(Minghui.org) Thanksgiving is a traditional holiday in many countries. It falls on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and the last Wednesday of November in Australia. With the fast approaching of Thanksgiving (November 30) in Australia, Falun Dafa practitioners in the country expressed their gratitude to Mr. Li Hongzhi, founder of Falun Dafa, for helping them regain health, improve mind nature, renew hope in life, and much more.
A Responsible and Happy Mother
Michele Webster lives in Perth, the largest city of Western Australia. She once experienced a major setback in life. She needed help and saw an announcement of the upcoming “The Art of Zhen Shan Ren International Exhibition.” When visiting the exhibition with her daughter, she heard about Falun Dafa and its principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance for the first time. She also learned that this peaceful practice has been brutally suppressed in China by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
That was in 2012, and Michele has been practicing Falun Dafa since then. She had always thought of herself as being a good person, but compared to the requirements of the Falun Dafa teachings, she realised she had done rather poorly, especially in child education. She was impatient and intolerant when dealing with her two teenage daughters. She is now able to listen to and communicate with them rationally, instead of reacting strongly. She thanked Master Li for impacting her and her children so positively.
Over ten years have passed, and Michele, almost 60, has been healthy, full of energy, and able to face the myriad of mundane things with a calm mind. She makes sure to study Falun Dafa books and do the Dafa exercises every day. On top of that, she works full-time and takes care of her two children. She also finds time to socialise with friends and relatives and to participate in activities promoting Falun Dafa and exposing the persecution in China. It would have been unimaginable in the past for her to engage in so many things, and she attributed her capability to her Falun Dafa practice.
“My Parents Stopped Fighting”
Nam Nguyen and his wife Trinh are Vietnamese, and live in Australia. They own a hair salon in Sydney. Their daughter, Julia, has recently graduated from high school.
“My parents always argued loudly in the past, making me and my brother feel very hurt and stressed. The changes in them is a relief for my whole family,” recalled Julia.
Those arguments were triggered by Nam and Trinh’s illnesses and mental stress. Trinh had hereditary diseases affecting her shoulders, back, arms, and hands. She always had pain somewhere, and long-time hard work in the salon worsened the pain. “After a day of work, my hands were tired, especially when I had to dry thick and coarse hair. I couldn’t sleep at night, so I had to stretch out my arms to sleep.”
Nam suffered from a liver bacterial infection. His doctor said that his liver was dangerously hot with more than two thousand bacteria. He was considered a high-risk patient.
The couple’s fate changed in 2017, when Nam came across information about Falun Dafa on the Internet. He purchased Dafa books from Tianti Books in the United States. In the meantime, he learned the exercises by following tutorial videos on the FalunDafa.org website. “After about three to four months of doing the exercises at home, the doctor surprisingly announced that my liver was completely free of bacteria,” he said.
More changes followed. Once hot-tempered and irritable, Nam found himself much calmer. He said, “In the past, every time a customer got their hair cut without paying, I would yell and treat that person very badly. But now I just want to be more compassionate toward them, and will say gently that if you don’t have money, you can pay next time.” It is the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance that turned him into a considerate person, both at work and at home.
Noticing the changes in her husband, Trinh also started to practice Falun Dafa. Every time after she finished doing the exercises, she felt relaxed, energetic, and pleasant. She could also feel that Master was cleansing her body, which made her body light. She no longer experienced pain after long hours of work and her efficiency also increased a lot.
Her mind nature also improved. “Since I am the youngest child in the family, everyone pampers me. Even after getting married I still maintain that attitude. I used to be frustrated and annoyed if my husband and kids didn’t go my way, and I always asked why they treated me the way they did. Since studying Falun Dafa, as Master taught me to look inward, I have clearly seen my own attachments, corrected them, and felt really comfortable and relaxed,” said Trinh.
She often shared her and Nam’s stories with her customers, hoping they could benefit from Falun Dafa as well. Her daughter Julia was impressed by her parents’ changes and has also begun to read Zhuan Falun, the main teachings of Falun Dafa.
A Book Changed Both Father and Daughter
David Kneipp is a resident in Cairns, the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. He encountered Falun Dafa for the first time in 2000, and said that the practice taught him the purpose of life. He said he strived to live by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and his mind has become more peaceful and relaxed. Not only is his insomnia gone, his anxiety and depression has also disappeared.
His daughter Jessica was surprised by these changes. She said of him, “He seemed to look better with age and had a healthy glow about him, since he took up the practice, so I knew it was a good thing.”
Jessica was suddenly hit with depression in 2010. She did not understand where it came from and tried to get rid of it by following a healthier life style – a balanced diet, getting up early and going to bed early, working out, and quitting her bad habits such as drinking. But none of them helped.
One day, she picked up the Zhuan Falun book that her father gave her years prior and began to read it. She said, “The book resonated with me; it just really spoke to my heart.” She realised that while she had worked hard to quit her bad habits, she had done little to improve her mind nature. The book set her on a good path.
Falun Dafa lifted Jessica out of her depression. “Where nothing else had really scraped the surface of this ‘depression like’ feeling I had been experiencing, Falun Dafa seemed to dissolve it – It is like it blew the cobwebs from my mind and made me feel so much lighter, calm, and content.”
Jessica said the practice also benefited her in another [unexpected] way, “I initially got into filmmaking to understand people and characters, [and] I didn’t imagine that the compassion developed through this practice would teach me this on a deeper level.”
Jessica had lived in London for ten years before moving back to Cairns. The principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance has guided her in daily life, enabling her to become less selfish and more considerate of others. Her husband is also a Falun Dafa practitioner and they have a four-year-old boy and a newborn girl. She said, “It is a great responsibility and blessing not only to have children but to have Falun Dafa to guide us all.” Having benefited from Falun Dafa’s teachings themselves, they aim to raise their children with Dafa’s principles.
Jessica said that what she loves about Falun Dafa is that “you don’t look out – you look in.” Not judging others. Just working on oneself when conflicts arise. For her, practicing Falun Dafa is like nurturing the soul as a gardener, and she likes to share the joy with others as well.
“This practice has helped me become a much more authentic version of myself, and things just feel clearer. I feel lucky to be learning Falun Dafa. I am constantly learning something new through this, there is never a dull moment in life, that’s for sure. Thank you, Master.” said Jessica.
