Overcoming the Mindset of Slacking Off

(Minghui.org) The literal meaning of “slacking off” means to let loose or relax. From a cultivation perspective, it means being lazy and not being able to take hardship.

Before I started to practice Falun Dafa and cultivate myself, my life was restricted by the invisible shackles of being in a state of slacking off. Because I was not healthy, my mother pampered me. I am the youngest of my siblings, so my three sisters also spoiled me. After I married, my husband and my in-laws treated me well. It naturally became a habit for me to depend on others, slack off, and wait for others whenever I could.

After I started to practice Falun Dafa, I recovered my health, but I still didn’t eliminate the habit of slacking off. I live in a rural area so there’s a lot of work to do. Because my husband was hardworking and capable, he usually took care of everything.

Ten years ago, because we were building a new house and preparing for our son’s marriage, we incurred debts. My husband, who was over 50 at the time, went out to work, so all the serious responsibilities at home landed on my shoulders. Faced with the hard and tedious farm work, I felt overwhelmed and kept saying that I could not do it.

My sister-in-law, a fellow practitioner, said that I did not have enough righteous thoughts and reminded me a few times, saying, “Can you stop saying, ‘I cannot do it?’” Her words woke me up! When I saw work that normally I felt I could not do, I tried and I was really able to do it! I understood that it was not that I could not do it but that I was used to slacking off and letting others do the hard work so I did not think I could.

For the past 10 years, my husband worked elsewhere while I managed the household. On the surface, it seemed that our family was doing quite well, but actually I did not overcome my state of slack off. During the busy farming season, I listen to the Fa lectures on my MP3 every day but I usually do not do the exercises. I go to sleep after dinner and sleep until the next day. That should have been more than enough rest, but I always felt tired.

I also got into another bad habit, which was to only do the meditation exercise and not the other four. Rather than say that I did not like to do the first four exercises, I should have admitted that I was being lazy. I exchanged my thoughts with practitioner Ana. She is one year younger than me but is in really good health so I admired her. Although I had not taken any medicine since I began practicing over 20 years ago, I still found it difficult when illness tribulations appeared. I always begged Master for help in order to overcome them.

Ana said that she did all five exercises every morning. She kept urging me not to slack off and to do the exercises every morning. She reminded me that only by practicing the exercises can we change our bodies and our bodies will thus naturally recover.

Proactively Changing My Mindset

With Ana’s encouragement, I started to practice the exercises in the morning last December. When I was not able to complete the four standing exercises, I would make up for them in the afternoon.

December and January are the coldest months. Despite the cold, I still did the morning exercises. The first day, my hands were so cold that they were numb and painful. However, from the second day onward, my hands felt warm.

Another practitioner, Qin, began going through a very serious illness tribulation so I sent out a message to the other practitioners. Some practitioners rushed over from more than 10 miles away while some came from over 50 miles away. Everyone exchanged their cultivation thoughts with Qin based on the Fa principles. When she saw that practitioners had hurried over to help her mother-in-law despite the cold weather, Qin’s daughter-in-law was very touched and prepared many dishes of hearty food.

After finishing dinner, I returned home. I saw that my family was waiting for me to make dinner for them. Without saying a word I went into the kitchen. After dinner, I cleaned up and felt a bit tired. However, this was the day when I was supposed to make Minghui Weekly and truth-clarifying materials. This task could not wait as it would affect the fellow practitioners who read them regularly. I also could not delay the practitioners who distribute the truth-clarifying materials.

I turned on my computer, downloaded the information, and got to work. By the time I finished, it was late at night. However, I did not feel tired. Instead, my body felt very light and relaxed.

On market day, my family drove our car to the market. The weather that day was especially cold. Even though we had our masks on, our noses were still freezing. I brought two publications, Minghui Weekly and Wishing You Peace and Safety, to distribute. Everyone at the market wore masks. Some were so cold that their eyes kept tearing. Many people complained that the weather was too cold!

To distribute the materials, I had to take off my gloves. Not only did I not feel cold, my hands felt very warm! If it was the old me, I would definitely have not gone to the market to distribute materials on such a bitterly cold day. I would have stayed home and waited for warmer weather.

Now, I no longer slack off anymore. I even want to be more diligent about doing the three things well and clarifying the truth to save more sentient beings.

Thank you to all the practitioners for your benevolent encouragement and help!