(Minghui.org) For people suffering from chronic insomnia, obtaining a good night’s sleep is no small feat. This was the case for Luo Minjia.
A chronic insomniac for more than 10 years, Minjia spent countless nights envying her husband and son as they slept soundly by her side. That was until she too managed to achieve the seemingly impossible with a special book! Let’s take a look at her story.
Health Problems
Luo Minjia lived in Taipei during the early years of her life, studying and later working as a public relations officer at the Taipei Howard Plaza Hotel for eight years. She then moved to Zhudong Town in Hsinchu County to join her husband after their marriage. The differences between a metropolitan city and a small rural town left her reeling. With nobody besides her husband and his family at her side, Minjia felt isolated.
Then the process of giving birth to three children aggravated Minjia’s already injured lumbar spine, causing her pain to worsen. Her insomnia worsened, and by the afternoon she would find herself suffering from severe back pain, chest tightness, and difficulty breathing.
In her quest for a cure, Minjia consulted many Western medicine specialists. They eventually traced her insomnia to an autonomic nervous system disorder. She had also consulted many traditional Chinese medicine specialists, religiously consuming their various remedies. She tried chiropractic massage, which cost between NT$500 to NT$1,000 for each session, as well as essential oil massages, spending more than NT$100,000 for the necessary essential oils. However, nothing helped improve her health.
Curing Chronic Insomnia By Reading a Book
One day Minjia visited a beauty salon to wash her hair. While her hair was being washed, Minjia’s symptoms suddenly recurred. As her chest began to tighten, she found it hard to breathe. Her face turned pale, and she broke into a cold sweat. The shocked proprietor quickly helped her to a nearby recliner. After resting for 10 minutes, Minjia’s symptoms began to ease.
The proprietor asked, “Would you like to try a qigong practice?” When Minjia asked for more details, the proprietor advised her to buy a copy of the book Zhuan Falun and a set of exercise instruction DVDs from a local bookstore. Minjia took her advice to heart and bought the book on her way home.
After reaching home, Minjia opened the book and began reading its contents. Her first impression was that the book evoked calm and happy feelings. Unable to resist it, she continued reading after dinner. Normally, Minjia’s three children, aged three, five, and six, would spend the evening energetically shouting and running around. Yet her children spent that evening quietly playing at her side. Minjia was amazed!
Dreaming about Gods and Buddhas
That night Minjia fell asleep with ease, and her mind filled with dreams of a shining golden Buddha floating in the sky. (She later found out that the Buddha was Falun Dafa’s Master). After waking up the following morning, she knew her destiny lay with Falun Dafa. Fifteen years have since passed, but Minjia has never looked back.
Falun Dafa is a practice that cultivates both body and mind. Along with reading Zhuan Falun and various other Falun Gong books, Minjia cultivated her mind according to the Falun Dafa principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and she practiced the five sets of exercises regularly. As her health improved, her insomnia and various other illnesses disappeared. With her health restored, Minjia offered her grateful thanks to Dafa’s Master.
Minjia had a recurring nightmare as a four- or five-year-old child. While lying asleep, she found herself suddenly tipped from her cloudy perch, falling endlessly downwards. Her mother would find her asleep on the floor the following morning, bundled in her quilt. This recurring nightmare caused her to fear falling asleep, although her mother thought she was making up the story and scolded her for it.
“After reading Zhuan Falun, I realised that we did indeed fall from the heavens and have to cultivate in order to return. This dream became my driving force. No matter how difficult the tribulations are, I believe in Master Li (Dafa’s founder) and remain committed to cultivating Falun Dafa,” she said.
Cultivating Away Jealousy, Restoring the Relationship Between Mother and Daughter-In-Law
Falun Dafa instructs its practitioners to eliminate their human attachments and improve their character. Among these flaws, jealousy is the most crucial yet hardest to detect.
Besides having three natural-born sons, Minjia’s mother-in-law adopted a girl as her daughter. The apple of her eye, her mother-in-law doted on her adopted daughter, keeping her constantly by her side until she married and had children at the age of 20. Thereafter, Minjia’s mother-in-law cared for her adopted daughter’s children as if they shared flesh and blood, pampering her grandchildren like any other grandmother.
Before practicing Falun Gong, Minjia resented this differential treatment. Instead of caring for her blood-related grandchildren, her mother-in-law spent all her time taking care of her adopted daughter’s children. Why was she helping an outsider instead?
After practicing Falun Gong, Minjia searched within and discovered her feelings of jealousy over this unfair treatment. Her mother-in-law treated her adopted daughter better than her own daughter-in-law and bestowed her love on her adopted grandchildren while ignoring those of her own blood.
With this realisation, Minjia’s thoughts became clear, and her feelings of resentment vanished. Minjia started to always greet her mother-in-law warmly. Their relationship improved to the point that they now chat and shop together frequently. Her mother-in-law has praised her patient and virtuous daughter-in-law.
Despite not practicing Falun Dafa herself, Minjia’s mother-in-law has recognised the goodness of Dafa and fully supports Minjia’s cultivation efforts. One day, her mother-in-law called her. “Minjia, quickly come over and teach me the exercises! My blood pressure has suddenly soared to over 200!” Minjia quickly rushed over, reassured her mother-in-law, and then taught her the first, third, and fourth sets of exercises. Half an hour later, her mother-in-law’s ruddy complexion faded to normal, and her blood pressure had fallen. The two of them thanked Falun Dafa’s Master for resolving the crisis.
Her mother-in-law’s youngest son came rushing home. After hearing how Dafa had reduced his mother’s blood pressure, Minjia’s brother-in-law said, “Falun Gong is truly amazing!”
Human Feelings Versus Character Improvement
While it is natural for every parent to love and guide their child, children should also have the right to make decisions concerning their paths in life. Minjia faced this problem where she unconsciously imposed her own beliefs on her child.
Her son gained admittance into a fine arts course at a top university and had to submit a formal registration within three days or forfeit his place. Her son refused to sign up and told her that he wanted to attend a polytechnic school. His announcement left her stunned. Her son had studied arts throughout his six years in elementary and high school. His ready admittance to the arts course at this prestigious university was a natural path in life.
During their discussion, her son admitted he had failed to make any breakthroughs in his style of painting. After the university art department exam results were released, he realised his passion lay in the fields of science and engineering, not art.
After listening to her son, Minjia looked inward and discovered her buried desire for fame and gain. She had initially arranged for her son to attend this art school because the institution was famous. Moreover, she believed children who studied the arts were less likely to go astray, so that would leave her with less to worry about. To put it bluntly, her arrangement was “selfish” in nature.
Minjia recalled her son’s childhood passion for constructing Lego models and his superior sense of logic. He also liked repairing faulty electrical appliances at home. These attributes indicated his suitability for studying science and engineering, and Minjia herself even once wondered if her son would have a better future in science and engineering. Yet her attachments to fame and gain had won out, unintentionally driving her son down the wrong path.
Both mother and son cried during their heart-to-heart talk. She and her husband decided to respect their son’s choice and purchased physics and chemistry textbooks for him. Putting aside her own attachments and regrets, Minjia became her son’s staunch supporter, encouraging him to achieve his dreams. After half a year of hard work, their son successfully gained admission to the Department of Optoelectronics at a national university.
According to Minjia, her good fortune to learn Dafa meant she had gained the ability to “look within” whenever encountering problems so she could correct her flaws. “Thank you Master for imparting your teachings to us! I will be more diligent!”
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