Give a toddler a crayon and some paper, and she will begin making marks this way and that. She will move the crayon around the paper; or she might move it back and forth or up and down. The first experience any of us have with drawing or ‘writing’ is movement! What fun to move the crayon and see the new images appear on the blank page. It isn’t just scribbling — it’s thoughts on paper!
In handwriting, there is movement of thought on paper. Thought moves through the hand and the pen and onto the paper. Direction is a fun element to play with and, in cursive, direction is meaningful.
In our Roman Alphabet, our words read from left to right. When we write any letter, it’s important to always end it on the right. The left is where we are coming from; the right is our next moment, where we are headed. The pen point is our present moment, and the direction we move our pen represents which direction our thoughts tend to move.
Ending letters and lines to the left keeps our thoughts mulling over what’s happened in the past. Ending letters and lines to the right puts our minds looking forward to what’s happening next. While there’s nothing wrong with remembering good things from a long time ago, it’s not how we want to live all the time.
When we write we are drawing patterns of form onto paper, and we are also making patterns of thinking that become our habits. The process becomes automatic, and it is amazing because everyone’s handwriting is so distinctive — no one else in the whole world thinks or writes exactly like you! Or me, or anyone else. Each of us is unique.
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For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, and next year’s words await another voice. To make an end is to make a beginning. T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)
©Susan Govorko, October 2016 blogspot
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