Coming Out!

Just a year ago I completed treatment on my Healing Journey through Stage III breast cancer, and a year out I'm free, FREE! And filled with gratitude, in my bliss cloud of life in the moment.

During these past 12 months of regaining health, strength, direction and focus, I asked myself over and over, "What do I REALLY want? What is the perfect life for me? What will keep me in this incredible state of joy, flow & happiness?"

(That is, AFTER I came out of a dark depression and feeling of worthlessness that Beau Joe tells me was chemo-induced). I honestly didn't know how I was going to get back into work mode.

My Self Responded: Don't let the Ego Mind seduce you into recreating old patterns of the high-intensity life with too much travel & too many seminars (whether I'm delivering or attending to get the next adrenaline rush), unnecessary spending, all the bells, whistles, "titsmanship" and stress.

A secret: I coined "titsmanship" more than 20 years ago when I was in the corporate world to describe destructive, competitive relationships among women, and there's a corresponding term for men. Can you guess what the masculine version is? ;-)

It was quite odd for me, the extravert whose career involves speaking to audiences, to experience the metamorphosis "back from the bald"-- after a full year of wigs & baseball caps! Rather like that old story from the Bible about Sampson & Delilah, when I lost my hair, I lost my mojo too.

Oddly, it took several months to regain my self-confidence, an attribute which has rarely been in short supply!

I owe a lot of that to my decision to be gentle with myself, and not to panic if things weren't operating on some whip/ride deadline I'd imposed arbitrarily.

For example, I had to wait until my hair was "right" for the new look photo shoot--that was July. The old straight blonde look is gone forever,and I'm relishing my new 30-second hair--which grew in dark brown, thick, fine and curly--a lot like my dad's when he was a kid.

And then months of working out the new tagline. Literally.
The new graphic design, new Ezine format--and of course
the new website, which was supposed to be ready to rock on
November 20th, but I'm not beating myself up over that either.

All Things in Divine Order.

So, although my newsletter is still "Your Guide to the Life You Love," I have changed my tag to "Your Best Life Coach" -- because I help Baby Boomer & Empty Nester Women leaving corporate or their profession get their Best Life and let their creative lights shine!

Ten years ago I had a vision of my best life-- and I am so grateful that I have stayed faithful to my own vision, not necessarily society's--and achieved it! I'm living it every day--living in that state of creative flow, joy and wonder that is our most important "job" in the world today.

What this means is that YOU CAN DO IT TOO.

So glad both you and I are here for my "coming out," the debut of my new 'do!




MAKE LIFE HEAVEN IN 2011! AN EXCLUSIVE GROUP COACHING EXPERIENCE for a select group of ONLY TEN PEOPLE in the Atlanta/Decatur metro area

If you've ever heard that old maxim,

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions,"
you may know what it's like to say one thing and do another.

Are you ready to get your best life? With the right environment,
the right encouragement, and the right activities, you can do it.

Get the details of MAKE LIFE HEAVEN IN 2011,
my private, affordable group coaching experience for seven
wonderful Wednesdays, and only ten wonderful people,
beginning on Wednesday, January 5, 2011!

This is a LIVE experience so you need to be within driving distance!

http://www.artofchange.org/makelifeheaven.html

Spaces are going fast and the Early Bird Solstice Special is good only until midnight, Tuesday, December 21--
so reserve your place now!



Sacred Journey of the Heart

Just before Thanksgiving, I engaged in a profound healing experience conducted by the founder of Radical Forgiveness, Colin Tipping, one of my mentors, and his wife JoAnn, recently returned from months of conducting RF seminars all over Europe.

Ronna Prince and Donald Backstrom, producers of Sacred Journey of the Heart, a film that's launching in 2011, sacredjourneyoftheheart.com
have benefited greatly from Radical Forgiveness (as I have, too), and
wanted to include one of Colin's ceremonies in the film.

