Welcome! I’m Patricia Billings ~ mindfulness guide, wisdom worker, author and publisher. I invite you to read my biography below and the pages on the avenues of my work, which intersect like this:
~ As a mindfulness guide and wisdom worker, I support individuals and organizations, cultivating wisdom and compassion in daily life and work, and in the wider world. Please visit the Mindfulness guide and Wisdom worker pages to learn about my offerings, which can help you or your organization.
~ As an author and publisher, I have contributed to greater equality in the vital sites of language and literature, hence the site name: equal language. Please visit the Author page to learn more about my children’s books on social-emotional themes ~ they are meaningful for adults also! The Publisher page highlights some of the many diverse and translated books I have worked on over my life.
The Happenings page naturally highlights all my latest happenings, so please check it out too ~ thank you!
I am grateful to you for being here. Let’s keep connecting here and on Instagram @pbillings02 (where I mainly post Stories).
Biography
I now devote most of my time to teaching mindfulness, along with wisdom work advising, after a long career in book publishing and advocacy. I am an author with Milet Publishing, where I have a deep history. I founded Milet with Sedat Turhan in 1995 and directed the company with him for 15 years, based in London, Izmir and Chicago, growing it into a leading independent publisher of multilingual books, with a list of over 1000 titles in English and 23 languages. Over the years, Milet has broken barriers and uplifted readers and creators through its dedication to diverse literatures, languages, writers, illustrators and audiences.
As a publisher and editor for over three decades, I discovered and cultivated authors and illustrators; curated, organized and hosted many literary festivals and events; taught adult literacy; guest lectured and gave addresses at universities, including a commencement address; presented at numerous academic, professional and community conferences; and served on policy advisory committees and boards on literature, language and education. As a freelancer, I developed, wrote and edited primary, secondary and higher education resources, and I edited scholarly books for university presses.
Alongside my work in books, I studied mindfulness and meditation, and years into my dedicated practice, I began offering guidance to individuals and groups. My mindfulness teaching work has grown now to encompass clients around the world, and my offerings range from courses and weekly sessions to workshops and retreats. I continue to deepen my own practice through regular trainings and retreats.
Prior to my work in mindfulness and publishing, I worked in Washington, DC – with the International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (EAFORD) and Without Prejudice, the EAFORD international review of racial discrimination; with the North American Coordinating Committee for NGOs on the Question of Palestine; and with the Jordan Information Bureau, where my jobs included: research, writing, editing, communications, policy analysis, media analysis, lobbying and advocacy. I worked with the Palestinian and Jordanian delegations to the Middle East peace talks in Washington. And I was an editor at The Jordan Times newspaper in Amman.
I have worked in film and media too – with the independent production firm NDF International in London, the London Film Festival, and the International Film Festival in Izmir. I helped establish the Human Rights Watch Los Angeles Film Club and was a lead organizer of the club for several years. I am a long-time board member and judge of the Social Impact Media Awards (SIMA).
I have been a dedicated advocate for justice and liberation since the early 1980s, first in the anti-apartheid and Palestinian rights movements, through to my more recent activism in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City in the movement for Black lives and for prison abolition. I am a longtime vegan, and in New York, I also advocated for animal rights as a member of Voters for Animal Rights and Farm Sanctuary. I am currently based in Greece, working internationally, advocating for collective wellbeing and wise, compassionate action in the world through my mindfulness teaching.
I studied political science with a concentration in Middle East politics at Northwestern University and the University of Sussex; Arab studies at Georgetown University; film and media studies at the University of London; adult education teaching and mindful awareness practices at the University of California, Los Angeles; and Buddhism and mindfulness at many meditation centers in the US and Europe.
I grew up in Chicago in a family of ten, in a strong community. I have been guided always by that collective and community ethos. My commitment in everything is to show up, show love, and do the work, mindfully and compassionately.