Fountain pens

Benefits of writing by hand

21 Nov

Why to Write?

Maj Nithi CJ ( Retired)

Benefits of writing by hand

The activity ‘to write’ has seen many new meanings in the last two decades. While millennials understand it as an action to record information on a disc or sharing information through digital texting, old schools still hold writing close to their hearts. Some may say technology suffices. Why resort to writing? The answer to this lies in research works by scientists.

How did it start?

The origin of writing lies in need to write. Humans have since ages pursued various modes of communication. And thus, writing holds a strong association with linguistics Since the prehistoric era,

we have seen humans communicating using pictures, shapes, hieroglyphs, pictographs, and creating scripts to preserve languages and civilizations. Historians refer to cuneiform as the earliest known form of writing. Imagine, had this not happened, we would never have come to know the origins of our existence Existential crisis! Scary! So humans decided to have languages, scriptures, and art forms to preserve their origin.

There is a myth that writing was characteristic to a particular civilization; however, a comparison of civilizations reveals that almost all civilizations have resorted to other forms of writing. The pictographic script of Mandarin spoken by Chinese or the Dravidian script of Tamil language is few known oldest existing language scripts. ​

Benefits of writing by hand Ayush paper

How do we write?

In for some geeky science stuff? Well, graphologists (a clan of people who figure out minds, emotional behavior through their scribbles!) call writing a projective test for the human brain. This means information travels from the unconscious mind to the conscious mind, and vice versa. It’s a journey from the unknown to the known. Something similar to how binary codes create human language in your computer. To make understanding simpler, writing acts as an input-output device, just like our keyboards.

Benefits of writing by hand Ayush paper

How to start writing?

Benefits of writing by hand ayush paper

Most of us are probably wondering, all this is fine, but how to start? The answer is easy! Pick a pen and a piece of paper, and you’re ready!

The writing instrument and paper depends on many factors. Most importantly, it has to do with your age, occupation, and dexterity. Children aged between 3-5 years are prescribed to start writing practices with crayons. Crayons allow the child to understand its dexterity, stabilize its pressure, and strengthen it’s motor skills. The simplest reason I convince parents is that graphite pencils can be harmful as tiny tots can prick themselves or accidentally put it in their mouths. For 5-7 years, graphite pencils are good. Post 8 years, children can be introduced to Fountain pens.

Why fountain pens? Fountain pens enhance individual writing styles. With usage, the nib of a fountain pen adjusts to your pen holding methods. A ballpoint doesn’t adjust to your gripping technique. Therefore, whoever holds it, has to use it with standard pressure. And exclusive, of course!

One of the apprehensions which discourage people from writing is the bad handwriting bias, as I call it. As per handwriting analysts, there are as many types of handwriting as the types of humans. So, you might find two writings similar yet entirely different. Are you wondering whether graphologists have eagle eyes? Could be! Chuckles In my analysis experience, I have realized the importance of helping people identifying and accepting their handwriting as their own to be more effective than forcing them to change it.

Today, there are many writing activities in vogue. Here I am listing out a few things you can try out to include adequate writing in your daily routine.

Benefits of writing by hand ayush paper

Journaling Workshop for Maths book for students conducted by Mr Vishal Singhi during a handwriting enhancement course for kids by The INQ

Journaling. The journaling culture, which is a more artistic version of writing diaries, is seen to be very popular amongst youth these days. Journaling is a great way to organize any of your activities, be it your daily routine or monthly/ yearly planner. Are you starting a new hobby? Try recording it in your journal. Journaling has been seen effective in a great way when it comes to habit-forming too. A whole variety of journaling ideas are available on the web, which you can use to customize your own journal. Also, printed journals are readily available on online stores if you want to avoid additional creativity and want to just focus on writing.

Mind maps and Listicles. Mind maps and listicles are great ways to organize your work. Mind maps are a good way to plan out a new idea or a project. Additionally, listicles are a good way to remember your tasks. For both of these, there is automated software available, but trust me doing it all by yourself through writing is more effective. In for some mind exercises?

Creative Writing forms. If you’re a digital creator, any of these creative writing forms, viz., Calligraphy, Cursive Lettering, or Penmanship, can be a good way to create impactful works.

The available software allows only restrictive templates and creating on Procreate or other digital creation tools still can’t compete with the rustic essence of human writing. To indulge in this, you can check out various calligraphy artists and penmanship artists on Instagram or Pinterest for workshops.

Benefits of writing by hand ayush paper

Calligraphy practice on easy to use
practice sheets by Ayush paper

Is there relevance of writing today?

Screen time has drastically replaced the writing hours of the average human. The impact of this can be seen in various disorders in children and youth these days. Dyslexia is a common syndrome seen in children who don’t have a writing culture. As the information processing is more deliberate in writing vis a vis typing, we also see an absence of patience, refined and clear expression of thoughts. The frustration that builds up in people cannot be ignored. Also, an illusion of perfectionism is witnessed amongst the youth these days, because writing doesn’t have autocorrects! Thus, youth find it difficult to cope up with errors. Text language taking over the development of rich literary skills is another matter of concern.

However, CoVID time has seen a resurgence of occupational skills during the lockdown. People took up to various art forms, and calligraphy, along with other writing skills, has been seen to be popular. Didn’t do any of that? Well, it’s never too late to try!

Writing is one such activity that has a multifaceted impact. Your organizing ability, professional writing, creativity, or at the least simply your grocery purchases are taken care of. The therapeutic benefits of writing are unquestionable. Whether you’re a student, teacher, doctor, engineer, artist, social media influencer, anything, writing can add substance to your persona. How about creating handwritten versions of the thoughts you share on your Instagram page?

So we hope now you have many reasons to pick up to writing, especially with a fountain pen either as a hobby or making it your information input/output device. Throwing away your e-diaries and smartphones?? Laughs just a devil’s imagination. To figure out more before you enter the pen shop, stay tuned for our next post about Fountain pens. Until then, happy scribbling!

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3 thoughts on “Benefits of writing by hand”

  1. Nahid says:
    November 23, 2020 at 7:59 PM

    Such a cool and an informative post ? Never thought it can have so many benefits; pretty much deserves to be a part of self care routine – Thanks for the blog post 🙂

    1. ayushpaper says:
      November 23, 2020 at 8:58 PM

      Thank you nahid ☺️

  2. Anjali says:
    November 23, 2020 at 9:12 PM

    As a kid I used to love writing and always the excited one in the class when given to write penmanship. I still do sometimes write in cursive with a gel pen, it kind of calms me down but never really thought of using a fountain pen for this purpose until I came across this post. Definitely gonna try it in near future:)

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