What an exceptional gathering of 60 of Colin's followers came together at
The Open Mind Center in Roswell, GA, for the Gender Healing Ceremony!

We formed two circles--men on the outside at first, and women created
the inner circle. The men placed their hands on our shoulders to provide
energetic and symbolic support, which we needed to be open to receive.
Karen Taylor-Good's wonderful song about a woman being loved just for
being herself--not for her roles as caregiver, child-bearer, mother, etc.

I had no clue I'd be so profoundly moved--but with a full moon, the intention of love and acceptance was magnified.

My body frequently resonated as the men moved behind us, from woman to woman (as is typical, more women than men had gathered--but the men had brave and open hearts!
And we performed the same ceremony for the men, following ours).

A humbling gratitude washed over me as I realized the huge support I've received from my father all my life, even though as a younger person I'd been poisoned to that awareness by my mother, trapped by her
mental illness of resentment.

Thank God I've been able to shift that, to a great extent through Colin's online Forgive Your Parent program that I completed two years ago in this fall season of releasing the old.

I am so grateful that my father is still around for me to express my gratitude to him.

The woman next to me also had tears streaming down her face--as did many others receiving this delicious energetic bounty.

What a gift!

Colin told us this kind of heart opening ceremony impacts a 60 mile radius with its positive energy--raising the vibration of the planet.

Every time any of us experiences or expresses gratitude,
we are doing the same.

Gratitude to the max in the season of GivingThanks.

What are you grateful about, right now?



Lord, I want to thank you, because you been so good to me.
Lord, I want to thank you-- you made a way for me!
Woke up one mornin'--there was no food on the table.
But I found out my God was able.
I have so much to thank God for!

from an old Gospel song

Discover Yourself Through Nature

Novelists have known it for hundreds of years — refocusing and finding yourself will not happen in a bustling city. The best place to go is right back to nature.

If you take the time to relax, clear your mind and surround yourself with the most basic and beautiful elements of life, you will find, almost automatically, how open you are to discovering yourself. We have to know who we are and be in touch with that person if we are to maintain successful relationships http://www.eharmony.co.uk/relationship-advice in life.

Tips for focusing on YOU through nature

Unplug...
Forget the phone, email, iPod and other electronics. This is time for you and your thoughts, and devices only distract from that focus.

Get physical...
Take a hike or go for a bike ride. You will be thinking about your next step or pedal and fall into a rhythm and start thinking about yourself. It is also a chance to remind yourself what your body is capable of and tap into the mind-body connection so essential to who we are.


Notice the details...
It is the little things in life that we often forget to appreciate, and getting back to nature is the perfect opportunity to do that. Analyze the lines on a leaf, feel the wind on your face or skim a stone. These details in nature also remind us of our own positive qualities, characteristics and details and provide the perfect fodder for introspection.


Relax...
Look around – breathe and just let your mind wander. Your thoughts will come back to you and whatever it is you are most concerned, excited or sad about in life. Focus on these emotions and why you are feeling them. Soon you will be realising things about yourself you might never have considered before.

Once you spend time on you, you will find you can be a better friend, family member and partner. Getting back to basics is the easiest way to focus on your thoughts and feelings, which will help you consider who you are as a whole. This knowledge is what brings you success in all your relationships, whether romantically with someone you found on dating sites http://www.eharmony.co.uk/, or a close childhood friend.

Deservability

So much self-sabotage comes back to deservability.

It's the sabotage we wreak upon ourselves when we don't
HALT (discern whether we're Hungry, Angry, Lonely or
Tired), take our pulse and take care of what we need,
right now.

This well of undeservability springs from so many ancient
messages. Our families, schools and churches; the media
triggering our inner voices of "not good enough-ness" if
we're not wearing the right brand; or even the kids in
the schoolyard who laughed and pointed if we were
different in the slightest.

If we couldn't run as fast, or kick the ball the correct way;
even if we looked funny.

