Cherishing My Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity to Cultivate in Falun Dafa

(Minghui.org) I only started practicing Falun Dafa in late 2018 but have seen great improvements in my personal growth, marriage, parenting, and professional life. I also started a youth drum team that is growing and becoming a force in spreading Dafa’s goodness.

Ever since I was little, I have tried to break through human limitations. However, I just couldn’t shake off the pitfalls of emotions such as happiness, anger, sadness, zealotry, and various desires.

My Troubled Youth

In my teenage years, I sought fame and love. I thought that acting like a ruffian would make me more attractive to girls. So I took arguing and fighting as acts of bravery. I became glum and angry following the popular trends among the youth. These twisted modern ideas negatively impacted my behavior and lifestyle.

I hunched over on purpose when walking and propped my feet up when sitting. I acted cool and careless and sported a bad attitude toward everybody and everything.

I spent all my spare time on the Internet and absorbed all kinds of harmful information. In high school, I read some books promoting modern science and thought I had found the truth of the universe. This made me arrogant, and I looked down on everyone else.

My bad habits eventually caught up with me. My body contorted, and my back hunched over more and more. I tried to adjust my posture but ended up making it worse. My hips didn’t line up, and my spine was crooked. One of my shoulders was lower than the other, and my legs were not the same length. The ankle on my left foot also splayed out to the left. These health issues became more of a problem as I grew older, affecting my work and life.

I’ve always been slow in learning and understanding things compared to my peers. I read a lot of books and often isolated myself in my own little world. These traits, formed in my youth, made me ill-prepared for the workforce. I found it difficult to handle the pressures of work, it took me longer to do my tasks, and my supervisor was never happy with me. I grew increasingly anxious about socializing and didn’t know how to interact with the people around me.

I was under a lot of pressure, couldn’t handle simple tasks, and even had trouble remembering them sometimes. To make matters worse, I couldn’t explain myself to others, including my supervisor.

Finding Hope in Dafa

While riding the bus, I looked out the window and saw a banner that said, “Falun Dafa Made Millions Healthy Again.” I wanted to get off and find out more, but the bus had pulled out of the station. I couldn’t turn around and go back that day but, deep down, I wondered whether I would regret not pursuing it.

I later received my military draft notice, and I decided to enlist in a special military unit. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I spent the next six years in the military and lived under tremendous pressure every day. All of my captains were strict, and the posts I was assigned to were demanding. With my crooked posture and slow thinking, I was called out and reprimanded almost every single day.

On the family front, my wife went through pregnancy and gave birth to our baby girl. Stuck in my own set of problems, I wasn’t very helpful nor considerate of her during that time. I played games on my phone and often argued with my wife. With all the headaches I caused her, I can imagine the emotional roller coaster she must have gone through during that time. This may very well be why our baby ended up being finicky and hyper sensitive.

As a toddler, my daughter screamed and ran away as if her life was in great danger every time we tried to put her in a stroller. It took a lot of work to just get her ready to go out. We were once out and about when she screeched very loudly. Everywhere we went, people gave us a disapproving look.

My wife and I also got into arguments over money. I lost some money in an investment and constantly stressed over paying the rent and making ends meet. I didn’t have friends at work. My supervisor picked on me all the time, while my colleagues just sat on the sideline and poked fun. Chronically lacking sleep, my energy levels were constantly low. I went to the hospital at least once a week for one thing or another. Every aspect of my life hit rock bottom.

Just when I couldn’t see any hope in life, my wife phoned me and said she went to a nine-day seminar and learned Falun Dafa. She said it was very good and wanted to show me when I got home. Since my wife always complained that I never wanted to do anything with her, I thought this was my chance to show her I cared, even though I had no clue what Falun Dafa was.

When she taught me the first set of exercises, I overlapped my palms in front of my abdomen and instantly felt warmth in the heart of my palms. I knew right away, “This really works. Isn’t this what I’ve been looking for?”

Through the Falun Dafa website, I found a local practice site and started reading Zhuan Falun. The profound Fa principles in the book resonated with me. I told my wife I was finally home. Unfortunately, my wife didn’t take up the practice.

Dafa Changes My Life

Cultivating in Dafa became the most important thing in my life. I quit playing games on my phone and used my time studying the Fa. Dafa requires us be good people, so I took on many household chores. I tidied up and cleaned our filthy home. I cooked for my family, which I really enjoy and am naturally good at. My wife and daughter were happy and complimented my cooking profusely. My family life took a u-turn and is now so much better.

My income also grew. As I got along with my co-workers much better, I became happier and more cheerful. I was able to handle more challenges at work and no longer felt stressed out like I used to. I felt calm and competent. While there were things in life that still didn’t go as I had hoped, I saw them as opportunities for me to cultivate myself. Little by little, my xinxing improved.

Master Li said,

“We only look at your heart and mind. As long as you cultivate, we can transform any problem into a good thing—bad things can be turned into good things.” (Teachings at the Conference in Singapore)

I am no longer afraid of running into problems because they are all good things that can help me improve. I warned myself not to waste the opportunities Master thoughtfully arranged for me to improve, nor avoid difficulties and shirk my responsibilities.

I enjoy studying the Fa and try to read at least one lecture a day. I also read Master’s new articles on my cellphone during breaks throughout the day. I do the standing exercises on my lunch break and, if I have time at night, I do the meditation exercise or make phone calls to people in mainland China and clarify the truth to them. Due to my work schedule, I can’t always send righteous thoughts at the four set times, but I try my best to make up for it.

