Who is Patrice Dickey? And what can I do for you?

The accolades exist, but even more important to you is that I’ve shaped my life to my own vision of success, (not the one that society would place on me) and I can help you do it too.

Through my life of triumphs and defeats, I’ve picked myself up from crushing family tragedy, life-threatening illness, a rocky romantic road and the business challenges of a successful solo entrepreneur since 1989—and now I serve as Your Best Life Coach, helping YOU create YOUR best life.

Most of my clients are baby boomer or empty nester women who are leaving corporate or their professions to become their true selves, focusing on overall wellbeing, spiritual, personal and creative growth.

They seek more meaning in their lives and are bursting to share their true gifts with the world…but sometimes are not sure how to go about getting started. I can help.

A Brief Parable

During Yoga Teacher Training in 2002 we learned a tale from the Vedas (The Book of Life) about 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 he could choose the time and place that he would engage.

Of course we know that most of our major battles are waged in our own heads, for example:

*This rut seems pretty comfortable. Do I or don’t I take the plunge into something new?
*Is this good enough to send out the door, or do I spend more time in 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 to the top 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—staying steady on the path toward the vision.

That’s where I come in. Helping you stay steady on the path.

Some women I’ve helped Get their Best Life:

*A legal secretary who was also an amateur artist and photographer had put away her brushes and paints decades earlier. After coaching with me, she resurrected her creative spirit and launched new income streams with her art—even presenting solo shows at prestigious Atlanta art galleries. What a triumph!

*Professional women who have longed to break free from soul-killing corporate jobs—I have helped them unlock the boxes in which they felt trapped to free themselves. Now they are living their happiest stage in life, and leaving the guilt behind.

*Clients who have suffered a loss, such as divorce or death of a partner, have become more spiritually enriched, whole, and healthier while journeying with me.

*One completely sedentary client shifted over several months to gain the fitness level she desired—so she could join in outdoor adventures, hiking and fun with new groups. She now enjoys Zumba and line dancing at least twice a week. And, she recently trekked on a strenuous loggerhead turtle rescue expedition on Cumberland Island, where hiking is the only transportation!

*One woman lost more than 150 pounds, steadily began to focus on walking, then running, and ran the route of the original marathon in Athens, Greece!

*Clients launching their best lives have:
–begun entrepreneurial ventures (including a design firm, a doggie day care, a real estate group, and organic baby food Jake’s Harvest, and many more);
–written a book and moved from practicing law to serving as a spiritual counselor;
–gotten a dream job as a consumer advocate;
–become a holistic chef and discovered new meaning in life.

Since launching “Get the Life You Love” in 1999, my class for Emory University’s Center for Lifelong Learning, earning my Registered Coach designation in 2002 and becoming a Certified Wellness Coach in 2010, I have worked with hundreds of women (and men) who have engaged in the ever-upward spiral of life with more confidence, positive momentum and the self-awareness to recognize what they want and why they want it—two key elements in experiencing their Best Life.

And I can help you do it too.

A Brief Tale About What Motivates Me:
Why I have dedicated my coaching practice to women becoming themselves.

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.

–The story above is an excerpt from my multi-award winning inspirational book BACK TO THE GARDEN: Getting from Shadow to Joy, and from it I think you will understand how deeply motivated I am to help women find themselves, reinvent themselves if necessary, and bring their creative gifts to the world.

My Deepest Desire: Because of this, my own story, my goal is to awaken possibility in YOU!

My Background

For 30 years as an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, sales trainer, life transition coach, yoga teacher and award-winning author, my intention is to help people recognize the highest and best in themselves and translate it into authentic, positive forward movement in their lives.

I have led Get the Life You Love, a popular creativity-enhancement and life-changing class at Emory University’s Center for Lifelong Learning since 1999.

Released in 2006, my book BACK TO THE GARDEN: Getting from Shadow to Joy has won five awards in inspirational, spiritual and non-fiction categories–a standout in every contest in which it has been entered. The greatest accolade was a young woman’s comment on MySpace: “Most amazing self-help book I’ve ever read. It actually works.” Now that’s authentic!

My background includes a successful entrepreneurial career in public relations, heading my consulting firm PD Communications from 1989-2005. British Airways, the Center for Women’s Care & Reproductive Surgery, JURLIQUE Skincare, and other high caliber groups comprised my client base, mostly health and wellness related. I still contribute articles to national and regional magazines on topics of health, wellbeing and top destination spas.

After 15 years as an award-winning instructor of Dale Carnegie Sales Training, I expanded the scope of PD Communications to include corporate keynotes and workshops, giving people the tools to embrace change, develop more meaningful lives, and leave a legacy.

Additional background:

•    Registered Corporate Coach, WABC
•    Certified Wellness Coach, Wellcoaches, Inc.
•    Certified Radical Manifestation Coach, Colin Tipping’s Institute for Radical Forgiveness
•    Founder of C-CHAMPS, for people on a healing journey through cancer
•    Qualified Myers Briggs Type Indicator Specialist, CAPT
•    Registered Yoga Teacher, Yoga Teachers Association
•    Reiki Level I practitioner
•    American Management Association
•    American Red Cross
•    Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Special Events Director
•    Distinguished President of NW Kiwanis, 1991-1992
•    Professional Women’s Anonymous Advisory Board
•    University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, BA Journalism Honors Graduate