Hairdresser: From Depression to Happiness

(Minghui.org) I am a hairdresser, and every time my customers talked about depression and its associated problems, or when I saw media coverage in China that reported tens of millions of people suffering from depression, I had mixed feelings, because I was one of those people. Luckily, in 2009 I had an opportunity to completely get rid of my depression and am now able to lead a happy life.

Suffering from Depression

My husband, our daughter, and I and left our hometown 10 years ago. We went to a big city hundreds of kilometers away. To pay for our daughter's schooling, I opened a small hair salon near our home.

The business went well, but my health was not good. I was dizzy even when I did not do much, and I had no energy. I often had to close the salon and go home to rest. I was short tempered and unhappy all the time. When I saw other people smile, I was envious and also puzzled: Why are they so happy? Why am I so upset? I even did not want to live anymore.

At first I thought it was caused by the stress in my life. I later went to a hospital several times and was diagnosed with depression. I spent a lot of money and several years passed, but I was still not cured. Finally, I went for treatment at the Shenyang Hospital 202 (a military hospital) to improve my condition. I usually took medication that I bought at that hospital.

Three years passed, and my daughter went to high school and then to a boarding school in our hometown. In 2008, my husband and I went to visit my mother on her birthday. She had also moved to the same city as us. My mother said, “Look, you are always sick. You don't look healthy. Now your daughter is not living at home anymore - you two should move in with me.”

My husband agreed, but I did not, because I had always wanted to live by myself. Finally, we decided to move in and live with my mom. We closed the hair salon, and I became bedridden. My illness got worse, and I became more depressed and felt as though I would collapse. Besides eating and going the restroom, I did not leave the room.

Mom Recovered from “Trigeminal Neuralgia”

One day, my mom had another attack of trigeminal neuralgia (a nerve disorder of the face). It was so painful that she kept slapping her face, so we took her to the hospital. The doctor said she needed surgery. We got an appointment for 20 days later, plus we had to pay a 10,000-yuan deposit. My mom was disappointed. She said, “We have to wait so long and don't know how much it will cost to be cured.”

After returning home, my mother said, “Over ten years ago, it was popular in our hometown to practice Falun Gong. At that time, I read about a survey the State Sports General Administration did. It said that over 90% of those who practiced Falun Gong recovered from disease. At that time, I also learned Falun Gong. But later when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute it, I stopped. I still have the exercise cassette. I should continue to practice Falun Gong.” She took out the cassette and began doing the exercises.

My husband said, “It would be amazing if your illness could be cured.” My mom did not take any medicine and her illness disappeared. Both my husband and I thought that this was a miracle. I thought to myself: the state survey results showed that “the effectiveness of Falun Gong's healing power and fitness was as high as 98%.” It was real, but the CCP still discredited Falun Gong on national TV.

From Depression to Happiness

In the spring of 2009, I got up and went out onto the living room balcony to enjoy the sunshine. My mom was listening to Falun Gong tapes. I sat there and did not fully focus on what she was listening to, but the more I heard, the more I liked it. It talked about why human beings should have a moral standard, why they should be good, the reason behind illnesses, etc. Without realizing it, I listened for a long time. Later, my mom got a copy of Zhuan Falun. Holding the book in her hand, she said to me, “You should read this book first. And keep reading it.”

I took the book and went back to my bedroom, leaned against the headboard, and began reading. The more I read, the more I liked reading it. I did not want to put it down, and read for several hours. While reading I murmured to myself, “Ah, how well this book is written!”

In the past, I could not read any book, let alone for several hours. I always felt unwell even reading only a few lines, because I got dizzy. I did not know why, but I felt different when I read Zhuan Falun.

I finished reading the whole book in less than two days. During that time, I could sleep better than before, and my mood improved.

Before I finished reading the book, I had a dream. I heard a male voice say, “I am cleansing your brain. You will not be able to handle it if I do that while you are awake.” Later, I had another dream. A female nurse in a white dress told me, “You will recover from your depression.” She repeated that three times. When I woke up, I realized that Master had begun to take care of me. Moreover, I could feel that Master was worried that I might not be able to understand and then deliberately let a nurse figure tell me that I would recover from my depression. Master really had the intention to enlighten me!

I learned the five exercises and continued to read Zhuan Falun. My physical condition significantly improved. At first, I noticed that I was happy sometimes, then I was happy for several hours during the day. Later, I was happy the whole morning, and, finally, I was happy all day long.

When my husband came home after work and noticed that I was in a good mood, he was happy, too. Thus, with the compassionate protection of our Master, I became healthy again. I resumed working and leading a normal life, our family began to laugh again.

I Reopen My Hair Salon

I reopened my hair salon, which had been closed for several years, in 2010. This time it was different, because I was healthy and I did not get tired working. My business improved every day, and we earned a great deal. In 2012, we bought a house in that city.

My customers often said I looked young for my age. When I told them that my daughter was already over 20 years old, they could not believe it. More than one customer told me, “You have a good attitude and a nice personality. You seem to be happy all the time and enthusiastic. You are so happy every time I see you.” They did not know that if it had not been for Falun Gong, I would not have been like this.

Once a male customer came to get a haircut and an oil treatment. After cutting his hair, I asked him, “Do you want the good quality ointment or the less expensive?” He wanted the good one. When I went to get it, I noticed that I did not have enough of it, and I told him, “I do not have enough of the good quality ointment. I will go buy more tomorrow. Can you come tomorrow afternoon?” He agreed and came again the next afternoon.

A few days later, a regular male customer said to me, “One of my friends had an oil treatment a few days ago. He told me what you did for him. Nowadays, it is really hard to find people like you. In fact, nobody would have noticed it if you had mixed some lesser quality ointment into the good one.”

I smiled, and at that moment, my mom told his wife the truth about Falun Gong. So he understood my way of doing business. Some customers pointed at me and told other customers, “She is the only one who does not focus on money.” That was true, I had really changed because I practiced Falun Gong. I became a healthy person, who considers others first.