In Season One of "The Good Wife," Alicia Florrick, wife of disgraced politician, Peter Florrick, stands at the podium next to him in a pose we've seen far too often in real-life politics: that of the stoic and silent spouse as he apologizes for his misdeeds which include, in this particular case, sleeping with prostitutes in a sex scandal that is only outweighed in repulsiveness by his corruption trial. We watch as she battles with the fallout from his actions, both financial and personal, and those women who've dealt with a cheating spouse, or know another woman who has, empathize with her internal struggle to do what's right for her children and herself. In my case, there was also, I … [Read more...]
When Bad Becomes Good
If I hadn't have married the wrong man, I would never have foolishly given up my teaching career to move to Greece with said man. I would never then have been in a sudden desperate financial situation, which forced me to start my own business overseas. If I hadn't started a business overseas, wherein my poor grasp of the local language, customs and business practices were challenged daily,I'd never have learned that I could be a more-than-competent, creative and tenacious entrepreneur. If I hadn't learned that I was a competent, creative and tenacious entrepreneur, I wouldn't have developed the confidence I needed to do what I really wanted to do, which was to write a book and see … [Read more...]
What’s In a Name?
Shakespeare’s Juliet asked this question in self-reflection and came up with the right answer for her, despite the tragedy to which her conclusion ultimately led. My answer to the question, “What’s in a name?” is the opposite of Juliet’s: there is a lot of meaning in every one of the names of my characters in my upcoming work, Cooking for Ghosts and Lost Lovers. This is a story I had been thinking about ever since my first visit to the RMS Queen Mary in 2008. I’d been given the honor of being asked to work on First Lady Maria Shriver’s California Women’s Conference in Long Beach, California. All the rooms at the conference center were booked. I could only find a room on the ship, which … [Read more...]
Women’s PowerStrategy Conference 2015
The next Women’s PowerStrategy™ Conference will be held in 2015. Speaker applications are not being taken at this time. Please continue to visit the conference website for updates and for photos and videos of our 2013 conference. For questions about speaker applications and all other inquiries please email womenspowerstrategy@gmail.com (Any queries here in the comments section will be deleted.) Thank you for your interest, Patricia V. Davis and The Women’s PowerStrategy™ Conference Team Note: Questions about speaker applications … [Read more...]
Let’s Not Fight ─ It’s Christmas: Your Holiday Cheat Sheet for Making it Through the Family Gathering
You’re going to see your family for the holidays again this year. You don’t know why you’re doing it, because every year you feel as though you’ve visited a level of Hell Dante forgot to mention. Every year your therapist gets a call on December 26 for an emergency session in which you swear to him or her you’ll never spend another holiday with “those people” again. But for some reason, you’re still not ready to emancipate yourself from this torture and so, every year that promise goes right out the window along with your diet, your hard-earned independence and your meager self-esteem. But I’m here to help. I’m here to remind you that Christmas dinner is after all, just dinner and not … [Read more...]
The Little Pink Pill
What if someone told you that there was a little pink, tasty pill that if you swallowed it, every word that came out of your mouth would be extremely pleasing to everyone? You’d never ever have to worry again, about saying the wrong thing that hurt someone feelings or made you sound selfish? Would you take it? I know lots of women who would. In fact, I swallowed that pill when I was a little girl and I am pretty sure it was my mother who gave it to me. She, like many women of her generation, was raised to be a “good girl.” Her parents liked her best when she was obedient and dutiful and respectful ─you know, all those qualities we’ve been told are “feminine”─ and … [Read more...]
March 26, 2013
A Better You Equals A Better World
By Patricia V. Davis No matter what it is we do for a living, most of us seek new ways to improve our skills, because we hope that improving professionally will lead us to a greater return. But what about our human being skills? Often our lives are too busy to even consider that if we make small adjustments in how we view and respond to the world, we could be sending out a more positive energy, an effort that will come back to us tenfold. Below are three simple suggestions on how building a better each of us will help build a better world. 1) Instead of making resolutions, let this year be a year of “gratitutions.” Gratitutions are statements of … [Read more...]