My story is one of dreams and drama…a path with twists and turns, many failures and some sweet success. I began studying Buddhism in college, but once I graduated, making money became my only priority. I was tired of being poor. Going to work for a large corporation at twenty-eight years old, I found the perfect place for my ambition. I became a workaholic, as well as a selfish, insensitive, domineering jerk. Feel free to ask anyone who knew me in my thirties—he or she will be more than happy to confirm this fact.

This strategy worked for about a decade. I married and divorced twice and became estranged from my family. I slowly realized that I was no longer living a life I valued. I found Unity in the Yellow Pages, when I was looking for a chapel to get married for the third time. I eventually divorced the husband but kept Unity. Unity and Buddhism ended up saving my life. Having been raised Methodist, I had never heard of the New Thought movement. I became intrigued by the idea that my thoughts create my reality. This is the essence of the Buddhist message as well.

Spirituality became my passion, the secret elixir that gave me the courage to take a demotion and transfer to my company’s corporate training division. I became fascinated with how adults transform their lives. I followed my interests wherever they led me, not knowing exactly where I would end up. In 1998, I met Lama Surya Das, an American Buddhist, who became my teacher. I also became a Licensed Unity Teacher. I delighted in the mixing and matching of the two spiritual paths—for me, they complement each other in so many ways.

In 2007, I e-mailed my minister of fifteen years and asked if he might help me find a “spiritual job.” He hired me. I now wake up every morning, excited to find out what the day will offer. To get here, I had many mis-steps and detours, wrong actions and wrong timing. I had a few years when I just gave up all together, only to find that I could no longer go back to the old way of living. I just kept doing more of what I loved and less of what I didn’t. For me, the process of transformation included a lot of forgiveness, compassion, and grieving.

The senior minister at Unity Temple, Duke Tufty, has long been a driving force for creating a diverse spiritual community here. He crafted the vision and tagline, “Where Diversity Is Praised and Peace and Harmony are the Rewards.” He and I are advocates for a new “diverse spirituality” approach. We want to give people permission to create a spiritual life that works for them, from whatever spiritual tradition(s) they choose and, of equal importance, create a thriving spiritual community that does not have a monolithic belief system, other than not violating the rights of others to practice as they wish and doing no harm to ourselves or others.  

Regarding our Buddhist center specifically, a man showed up at Unity Temple in 1996 wanting to start an American Buddhist group here. Duke said, “Of course!” I wrote the first promotional brochure for it; then I had the great blessing of being named its Director. We call it the “Temple Buddhist Center,” and it includes a wide variety of different types of Buddhist traditions. My first Sunday, about ten people came to my first Buddhist meditation at 9:00 am. We now average about 150 people each week. Parents also bring their children—we have about 30 kids each week who are taught mindfulness and meditation in a room across the hall. What fun we are having with this grand experiment!  

Listen to your innate wisdom instead of someone who might just fear change. It might seem crazy, but learn to celebrate failure—it is in failure that we find our greatest lessons. Forgiveness—of ourselves and others—also helps keep things moving in the right direction. I am reminded again and again of the simple phrase, “This too shall pass.” I use it when things are awful, and I need to just hang in a little longer. I also use it when things are wonderful, to make sure that I appreciate each joyful moment in life.

Buddhism for Non-Buddhists: How to Ease Suffering and Be Happy, by Janet Taylor, is available at Amazon.com.

www.templebuddhistcenter.org