1.  How does ornery feel to you?

Ornery feels different to everyone.  
The formal definitions of ornery frequently cite: bad-tempered, easily annoyed, difficult to control and combative.  
For me, ornery is when I feel cranky and growly.  
When I am in prime ornery mode I feel resentful, backed into a corner, guarded and uncooperative. 
I feel like my shoulders are hunched down together and that I have a perpetual frown.  I feel heavy and defensive.
What does ornery feel like to you? Learn to describe it so you can notice when it shows up.

2.  What does ornery tell to you?

Feelings are genius clues to our condition.
For me, feeling ornery is usually my alert that I am out of alignment in some way.
It usually means that I am acting out of reaction rather that thoughtfulness.  
It means I am just doing without consciously , intentionally choosing to do something.  
It might also mean that I have forgotten to ask and answer the 3 cardinal questions for Whorl fingerprint people before responding to a request:

• Is it good for them?
• Is it good for me?
• Do I want to do this?

3.  What's the rescue kit for lifting ornery + returning to Happyland?

I used to judge myself quite harshly for being cranky or getting cranky.  
I mean, what kind of a selfish and terrible person am I for agreeing to do something I don't really want to do anyway?  Joking!  So joking.  
Nowadays, thank goodness, I have come to recognize and value my ornery state of feeling as an indicator that something is off.  
Life is meant to feel easy and feel good, really and truly, so ornery is a delicious contrast to direct us back to the easy, pleasurable joy (= Happyland).  
When I notice that I am cranky, here's what I do to honour the ornery and help move it along:

3. Listen:  I talk to the ornery part of me and ask what's going on.  You'd be surprised what this does sometimes.  Usually it gives me some more insight as to what has ticked me off or what is pressing against me. ''Talking'' can be done via journalling, quiet time, conversation with a friend, meditation, checking in with a support person etc.

4. Choose: Usually after that introspective part, I often ask myself if I still want to feel ornery.  Then I choose to DO (see next) accordingly 

5.  Do: Hey, sometimes I do want to feel ornery!  True story.  It's fun!  Also a healthy and honest expression of my anger connects me to the truth of what I am feeling and power - all good stuff when expressed in a conscious way.  So if I want to keep feeling ornery and run with Crankypants I usually choose what I am going to do. Keep doing what I am doing perhaps (argh, this one can be hard, especially when you think you have no option otherwise) or stomp around monstrously and deeply only to notice the grump has dissipated.  Possible.  Or if you don't wait to be cranky, do something to pull you out of it.  Some physical experience that will immediately bring you to a feeling state of something other than cranky.  I like to turn on music and dance.  Or go notice and appreciate some beautiful flowers.  Or take deep breaths.  Or pay attention to my cat.  Or go do something that brings me joy.

It's through exercising all these things I have come to really, truly enjoy the state of ornery as a wise indicator of how in alignment I am.
How my actions are matching - or not matching - my wants.  
It allows me to course-correct!
And that my friends, is why it is important to embrace your opposites, even if it feels initially uncomfortable.  
There's usually wisdom in the opposite - even if it means becoming the embodiment of Grumpy McNo!

Love from your resident Crankypants,

This gave me the ability to express my internal world into a digital format that has profoundly shifted my life.  This ability to share what I create seems to have unleashed a creative waterfall in me + I find myself in a constant loop of inspiration, creation + sharing.  I intend this to all be in the service of helping others

Integrating my artist self with my palliative care nurse self = 
#DIEAWESOME
in the form of a book, blog + manifesto
My intention is to inspire resonant reflections and honest, courageous conversations about experiences related to death and dying.

These are my notes from today's class. 

In analyzing my one fingerprints, I have discovered that I'm a 10 whorl person.  This indicates that my school of specialization in life is service.  In fact, it appears that I'm doing some kind of a PhD in service as my life purpose and lessons are all in ... you guessed it, service. My 10-whorl pattern is a unique one that comes with an ancient Chinese name: "Lone Tree on the Plain."  Part of what makes it unique is that my particular twist on service PhD is the fact that I have to find my path to service by mastering selfishness.  This explains a lot :)

What's more is that if you examine the picture, you'll see that I actually have a tattoo on my little left pinky finger of the symbol for a whorl.

I got this tattoo in 2011 for significant reasons. This is the alchemical symbol for the sun, chosen to represent the necessity of renewing agreements and refreshing communications in relationship.  As it turns out, I discovered just a couple weeks ago that it is also the symbol for stillpoint in cranial sacral therapy which delighted me.  Today, in class as I went to the board to transcribe my own code and realized that I had a tattoo of my code on my pinky I felt a shiver and whoop of delight wave through me.  This little symbol, for me, confirms that I am right where I need to be at this very moment, learning about my life purpose of service to others and the planet being equally as important to serving myself.  Thanks hand analysis and best of all, thank you, gorgeous and hilarious Universe for sending me this awesome love note of confirmation.  Yes, I get it:  keep pursuing my allurements, no matter how funky or "unreasonable."  Life is amazing.

Thank you for sharing this gorgeous moment with me :)
With all my love,

HAH!  
Funny coincidence it is, this is one of my most favorite + resonant quotes:

What a fantastic program!  I thoroughly enjoyed learning about this super interesting therapy and as someone new to body work, I found the Langara Program to be super supportive and helpful.  Upon my program completion this past weekend I was extremely heartened to know that I had completed 125 hours of clinical work in addition to all my study and practice time.

Best of all, I had the great joy of working on two people as case studies.  These two super guinea pigs saw me for a series of treatments (5-6 sessions) over the span of two months.  It was an amazing learning process for both of us as we were all delighted to discover first hand that cranial sacral therapy was indeed an effective therapy in the case pain and decreased function secondary to suspected herniated disc and chronic fatigue exacerbated by a concussion.  For me it was very gratifying to observe effects that lasted beyond a single treatment.

I am most definitely going to continue to practice!  I plan on having a home-based, part-time practice starting late summer / early autumn.  I will be moving to a new home in mid-July to set up the space for this.  I am filled with gratitude to have a room of my own and for my live well / die awesome / celebrate headquarters :)

Hoping you yield to the magnet of your passions too,

I used to resist curiosity because it was scary to face unknowns.  Little teeny tiny experiments at a time have proven to me that this illustrated wisdom is true.