by Patricia Green, MSW, MSPR | Dec 23, 2022 | The Patricia Green Group
Each December, I self-check to determine my level of fulfillment. This year did I accomplish anything transformative? How did I learn from past triumphs or hurts? I offer you five reasons why I have a sense of fulfillment. Fulfilling my purpose begins with answering the question: Who am I? I am a peaceful soul and citizen of the world who thinks locally and acts globally. Public relations is my expertise, and people-to-people connections are my raison d’être. I embrace bridge-building across differences and communicate in ways that resonate with who people are culturally. “Values that shape our public and private identities influence our relationships with others, either positively or negatively.” Diversity is America’s strength. I am a Black woman born in Richmond, Virginia, during segregation. Before moving to my husband’s Central Pennsylvania farm, I lived in urban and suburban communities. Yet, life was bringing me here for three primary reasons: My marriage to a wonderful man Building relationships with people I probably wouldn’t have met had I not moved here, and Introducing my new life to Black friends who might not have considered a visit. “Relationships matter and come in many colors, shapes, genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, and other differences. Never underestimate what you can gain from someone unlike you.” I recognized as a four-year-old that our similarities could outweigh our differences. My mother was a domestic worker. There was a little girl my age named Catherine in one of the homes she cleaned. Catherine had lots of children’s books. Her mother gave me the old ones that she would have otherwise discarded. I never treated books as rubbish....
by Patricia Green, MSW, MSPR | Oct 17, 2022 | The Patricia Green Group
Author Dawna Markova wrote one of my favorite books: I Will Not Die an Unlived Life: Reclaiming Purpose and Passion. I read it more years ago than I can remember. Yet every aspect of Markova’s writings resonates with me, among them these words: I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which came to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which came to me as blossom, goes on as fruit. The path to discovering what fed my soul began with art. I sketched neighbors’ faces when a wee one. By high school, every artistic medium was in my portfolio. I dreamed of leaving Richmond, Virginia, my family, painful memories, and traveling across the waters to Paris, France. My parents thought I was crazy and said, “You are not going to France; you are staying in Richmond and going to Virginia Union University.” Spirit-broken and trapped in a life, not of my choosing, I vowed never to do anything artistic again. Yet, art was in me because art was not just a paintbrush or a palette. Art was how I thought and felt. My imagination soared no matter what I undertook. I failed miserably at attempts to work in restrictive, groupthink environments. Yet, I saw beauty in that seen and imagined, put ideas together without restrictive thinking, and celebrated...
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