(Clearwisdom.net) Christopher is close to 25 years old. He wears a pair of white frame glasses and appears mild mannered, confident, and forthright. He stands in the street to explain to passersby how Falun Gong and its practitioners are being persecuted in China. Just five months ago, however, Christopher was totally a different person.
More than three years ago, Christopher suffered from severe depression. He locked himself inside his home and spent most of his time in bed. He had little contact with the outside world and had no interest in doing anything. He was also dealing with obsessive compulsive symptoms: he checked his door over and over again to make sure it was locked and he would check and recheck that his things were all in their appropriate places. Christopher studied the travel service industry in college. After graduation, he got his first job in a hotel. Soon he found another job handling welfare applications in a call center. He felt that he was under an increasing amount of pressure from this job: everyday he had to listen to nonstop complaints, which let him feeling depressed, and he felt he could not endure it. One year later, he collapsed.
Christopher's depression was so severe that he tried several times to commit suicide. His mother could not handle it and threw him out of her house leaving him homeless. He stayed in the local shelter for nine months and then went to live with his father for nine months. His father could not handle him, either. Then, luckily, the city government offered him an apartment where he now lives. He said, "That was a tough period in my life."
So what led Christopher to make such a drastic change, from a seriously depressed patient into an absolutely normal, cheerful, confident young man?
One Saturday in April 2009, Christopher was walking down a crowded avenue in downtown Newcastle when he came upon a special exhibition site. There were many posters that depicted practitioners in sitting meditation and also pictures of people being brutally tortured. He was given a leaflet--his first introduction to Falun Gong. He learned about the persecution of Falun Gong in China and also that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) collects organs from living practitioners. Many bristle with anger when they learn of this atrocity. Christopher, out of the goodness of his heart, wanted to know more about Falun Gong and to help those practitioners being so cruelly tortured. He called the phone numbers on the leaflet and got some information, then he bought the books Zhuan Falun and Falun Gong to read. He also visited related websites to learn more. Later, he went to a site where local practitioners gather so he could learn to practice Falun Gong.
After he went to the practice site three or four times, he felt very different. The positivity and happiness that had been missing from his life returned; he gave up smoking and drinking and all the symptoms of his depression and his obsessive compulsive behaviors disappeared. Without even realizing it, he became a positive, cheerful person.
As a new practitioner, when he was asked why he likes to spend so much time and effort telling people the facts about Falun Gong, he said, "It's a little hard to explain in words. I just feel so great, so pleased. I hope to maintain this feeling. I love to spend as much of my time on it as I can. And I love to do anything I am able to. I love to practice Falun Gong; I love to come to the city to participate in its activities. All this makes me feel amazing, and I am filled with positive energy. I have a different life than before."
Christopher studies Falun Gong books and does the exercises everyday. He said that he has already read Zhuan Falun in its entirety quite a few times. Each time he reads it he gets new understandings--he is doing his best to understand the oriental concepts that he has never heard of before.
Christopher has an improved relationship with his parents now. He said, "Actually, I feel good about my life now, except that I am fixed here and cannot reach more places to do more things."
On July 18 this year, Christopher took part in the resistance activity in London to protest the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong. On August 9 he participated in Falun Gong's parade procession at the Edinburgh Arts Festival.
Christopher thinks that his current life is filled with positivity, happiness, and significance.
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