times. In fact, there are more
than 60 different ways of constructing the letter “t”. This does
not mean that we are suffering from a mental disorder! It’s
al