(Minghui.org) My mother practices Falun Dafa and I’ve studied the Fa with her ever since I can remember. I’m now 14 years old.
For a time, I was lazy, hot tempered and wasted a lot of time hanging out with some not-so-great friends. I felt Fa study was a chore.
I spent time with a classmate who had a bad influence on me. I hung out with him and his friends between classes, but they did not take schoolwork seriously. We played billiards after school until 8 p.m. He was a decent student when we were in the 7th grade, but his father passed away around that time and his mother was too busy to keep an eye on him. He started dating, smoking, and gambling. It was a dangerous time for both of us. I was becoming less focused at school, and my class ranking slipped by almost a hundred places.
As the morality of society declines, nothing is as simple as it seems. Shooting billiards and playing video games can be addictive. Some videos and gaming programs spread violence and glorify crime. The government does not regulate them.
Once, when I watched a free tutoring streaming session, the teacher said that if he drew the map of China slightly less than perfect, his streaming site would be shut down. The government closely monitors that website but they do nothing about violent videos. I realized that teenagers must not become addicted to that kind of so-called entertainment.
The message on one gaming screen said: “Moderate gaming benefits the mind; excessive gaming harms the body.” I thought this was misguided. If we truly want our minds to benefit, we can choose to play basketball or take a walk. Aren’t these activities better than playing video games? Video games are not worth our time. Why get attached to them?
I was addicted to my cellphone and I spent two hours a day looking at videos. My mom also watched short videos. Her excuse was that she only watched them after she did her chores. After reading other practitioners’ sharings on overcoming cellphone addiction, my mom and I stopped watching videos, and only used our cellphone apps to occasionally shop online.
One time, I spent longer than usual browsing for merchandise on my cellphone, and I felt nauseous and had a headache. I felt better after I stopped browsing.
Quitting cellphone addiction is not something that needs to be done gradually. I stopped looking at the screen after I read what other practitioners wrote about this. The desire went away after a few days. Master Li Hongzhi will help us eliminate the elements in our bodies that cause the addiction. However, we must set our mind on wanting to quit first.
Parents should not assume that strict supervision alone is sufficient, or that simply taking away a child’s phone guarantees they won’t look at it. Scolding and discipline are useless. The child must decide to change.
My experiences were amazing after I began to genuinely practice Falun Dafa. On day I noticed the pendant with “Falun Dafa is good” written on it hanging on the wardrobe. As a Falun Dafa practitioner, I realized that I almost never truly followed Dafa’s teachings.
Even after I became aware of this, I only increased the length of time I read the Fa. I still did not cultivate my xinxing. I ended the friendship if any of my classmates made negative comments about Dafa. I harbored hate, not compassion, towards them. I didn’t understand that it was I who failed to clarify the truth about Dafa to them. It was not until a few months later, as I cultivated my xinxing and got rid of hatred, that Master helped me harmonize my friendships. My classmates did not hold grudges, and we are friends again.
I now keep the Fa in my heart, and I no longer get angry at my peers. I usually face difficult situations with a smile. When my xinxing is not where it ought to be, I am still unhappy inside even though I am calm on the surface. I maintain high expectations of myself to improve in areas where I have not done well.
In the past, I only did the first and third Dafa exercises. Wanting to do more, I tried to do the second exercise, Falun Standing Stance. I finished it in the first try. My arms felt sore and the thought of giving up surfaced several times. I told myself those thoughts are not mine. I silently recited the Fa and I persisted. My legs used to itch and hurt when I did the first exercise. But they did not bother me this time after standing for 30 minutes. Without Master’s help, I would not have been able to achieve this.
One hot summer day, sweat flowed onto my eyelids while I was doing the Falun Standing Stance exercise. The sweat stung my eyes. However, I was able to keep my eyes shut and I persisted.
I liked turtle doves and have thought about keeping one as pet. One night I had a dream about it. As I was lying in bed, holding a turtle dove, its stomach suddenly ruptured. Black liquid oozed from the cavity. After I woke up I realized that Master was pointing out that I should not be attached to pets.
Cultivation opened my wisdom. School became easy for me, and my grades went up. English language used to be a difficult subject, but it suddenly appeared quite simple and my test scores miraculously went up by 40 points. As I know how to study efficiently, I can handle 9th grade schoolwork with ease. My teachers have praised my improvement.
My handwriting used to be sloppy. I knew that Dafa practitioners should not write like that, so I try to write neatly. I no longer get mad at my peers over minor disagreements. Instead, I keep my mind calm and get along well with my classmates. If I hadn’t practiced Falun Dafa, I would still be petty and short-tempered.
I want to thank Master and Dafa because they showed me how to be a good person. I will cultivate diligently, do the three things well, and return to my true home with Master.
