(Photo above courtesy of Dori Colly)
Today’s episode is about a key Buddhist concept, which teaches that where you are right now is exactly the place you need to be to fulfill your purpose, as long as you’re willing to dig deep into your heart and let the courage out.
We speak with Dori Colly, a young mother in North Carolina. On the surface, hers is a story about the challenges she went through to buy a house. But what’s most incredible about her experience practicing Buddhism is how she courageously opened her heart, despite many traumatic experiences, to put down roots in a community that she never wanted to stay in the first place, because of how volatile and unsafe it felt.
Today, many of her family members live on the same block and are working together to transform the community in which they live.
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Cheat Sheet
0:19 Introduction to today’s topic
2:16 Dori’s story
5:53 What made her decide to start practicing Buddhism consistently
7:40 Her journey to buy a house
14:13 How winning in the morning became the key to transforming her disbelief
16:50 What chanting can do
18:42 How she’s been able to support a child with autism
24:49 How chanting helped her transform family discord
26:46 How chanting helped her transform how she felt towards the world
30:58 How she reunited with her dad and moved him in next door
32:46 What her dream became after purchasing the house
40:16 The role that having supportive friends has played
40:41 Advice for anyone who feels beat down by their environment right now
42:55 The moment Dori’s heart shifted from not wanting to stay in North Carolina to taking full responsibility for her community