It Is so Important to Cultivate Ourselves

Recently my daughter stayed at my home for two weeks. One night before she left, we stayed up talking until almost 3:00 a.m. She pointed out many shortcomings of mine. She spoke seriously and was very correct about everything she said. How could she know so much about me when we seldom spent much time together? I knew it was Teacher who used her words to tell me something.

She said to me, "Do you notice your bad temper lately? You often point out the faults of other people who are not practitioners. You are a practitioner. Weren't those opportunities for you to cultivate and improve? You did not look inward, instead, you tried to avoid the situation by changing your job. When you talked to others, you spoke so loudly and you were overbearing. Was there anyone in your Fa study group who pointed this out for you?" I answered no. Then she asked what it was then that our group talked about. I told her that we often counted how many people we advised to quit the CCP. She asked me, "What's the point of being in a group if you can't help each other to improve?"
Then she continued, "You are going to such extremes. You get up so early and you don't go to sleep until midnight. You often do things so secretly and it looks like you are afraid of others. If you are doing good things, why don't you do it openly with dignity? When you clarify the truth, you don't explain things well and you only tell people, 'Disasters will come, hurry up and quit the CCP so you will be safe.' Those people do not know the truth at all, so how can they believe you when you say that to them? And you don't accept any criticism. After 12 years of cultivation, you still do not cultivate well. How can you save others?"

I was suddenly jolted awake and said to her, "Yes, everything you said is true. Now I know why you stayed so long here. Teacher led you to help me."

Looking back on the past two years, I was so busy. I mistook this as a sign of cultivating diligently but in fact, I was doing none of the Three Things (study the Fa [the teachings of Falun Dafa], send forth righteous thoughts and clarify the truth about Falun Dafa and about the persecution to the world's people) well. I studied the Fa but I did not remember it. When I sent forth righteous thoughts my mind drifted off and I fell asleep. I did not try to do as much truth clarification as I could. On the surface I was doing the Three Things. But what was the quality? One day my husband said to me, "You are so busy every day. What are you so busy doing?" I said that I had to do everything. He asked me which part of everything I did well. At that time I didn't understand Teacher was using him to give me a hint.

When I noticed other practitioners' shortcomings, I had no compassion. Just as my daughter said about me: I only wanted to change others but I did not want to change myself. I acknowledged that this is true and I will correct it.

The old forces arranged everything that they wanted, including our thoughts. If we do not study the Fa well and follow what Teacher told us, if we don't treat cultivation seriously, then we will walk on the path the old forces arranged for us. These are the last moments of our opportunity. The evil is trying everything. This situation requires us to strictly use the Fa as we walk our last path well. After I realized all of this, Teacher helped me to clean out the bad elements. My cultivation state improved right away and now I feel a strong energy field when sending forth righteous thoughts. My mind is clear. My environment has improved. My husband is happy too and my work now runs smoothly. I truly understood how important it is to cultivate ourselves.