(Minghui.org) For several years, I’ve had a hard time getting up in the morning on weekdays and doing the exercises regularly. My excuse has been that I always work late into the night because of the time difference with New York, and that I usually can’t go to bed until 1:00 a.m. or later. I’ve tried to make up my exercises during the day when I’ve had spare time, but most of the time I’ve only managed to get short sessions of a few minutes, or half hour of meditation during the day.
I’d figured I need at least five to six hours of sleep, because I have to get up early to help my daughter get ready for school, and then work on other Dafa projects, including editing and translating articles. This schedule worked sometimes, but not always, and I’ve often felt tired during the day and have needed to rest for 15 to 30 minutes now and then, even before I started my evening shift. I’ve also gotten tired when studying with my family or on my own. I was about to go to bed one evening when I realized that I hadn’t asked Master for help from the bottom of my heart, and that I couldn’t break through this on my own with my notions. I sat in front of Master’s picture and begged for help. I went to bed and didn’t think about it anymore.
The next day, I received a message from one of my brothers, asking if we should start doing exercises together each morning. My family has experienced several illness and deaths over the past year, which had been a major test for me and our entire family. We own a farm with woods, a garden, bees, and chickens that my mom, dad, and my older brother had taken care of for many years, but after my father and older brother passed away, it wasn’t possible to keep up with it, since my mom is the only one left on the farm.
We all went through a long period of mourning, which helped me gain a deeper understanding of the value of life and how fragile it could be. I realized how valuable my family is and how we all have a role in caring for one another. My mother used to practice the Falun Gong exercises, but was unable to continue due to my father’s and brother’s illnesses. I wished to support her by practicing with her remotely in the mornings, but was never able to get started.
When my brother sent me the message, I realized that Master had heard my call for help. My brother, who studies the Fa and does exercises irregularly like me, suggested that we should start the very next day. He also invited another practitioner who has the same problem. We invited my mom and the other practitioner. Both of them immediately agreed to join.
I worked late as usual the night before our first day, assuming I would be able to get up on time, but I was so tired that I woke up an hour late and missed the opportunity again. However, during this hour, I had a dream that I was on a tourist island and saw a group of practitioners doing the Falun Dafa exercises to music in a small parade. Another group of practitioners came and joined them. The moment they started doing exercises together, the music got louder, and two large rotating Falun emitted bright light. There was a very strong and positive energy. Many people were watching.
I woke up and realized that I shouldn’t be disappointed, and this was still a good start. The next day, I managed to get up on time, and the four of us did the exercises together online for the first time. Even my mom joined. The following week, we all got up at 6 a.m. and managed to do the exercises together, except for one day when I went to do exercises with another local group.
The effects of this change showed in another aspect. My daughter and I had had a lengthy discussion about whether she should attend a European Minghui camp. She had always participated in the past, but when we talked about it this year, she didn’t want to go anymore and gave several reasons why she no longer found the camp rewarding. She said she didn’t like it anymore. I tried to convince her in vain.
During the week I started doing the exercises regularly, I managed to stay calm and listen to her better. I was able to take her concerns and feelings seriously and view her feedback as something we could learn from. I talked to the camp organizers. All of them agreed with my daughter’s criticism and wanted to make improvements. However, she was still unsure if she wanted to go.
The next day, I spoke with her again with a genuine wish to help her, completely for her benefit instead of my wishes, and explained that the camp leaders were listening to her feedback and others’ feedback and would make improvements. She told me the following day that she would attend the Minghui camp this year too.
A Clearer Mind
Over the past year, I’ve been a bit absent-minded sometimes and have forgotten many things. I even lost my phone on the train on my way to an airport, which created a major ordeal for both me and my daughter. I’ve been easily influenced by others in stressful situations, and when I looked within, the fear of not being accepted and the need for external validation have usually been the root of my absent-mindedness.
The same week we started practicing regularly, I was supposed to meet my mother-in-law to pick up my daughter, after my daughter had stayed with her for the weekend. On the way to the train station, I was feeling a bit stressed again, but I was able to calm down. I noticed when I was about to forget my phone on a bench at the bus stop, and then my reading glasses when I got off the bus. These were situations where I would have normally rushed off and forgotten both items.
Attachment to Time
Another thing that controls me and our entire society is the attachment to time. Time can force and stress people into doing a lot. What lies behind this for me? Why do I feel stressed instead of enjoying doing many things? Isn’t it also fear? Do I fear running out of time, failing, and others looking down on me? At the same time, resistance arises when I don’t want to do something because it’s not actually from my own wish.
I believe this stems from thoughts and feelings of external pressure, of not feeling valued, and just doing things that I believe others expect of me. This created the resistance to doing those things, since it came from a feeling of not being listened to but being forced to do it, which in turn caused me to unconsciously procrastinate and feel tired. I mostly waited until it was almost too late to do things and had a sense of shame or fear of what others might think of me. My struggle with time, stress, and fear became a way of life and drained my energy. By doing the exercises more, and meditation and Fa study, I finally feel I can break free from this and start doing things from a basis of genuine goodwill, purpose, and deep understanding.
The Fa Eliminates the Fear Created by Socialist Influences
When I looked deeper for the root of my fear of making mistakes, I realized that the entire society, especially those with strong social democratic and socialist influences, is governed by authoritarian rules that dictate what is true and false, and demand blind faith, and those who don’t follow along will get eliminated or pushed out.
