Overcoming Tribulations with Gratitude

Greetings Master, Greetings fellow practitioners,

Remembering how I was when I started cultivation

I would like to start sharing with a memory I hold dear from when I started practicing cultivation 14 years ago. I still had not read Zhuan Falun to the end. I remember that I struggled a lot with drowsiness and loss of concentration. But there was a quote in Zhuan Falun that touched me very deeply. It awakened a part of me that was sleeping, which as I see it now, was in the form of the compassion I had as a child. As a child I remember I had the heart to help others, even strangers I saw walking past me. At one point that was my only goal and motivation in life.

The following quote is from Zhuan Falun (Lecture Two), Transcending the Five Elements and the Three Realms: “If you use up the white substance that you have, your own black substance can be transformed into the white substance through suffering. If that is still not enough, and if you bear the sins of your friends and family who do not cultivate, you can also still increase gong— this is for those who have cultivated to an extremely high level.”

After reading that, I was motivated to do the sitting meditation and endure the pain. My goal was to endure it for 30 minutes. I kept thinking that the only way I could help others was to eliminate my own karma first, which would take a very long time, so I should persist. During the pain, sweat and tears, I heard a 3-dimensional voice that resembled my own voice, only much purer, which told me: “You made a promise”. After that, I stopped struggling and felt calm for the first time, which I think was a state of ding.

When I finished meditating, I still didn’t know what the voice meant and I thought it was a random silly thought. Only after I read and understood the Fa more did I reflect on it and since then, it is a memory that motivates me. It is also a reminder of how I was when I first started cultivation. I was like a person reborn, and I felt lighthearted, innocent, and cheerful. Memories like this give me motivation and remind me of my mission.  I believe such incidents happen to every one of us. I am sharing this to remind myself and others of how grateful our real selves are for obtaining Dafa.

Master told us in To the Taiwan Experience Sharing Conference 2018: “Practice cultivation in the way you did when you first began, and the Dao will be achieved! Be even more diligent as the end draws nearer!” 

When I go about my day and I interact with people, I sometimes ask myself if I resemble how I was when I started cultivation. My only thought in the beginning was to give everyone a chance to hear about Zhen Shan Ren, and clarify the truth. When I am reminded of that, I see that I do often get the chance to talk about Dafa, in my interactions with people or even to give a flyer. Even if I don’t get the chance for either of these two, I still concentrate on thinking Master’s name and wishing they will get a chance to know about Dafa.

Tests that teach me humbleness after seeing a hidden attachment

Recently I have been trying to concentrate on my cultivation inside the home. Sharing my life with my husband, who is also a practitioner, Ι gave myself the excuse that it was okay to express myself and speak how I felt. The problem is that I forgot to cultivate my speech. At the same time everything that occurs is arranged by Master in order to have me improve.

There is an attachment I did not want to recognize and admit to for some time. As a Dafa practitioner I had been thinking that jealousy is a low-level and even evil attachment. I was feeling so repelled by it that I refused to sincerely examine myself for it. As I see it now, this delay in admitting it created even more attachments, and kept me stuck in the same notions for some time.

After being away on vacation abroad, being with my side of the family, I felt at ease and relaxed. When the end of the trip was approaching, I had an explosion of emotions against my husband. I blamed him for all the things I struggle with in Norway, like he was responsible for them. Because I felt sad saying goodbye to my family, my anger was focused on my husband and his sister. I remembered the times when my husband’s sister was visiting us at home and I felt uncomfortable because of her behavior. I blamed her in my mind for making my life in Norway even more sad and depressing. I was thinking that the behaviour of people was tearing my confidence and making me unmotivated. But I understand now that all these are human concepts and my expectations were derived from my human notions. After all Master wants me to cultivate in this environment.

Last year I detected my attachment to being very affected by negative comments, but I missed the other end of this attachment, which is, expecting praise. This as I see it now is connected to validating one’s self, in other words selfishness and jealousy.

Focusing on how other people see me and interact with me had led me to keep looking outwards and to develop jealousy.

Master has said in Zhuan Falun (Lecture 7): Jealousy: “He might feel very bitter and tired, always finding things unfair. Being unable to eat or sleep well, he feels sad and disappointed.“

I became clearer when I noticed those sentences from Zhuan Falun when we were studying at our local Fa study. Those two sentences describe exactly how I felt, tired, bitter and disappointed.

Over the past year, I had focused so much on looking externally at my husband, expecting him to correct his family members whenever they did something that didn’t align with how we as parents decided to raise our child. I let my complaints grow into anger, and I gave excuses to myself for being lazy, inattentive to the housework and lethargic in my attitude. Whenever his family members were around, I was depressed and unopinionated even when it came to things that I knew I opposed. I felt I could not speak out without erupting into tears and anger, so I did nothing instead.

I finally realized that I was not following Zhen Shan Ren if I endured only superficially. I decided that I as a mother have the responsibility to provide some values and guidelines on how my child is brought up. And that is a part of righteousness and truthfulness. I needed to speak out when needed but stay composed, truthful, and compassionate. I was surprised at an incident that I managed to be unmoved by when I answered my mother-in-law when she commented on how we feed our daughter. Even though she disagreed I felt only calmness and didn’t feel the need to defend or argue, I simply said with a smile that this is how we do it.

When I saw my sister-in-law again after our vacation I felt only compassion for her. I was more active with the housework so that created more balance in the whole situation. I now understand that it was jealousy that made me feel insulted when she helped with the housework, or by the way she talked to me. I also understood that she did nothing purposefully to hurt me.

Jealousy had taken me further away from being honest, hardworking, and a positive influence on others. Removing jealousy to me means that I should replace bitterness with gratefulness and any kind of personal preferences with a feeling of compassion for the being that brings me discomfort. I truly wish that my sister-in-law sees Dafa for what it is and is given a real chance for cultivation, because she is inclined to it but has not yet tried to practice or study it.

I don’t need other people’s actions towards me to be a specific way in order for me to be walking my path. Neither should I expect the best circumstances in order for me to be a diligent practitioner with righteous thoughts and a mind filled with Fa and not human concepts.

Finally, I feel very grateful towards my husband’s family members, for helping me get over the burdens I did not get the chance to see and cultivate away in the sheltered and safe environment of my homeland.

Some insights with Shen Yun in Bergen

In the past I had some experience helping out with promoting Shen Yun in other countries, but 2025 was the first time in my cultivation I got to see how it is to be a part of a Shen Yun hosting country. Although I had limited time for physically promoting Shen Yun, I saw the stress, pressure, high demands and finally the joy it brings in the end.

All the trips to Bergen opened my mind and made me see that there are many more ways to cooperate than I had thought before. Some practitioners from neighboring countries travelled to Bergen to deliver flyers on the steep uphills covered with snow and ice. This left a deep impression on me and I felt really grateful and inspired by their efforts.

Others also came to help out during the performances. Their help was essential, and it made me understand that even though many of us hadn’t met before, everyone indeed worked as one body. I believe that Master helped us tremendously in this, the first time in many years that Shen Yun was brought to Norway. He helped us establish some fundamentals and be encouraged. Therefore, I need to not slack off and I need to try to improve my cultivation state for this coming year. While meditating on the last day of finishing my sharing I had a realization that came to me as a big awakening. I cannot miss this opportunity in a millennia to cultivate diligently and assimilate in Dafa!

Please point out to me if something I said is inappropriate.

Thank you Master, Thank you fellow practitioners.

(This article was presented at the 2025 Nordic Fa-Conference)