The general rhythm of a person's handwriting refers to several general personality and characteristic traits. This is far and away the hardest handwriting trait to forge. As a young graphologist, I personally caught a forgerer back in 1992. It was a slight difference in the rhythm of the signature which identified the traveler's checque as a forgery.

A person's rhythm is like a fingerprint. It is as unique and individual as our own voice patterns and intonations. Each one is unique and differs at least a little.

Rhythm is one of the key factors in determing form level. Form level is the overall quality of the picture of the handwriting. All graphology traits can be determined as either positive or negative. Traits are analyzed positively with those who write with high form level; negatively with those who write with low form level.

High form level writers are people who maximize their skills, talents, and intelligence. These are your most successful people. Low form level people never fully actualize their abilities. Things just never seem to work out well with low form level writers.

Here's another way of looking at it. You are familiar with the idiom, "Youv'e got to roll with the punches!" Well, the writer that is able to roll with the punches, or go with the flow will have a very rhythmic style of writing. Those who tend to fight or plod their way through life will tend to have disturbed or interrupted rhythm.

The rhythm of writing is the ebb and flow of the writing as it moves across the page.This ebb and flow is directly proportional to the smooth transition of the contracted strokes to the released strokes and then back again.

Since the paper is the "world" and our handwriting is our impact on our world; then the rhythm is actually how well we as a person flows through life. Rhythm, then, is the ability to function within society. Productivity and functionality of a person's innate abilities are directly relational to the rhythm of their writing.

Positive rhythms have a conitunuity to them, and are elastic. Poor rhythms are choppy, jerky, monotonous, rigid or broken. Elastic rhythms are those that if you took a line of the writer's handwriting and tried to stretch the writing using your imagination; it would stretch. How well it stretches is one feature in determining the caliber of the rhythm. This is one of the tests I perform in determining the quality of the rhythm.

Elastic rhythms belong to people who can adapt, and are resilient. The best example of elastic rhythms I have ever analyzed belong to Abraham Lincoln.

On the contrary, rigid rhythms belong to inflexible and overly controlling people like Adolph Hitler. Try the imaginary stretching test to see how "elastic" you think Hitler's writing and therefore his personality really was.

Most people will fall somewhere in between Lincoln and Hitler. These two examples exemplify the dichotomies of the spectrum. Besides the elasticity of the writing; I also determine rhtyhm by its fluidity and fluency. Breaks in the writing, changes of speed, changes in pressure, or ill formed letter formations distract from this natural ebb and flow and reduce the quality of the overall rhythm.

Determining rhythm is one of the most subjective and difficult aspects of analyzing handwriting. That is where we excel. It takes special training, skill, and practice to accurately determine the overall characteristics of the rhythm of a sample of handwriting.

Monotonous rhythm is when the writing looks like a computer font. This type of rhythm goes hand in hand with artificial handwriting. Although, this appears as average to positive rhythm; it is not. It is contrived and therefore very negative. Monotonous handwriting is automatically poor rhtythm and low form level. This contrived style is designed to "pull the wool over your eyes" in an effort to "hide" the real personality behind such contrived and artificial handwriting.

If in addition; the writing is also very slow and rigid; then the writer is not only ready for an emotional or mental breakdown, but is also doing his best to hide this. This is the type of person who looks so normal and emotionally stable but isn't. If the right margin "crashes" or "falls off" sporadically in addition to the other traits mentioned; then the writer is strongly suicidal. Don't be surprised if the baseline of the writing looks like it was written on a ruler; it may very well have. Emotionally disturbed people need the stability and support of the ruler. This is one of the key traits of an impending breakdown.

Rhythm determines how a person flows through life
Rhythm is the hardest characteristic to forge
Rhythm is the most subjective of all graphology traits
Rhythm is how the writing flows or dances across the page
Rhythm is an important aspect of "form level"
"Form level" indicates the writers overall productivity and functionality
Graphology traits are analyzed as positive for high form level writers
Graphology traits are analyzed as negative for low form level writers
Elastic rhythms identify adaptation and resilience
Rigid rhythms disclose the inflexible and controlling personality
Monotonous rhythms betray the false personna personality
Monontonous and rigid writings are "red flags" for breakdowns and suicides

Important Note: Remember this is just a very basic explanation of this particular aspect of handwriting. It is expressly for the purpose to show the validity by explaining this complex science in simplistic terms.

Do not attempt to analyze a person's handwriting with just the information stated above. Graphology is a hollistic science; one characteristic on its own is fairly meaningless unless an extreme or coroborated with other graphology traits.

Leave handwriting analysis to the experts like us. It takes years to be highly trained and skilled in this field, and to learn, study, and recognize all the graphological traits that incorporate this science.