My daughter and I joined a waist drum team, and have been participating in community events. As the team grew, I started making plans for us to perform on weekends and holidays. We hand out little lotus flowers and talk to people about Dafa in person.

My wife knows that Dafa is good and always waits for our drum team to finish performing before the three of us go out to eat as a family. I am better at controlling my temper and hardly get upset anymore. I can say that our family is harmonious, my marriage is happy, and our life is good.

Validating the Fa at Work

Since I didn’t put in the effort to acquire certain skills when I was younger, I face many challenges at work on a daily basis. But I try my best to meet the standards with each task. With Master’s help, I have been making progress and exciting breakthroughs.

I was able to speak in front a crowd. When I moved up in rank to sergeant and was assigned to be the rope skills instructor, I knew I had to up my game in public appearances. However, it was really challenging for me. Although I spent hours and hours practicing my rope skills and speaking to a mirror, I found it an entirely different ball game when I actually stood in front of a class. My wife watched me rehearse my lectures over and over again before each class and told me that I needed to be assertive and confident. I knew this was Master’s arrangement for me to practice “truthfulness.”

My effort paid off in the end. It was still nerve-racking, but I was able to cover everything in my lesson plan and taught effectively.

I learned that teaching is not just talking to a class. I needed to teach from my students’ perspective for them to truly understand the material. It was an opportunity for me to get rid of my selfishness. I tried to understand how my tone of voice was perceived by my students, which is very hard, especially when I was under a lot of pressure. I realized, as a Dafa practitioner, I also needed to increase my tolerance and live up to the principle of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.”

I asked Master for help and gradually worked on improving my teaching style and professional skills, and made a lot of progress. My tolerance expanded, and I became more and more confident. Many students gave me positive feedback, and I could tell from the attitude of my superiors that they have completely changed their opinion of me. My commander told me, “I’m pleasantly surprised. You’re doing a great job. I made the right decision to promote you to sergeant.” I would have never imagined he’d say something like this to me.

I was later assigned to train the newly enlisted soldiers for two months. I treated them like my younger brothers and helped them with whatever I could. When I made phone calls to their families, I paid special attention to each call. When the training ended, the young soldiers gave each instructor a card and a nice water bottle. I gave each of them a Dafa bookmark, and the top two trainees got lotus flowers as encouragement.

The soldiers were happy to receive the gifts. One soldier asked about Dafa so I clarified the truth to him. When I mentioned a petition I was collecting signatures for, he readily signed it and took me to his dorm and had everyone sign. I was so touched.

Cultivating with Little Disciples

I spend most of my time at the military base and couldn’t always be involved in my daughter’s education. My wife is a non-practitioner and likes modern and trendy things. I can’t count on her to raise our daughter in the traditional way, according to Dafa’s principles. My daughter is a challenging child. So in order to give her a long-term cultivation environment, we joined the local waist drum team. This righteous energy field of Dafa has helped my daughter immensely.

When we first joined, my daughter didn’t have the patience to practice the basic skills. She often got side-tracked and started playing with something else. She also begged to try a different type of drum. But I encouraged her to stick to the waist drum. I told her everything will be hard at first but, once she gets the hang of it, she’ll start to enjoy it; the other type of drum was easy to pick up because it required fewer movements to start, but she would get bored easily and lose interest.

She took my advice and started putting in the time to practice. After a few months, she was able to play songs. I knew she was ready, so I found opportunities for her to perform in parades. After participating in many group performances, she’s now a valuable member of the team.

While promoting Shen Yun, I met a practitioner and her two kids. They were such good kids and so well-behaved. I thought it would be great if they could join the drum team, so I extended an invitation to the practitioner. She really liked the idea and signed her kids up to learn.

We now have two little disciples that regularly participate in large parades and performances. This boy and girl are similar in age and height, and even their birthdays are only a few days apart. With more and more little disciples joining us, our youth waist drum team now has eight members. Although some newer members are only watching on the sidelines for the time being, they are learning fast.

The impact of my daughter being in the drum team has been huge. Besides practicing the drums, we also organize little disciples to study the Fa together. Sometimes, the kids take the initiative to hand out Dafa fliers and lotus flowers—they look so darn cute doing it. The parents are also happy to see their progress. I believe all of this was thoughtfully arranged by Master, and that’s why everything worked out so perfectly.

When I first obtained the Fa, I had a dream. I was looking for Master at his home. I found Him in the yard showing a child how to plant a seedling. I remembered this dream vividly but didn’t know at the time what it meant. I now realize it may have something to do with my mission and vow to help this group of little disciples cultivate and validate the Fa.

Conclusion

Religions have their places of worship that are big and beautiful, but Dafa doesn’t have anything but practitioners. We cultivate among everyday people and are the manifestation of Dafa in ordinary society, representing particles created by the great Fa of the universe.

The path we travel will set examples for the future universe, solemn yet magnificent. Our hearts of cultivation shake the world of ten directions and are the most precious. We bring light to every corner of the world. So we should do well in our cultivation, not let Master down, and live up to the trust and confidence sentient beings have placed in us.

Thanks to Master for painstakingly saving me. I am still far from the standards He has set for disciples. I will do my best to catch up with the progress of Fa-rectification, help offer salvation to more sentient beings, and return to my true home with Master.