Deservability.

Why are we not able to demonstrate some generosity of
spirit to ourselves, and project it outward to others, as well?

Why this continuous whipping, beating, prodding and
flagellating ourselves with insane psychological torture?
Why the madness?

Whatever self-hatred we harbor within eventually spills out
onto the earth as blame, pollution, war, even annihilation
if we don't shift to self-awareness, self-acceptance,
self-respect and self-love. First one by one, and then by
the millions.

In the past, my non-deservability attacks often occurred
on vacations with my significant other. Can you envision
a better place for self-sabotage?

Did I really deserve to be in such a lovely environment with
someone who loved me, and cared very much for my
health and happiness?

Apparently not, because before too long I'd pick a fight,
make him wrong, manage to wreck the vacation and
sometimes even the relationship.

Invariably, each deservability blip would drive another
nail into the coffin of that romance. I hated myself
while I was engaged in this destructive mode.

However, because I had "gone unconscious" I had lost
contact with with my true self, and lost control.

Eventually I became more conscious and stopped that
relationship sabotage.

But it was only the process of learning to love myself
that permitted me to demonstrate love and acceptance
to others.


--excerpted from my multi-
award winning inspirational book
BACK TO THE GARDEN:
Getting from Shadow to Joy

Nature, Magic & Manifestation-Sun 10/24/10

My retreat to the fabulous 52-acre private nature
preserve, The Cabin Path, happens Sunday, October 24.
NATURE, MAGIC & MANIFESTATION is an all-day
adventure and creative day with friends, faeries &
nature spirits! (near the Atlanta airport)

*Our magical day begins with Very Gentle Yoga;
*We'll take a nature stroll through the woods;
*Release our concerns at the Native American prayer circle;
*Enjoy a picnic lunch & have time for jounaling, photos, & more;
*Create our own Ethereal Guide or Manifestation Faerie;
*Lock in our good intentions in the Labyrinth walk by the lake!

Reserve your place online at http://bit.ly/adSiNU
$79 includes all Manifestation Materials, lunch and a
donation to The Cabin Path--a non-profit that teaches
children about nature!

ONLY A FEW SPACES LEFT--limited to 20. Register today!

Steady on the Path

During Yoga Teacher Training eight years ago I learned
a tale of warrior Arjuna and Lord Krishna. Arjuna was
moaning and groaning that he didn't want to engage in
battle, and Krishna informed him that he must-- BUT
that he could choose the battle.

Of course we know the most major battles are the ones
that we wage in our own heads:

*Do I or Don't I take the plunge into something new?
*Is this good enough to send out the door, or do I polish
it with some more analysis/paralysis?
*Does it really matter what I do with my life?

Arjuna struggled mightily with his desire to BE AT
THE MOUNTAIN PEAK, and Lord Krishna gently
informed him, "We do not leap to the mountaintop;
we get there one step at a time."

While the great leaps forward occur in our minds,
it's the footwork here on the earth that gets us to the
mountaintop. Keep on putting one foot in front of the
other--steady on the path toward your dream.


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FEATURE ARTICLE
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STEADY ON THE PATH
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My mother killed herself by not manifesting her great gift,
which was aching to burst forth and be legitimized.

A brilliant teacher devoted to young children, she began
training to become a Montessori teacher at University
of Cincinnati when my sister and I were adolescents and
we lived in southwestern Ohio.

In 1969 we were transferred to Memphis, which saved my
life but cost my mother hers--at least her intellectual life.
She deemed the Montessori program in that area to be
inferior and decided not to continue with the training.
In essence, rather than going with the flow and accepting
what is, she "wrapped herself in her pride."

Even though she laughed about it when imitating her
starchy great aunt's use of this phrase, this was her customary
and classically rigid Germanic attitude toward life, which
ultimately does not serve well.