This focus on competition and power struggles diminishes individuals’ own value, experiences, and insights. Instead, one is encouraged to seek value through believing blindly in politics, modern trends, and science, via competition and recognition from others. As I understand it, this is mostly driven by a fear of going against what the system and the group say is right. In this system, independent thinking, integrity, and strengthening oneself through belief in truth and one’s own experiences are actually not encouraged.
In this system, it has been possible to control individuals by having them seek their value from others and the feelings this brings, whether they are negative or positive feelings. Through fear of not being valued, one looks for confirmation, gives off energy to others, and is very easy to be manipulated and controlled.
Reflecting upon my childhood, I think I got mostly trapped in a punishment and reward system via the Swedish school system. I understood this by studying the Fa and watching How the Communist Specter Rules the World. I realized that this was a complicated plan orchestrated by the old forces.
When I was in school, I was sometimes bullied because I spoke another dialect and came from northern Sweden. To compensate, I learned to compete to feel good about myself by winning better grades, recognition, prizes, or praise.
When I didn’t know others well, I was afraid of voicing my view in case I would anger someone else. Just to feel connected with others, I started doing what I thought others expected of me instead, and I slowly lost my own curiosity about life, my creativity, integrity, and confidence. Instead, I just learned how to interpret things based on what I had learned in school and modern science's “truths.” As I see it, we are mostly indoctrinated in society to believe that being right is more important than being kind.
But this kind of right or wrong is all based on human knowledge, but this is not important at all for a cultivator. When I am educating my daughter, I’m reminded of these things almost every day. It’s very easy to fall into a mindset of giving her attention only when she does something I want or pushing her to do things by saying, “If you do this, you will get what you want.” I have realized this is a kind of punishment the system uses and a way to use her needs to get a result I want. I try to tell her what is bad and good today, but I try not to use her desires to make her do what I want. Instead, I listen to her needs and try to teach her that, for instance, cleaning her room is for cleaning the room and feeling good about that in itself, and not doing it to get something else.
Many children are also actually often mentally stressed from the school environment. To then have them do chores after coming home is very tough for them. I often had conflicts because of this, but now I understand what they need: calmness. As parents, we can help them get this by feeling our unconditional love. So now I mostly try to listen and be there for her when she comes home.
Through my understanding of the Fa, unconditional and compassionate love does not place conditions or demands on others. It genuinely wishes the individual’s happiness by helping them let go of fear and superficial feelings, and coming closer to life’s own unconditional love. It is the compassion that gods represent and the love that should flow in a family through the father and mother as they bring up their children and interact with friends and society.
My Understanding of Family and Divine Connection
Parents are the first and main connection to the world for children. Food, safety, emotional connection, care, and playing are all different manifestations of a parents’ love for them. Later, in kindergarten and even more so in school, they learn this is not so important; instead, what is rewarded is comparing, competing, performing well on tests, and getting good grades. True compassion is never taught or spoken about much in schools. Through my cultivation, I understand that this love actually always comes first for a child and the parents, and if they do not have it, there will always be problems, or they will not perform well in school.
Master has told us,
“Numerous social problems of various sorts are surfacing in the world and crises lurk everywhere. Yet humans do not know to find the causes within their own nature. After the degeneration of morality, humans are unable to see that the terrible human heart is the poisonous root of social problems, and so they always foolishly try to find the way out in social phenomena. As a result, human beings never realize that all the so-called “ways out” that they create for themselves are precisely them sealing themselves off. As such, there are even fewer ways out, and the new problems that follow are even worse. Thus, with much difficulty humans again find a tiny space and take new measures, thereby closing this remaining bit of space once again. As this repeats itself over a period of time, there is no room left and they can no longer find a way out, nor can they see the truth beyond the enclosed space.” (“Remaking Mankind,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
I understood that if I look outward at others to feel valued or as I fear others' anger, I will always be like a prisoner. This is a culture and a way of thinking based solely on fear and right and wrong, rather than on Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Thanks to Dafa, I understood that it's okay to express my views and hear totally different views from others, or even their anger, and to let others think what they want. It is also okay to make mistakes, because this is how we learn, through genuine experiences of life itself, and also how we develop our courage. Cultivators learn to not give up or stay on the ground when we fall.
I also understood that I can build real trust in cultivation when enduring feelings of being alone, fear, and sadness. In the end, I can again feel a connection to the universe’s compassion and my true self. This also comes when I accept and forgive these fearful and lost parts of myself, and then I can also better understand and forgive others. This insight has helped my compassion grow. I also feel glad that I finally understand the root of my anger and now have the ability to change it within myself.
Language as Indoctrination and a Wish for Children
Through the Fa, I also understood that even the language taught in school is a way of indoctrination via complicated grammar rules and endless word lists, which just makes it harder to use and learn the language. In real life, a child was never taught grammar to learn a language. They always learned by listening, repeating, and even singing, trusting that the mind can build the language structures correctly, just like it has for millions of years.
Thanks to Master’s compassion and fellow practitioners’ work setting up schools, summer camps, and Gan Jing World for children, there is finally a way out of these educational systems. I truly hope that one day many more children will be able to attend schools founded by practitioners, with a system that caters to the individual needs of children, nurtures their talents, focuses on character development, values their curiosity about life and the universe, and teaches them to express this through artistic development and alignment with Falun Dafa principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.
Thank you, compassionate Master!
Thank you, dear fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2026 Fa Conference in German-speaking Switzerland)
