(Minghui.org) Many years back, I was very busy with my work for a period of time. My boss had served in a multinational company for more than thirty years and she was extremely demanding.
Under my supervision, our department had achieved first place in one of the quarterly department service ratings. My boss requested that our department write an article for the company’s internal newsletter to share how we obtained the award.
I approached the task with much reluctance, as I was already overwhelmed with work during the day and participated in Dafa projects at night, so writing the article was an additional, unwelcome task.
Xinxing Issues Emerge Among Co-workers
In my mind, I went through every colleague in my department and realized that none of them could write articles well. Yet I felt that I should not carry all the weight of the responsibility myself, so I assigned the task to one of the supervisors in the department a month before the submission deadline.
In that month the supervisor took a week’s leave for an overseas trip. I expected her to show me the draft before she left, but I was disappointed – she only sent me the draft a day before the deadline. Having read through it, I felt an inextinguishable surge of anger, because she phrased “service” as if it were some kind of laborious obligation, completely void of any sense of dedication whatsoever. How in the world could we send out a draft like this? Out of frustration I kept blaming her in my mind for the delayed submission and for writing such a terrible piece despite my having provided her with all the main points beforehand. I wondered, why is it that other departments are all equipped with capable subordinates while I am the only one stuck with a bunch of barely functioning amateurs?
Initially, I thought that I could edit the draft a bit and still submit the article under her name. Reading it more closely, I realized that it was impossible to make edits and I would have to rewrite the entire article. So I spent any free time throughout the day writing and only managed to produce a mediocre article by the end of the day before the deadline.
The Way of the Everyday World Cannot be Applied to Practitioners
I was still downcast while walking home that day, exhausted from the stress and unable to let matters go. Then, I recalled that I should uphold a higher standard because I am a practitioner. Hence, I started to look inward and tried to appreciate the supervisor’s strengths.
I thought, if my boss were to approach me to write an article and I was unable to do so, I would have asked her to delegate the work to someone else instead. Yet my subordinate agreed to take on the task, so her spirit of self-challenge is in itself rather commendable. I blamed her for not submitting the draft early, but I had not specifically directed her to do this. She had the courage to take on the task and help me, yet not only did I fail to express my gratitude towards her, I even blamed her for the quality of her assistance.
From the perspective of the Fa, although I had the right to delegate tasks to her, I am first and foremost a practitioner, and she is here to help look inward in my cultivation. So I should thank the supervisor instead of blaming her. If all that I did was to complain about the inefficiency of my subordinates, then how is it different from those who moan and groan about work and life? Practitioners should not pursue a comfortable life--they should elevate their xinxing and repay their karmic debts!
Maintaining a Pure State of Mind While Writing an Article
Once I had formed a righteous mind, my heart became calm again. When I got home, I completed the tasks for my Dafa project, sent forth righteous thoughts at 12 a.m., and re-edited the article that I had written during the day. The process was very smooth, and I realized that I had almost completely re-edited everything again but had spent only half an hour doing it. Time seemed to stop, and words just flowed out of my mind. I realized that this article should have been done by me in the first place instead of trying to push my responsibility onto someone else and blaming others.
The next morning, I asked my boss to vet the article before our meeting. As she was reading, she exclaimed, “I didn't know that you could write!” When she finished the entire article, she said, “It’s brilliant! I didn't even need to edit a punctuation mark!” I remained composed and was not affected by her generous compliments because I knew that she was not complimenting my writing skills – this article was written by a practitioner in a very pure state of mind, so the energy and compassion could suppress any negativity in her. Why negativity? Because my boss was extremely picky and demanding, so any article a subordinate turned in to her would usually be soundly criticized.
This xinxing test made me realize that nothing that practitioners face is mere coincidence. Everything is painstakingly arranged by Master for us to improve. As long as we can face the matter with a righteous mind, look inwards and view the problem as a practitioner, then Master will ignite the light of miracles. Thank you, Master!
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Category: Improving Oneself