As a result, she had no legitimate means of channeling
her incredible gift with children and giving herself a new
reason for being as an empty nester; a refreshed purpose
in life. As her own children grew older and slipped away
she turned more and more to alcohol.

A ten-year slide into alcoholism led to her tragic fall and
physical paralysis as a quadriplegic at age 48. But really, she'd
been emotionally paralyzed for years and had no idea how
to get unstuck.

I remember the day we brought her back to their new home
in Buffalo, New York, from Strong Memorial Hospital in
Rochester, after five months of rehab following her accident.

A fresh college graduate, I was there trying to be helpful
until I could figure out my next step in life.

Although I loved my mother from the depths of my heart,
nothing I could do would save her from her plight--she
had fixed it so that physically, there was no way out. And
the alcohol had destroyed her spirit years before it
destroyed her body...

When my father rolled her into the living room in her
wheelchair for the first time, as gently as possible he
lifted her out of the chair and laid her broken body on
the couch for a rest.

She didn't cry, but as she turned her head and looked
across the room, her eyes conveyed a depth of sorrow
that shattered me.

Stumbling and fumbling, I sat at the piano with trembling
fingers and tears rolling down my face while making a muddled mess
of "You'll Never Walk Alone." My shell-shocked father,
seeing her in the house for the first time since her injury
and just beginning to grasp what it would mean to their
lives together, knelt by her side on the floor and wept.

I don't think I've ever seen him cry, before or since.

By denying her gift, she had denied herself--and the world.
Our gifts are not ours for keeping. They exist to be
given away.

--excerpted from my book
BACK TO THE GARDEN:
Getting from Shadow to Joy


Because of this, my own story,
my goal is to awaken possibility in YOU!
Currently I have a few openings for my
ideal coaching client:

* BABY BOOMER WOMEN IN TRANSITION AFTER A LOSS;
* EMPTY NESTERS CREATING NEW MEANING;
*WOMEN LEAVING CORPORATE OR A PROFESSION
TO LAUNCH YOUR BEST LIFE!

READY FOR REINVENTION?
Or just to get out of your rut?

Book a F REE 30 minute coaching session:
Together we will:

1. Create a crystal clear vision of your next steps.

2. Uncover hidden challenges that might sabotage success.

3. Get you inspired to move gracefully toward your Best Life!
404-294-9333 or
pdcom@mindspring.com and put coaching in the subject line.


Visit here for more information and bundles of testimonials:
http://www.therenewalexperience.com/reinvention.htm

Sunny Side, Huh?

Reading friend & coaching client Rev. Jamie Saloff's
wonderful new book, Prayer Superchargers,
reminds me that we do always need to Remember
What is Most Important--and stay focused on it.

During times of turbulence, upset & miscommunication
it's so easy to let ourselves look through the Doom Glasses
and spiral off to the worst possible outcome.

Today, Sunny Side, Huh? gives some tips on cultivating
a positive outlook no matter what's happening in your world.




WHY SUFFER? ENJOY YOUR HEALING JOURNEY!
That's the title of my inspirational picture/tale of the complementary
techniques that helped me SAIL through 2009's year of treatment.

I'll be speaking at the monthly CHOICES event, where you'll
experience a variety of complementary healing techniques.

WHERE & WHEN: SUNDAY, August 29, 3-5pm at Decatur Healing Arts.

Chinese Healing Gong, Didgeridoo, Chinese Traditional Medicine
Monroe Institute Hemi-Sync and more! Only $10--
Here's the link to reserve your spot:
www.cancerchoices.wordpress.com


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FEATURE TIDBITS
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SUNNY SIDE, HUH?
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Optimism is the expectation that desirable things
will happen in life--abundantly. Pessimism is a belief
that bad events will last a long time--and they are the
responsibility of the individual.

One way to take a walk on the sunny side is to become
clear about your life vision. In a study mentioned in
The How of Happiness, people who wrote about their life
visions for 20 minutes a day over several days showed
increases in positive moods and were still happy several weeks
later! They also reported fewer physical ailments than
a control group.

Writing about your best possible self and the outcomes
you DO want to experience, five and ten years from now, helps
you flex your inner optimist.

Writing things down, because it carries the energy of heart
and mind into a tangible form, also tends to bring your vision to
life more readily. The process also offers the more left-brained
benefits of organizing and analyzing thoughts, which doesn't
occur when you're only day-dreaming about your best life.

If pessimistic thoughts appear, think back to a time
when you've succeeded in something-- then you'll look
beyond the Doom Glasses and see strengths and resources
you already have.


Love & Well Wishes,
Patrice Dickey
Your Guide to the Life You Love
Certified Wellness & Life Success Coach

Hope Manifesto!

One year ago today was my LUCKY day-- the final chemo
session after five months of weekly "trips to the beach."
I'd wear my surfer girl pants and baseball wig hat,
load up my Atlantis beach bag with my Hemi-Sync
"Chemo Companion" CD & player,
snacks, water cooler & book, and go chill
out in the lounge chair for a few hours while envisioning
love & light stream into my body and convert all my
cells to light--while trusty fluffy & loving granny white cells hugged
and squeezed any unwanted elements right out of my body!

Since what we resist, persists (disease), I figured I'd rather
embrace the messenger, get the message and move on.

The message that cancer brings is to release resentment &
anger, and practice radical forgiveness (an understanding
that all is perfect and there is really nothing to forgive--
because every life circumstance is a lesson and a blessing,
even if we can't see it that way at its occurrence).

Well, it worked.

I KNOW a lot of that is mindset and our approach to challenges.

This is how I help people move forward in my classes and
with individual coaching -- with fresh perspectives and hope.

Please enjoy my Hope Manifesto as the feature article.
It's what I hope for you, and everyone.

Love & Well Wishes,

Patrice Dickey
Your Guide to the Life You Love
Wellness & Life Success Coach

PS--Experience a variety of complementary healing techniques
SUNDAY, August 29, 3-5 pm at Decatur Healing Arts!
(mark your calendar now)

I will deliver my empowering talk,
"Why Suffer? Enjoy Your Healing Journey!"
Diane Waybright of The Monroe Institute will explain "How
Hemi-Sync Helps Your Healing" and we'll enjoy a Dijeridoo
Meditation, info on Chinese Medicine & Energy Healing, & a
Chinese Healing Gong Bath, Only $10--
Here's the link:
www.cancerchoices.wordpress.com


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FEATURE ARTICLE
******************************************
HOPE MANIFESTO
******************************************
Hope for my Wellness, Personal & Professional Success Clients--
and EVERYONE !

*Hope that you will live a richer & more fulfilling life,
both personally and professionally, with the increased
confidence & skill sets that you will gain on our journey
together;

*Hope that you will contribute to the wellbeing of others
in meaningful ways, which will lift up your spirit as you
lift up theirs;

*Hope that your physical body will feel good, be strong,
and support you well in all your endeavors, with realistic
behavioral goals to get you there;

*Hope that you will create & nurture supportive, enduring
relationships with friends, relatives & your community,
because open systems nurture each other, whereas closed
systems stifle everyone;

*Hope that your spiritual growth & self-awareness serve as
an example for others, inspiring them to BE who they really ARE;

*Hope that how you live on earth may actually help to heal it--
and yourself in the process as you contribute;

*Hope that your ongoing energetic output & presence raises
the vibration of all around you in the earth's transformation
to higher consciousness;

*Hope that incremental expansions of your comfort zone, and
mini-successes every day will increase your boldness & optimism,
and that yours will mirror and expand others';

*Hope that perseverance, persistence & self-discipline will shape
your life & the lives of others to keep on keeping on, despite
obstacles, adversity, heartbreaks and perceived failures--
that you will give your whole heart to a cause greater than
yourself!