By a practitioner in the U.S.　　　

　　It has been almost two years since I began practicing Falun Dafa, and in that time I have encountered unending opportunities for growth and wisdom. As a practitioner, upholding the universal principle of Truthfulness- Compassion-Forbearance is a challenging and sacred commitment. More and more, the power this principle has to transform is revealing itself to me. In April 1999, when I started on the path of cultivation, I mainly focused upon acting according to the highest standard of these three words, maximally giving up attachments, and practicing and studying well. While there certainly was nothing incorrect with that approach, I can see now that the main emphasis of those activities centered on the words "my cultivation" and what that meant to me, how it benefited me, improved me, and helped me. In fact, just admitting this, I feel ashamed and can see my attachment to self-centered thinking.　　　

　　In my daily life, I have a difficult job, full of difficult people. Sometimes they go to great lengths to be disruptive just to prove the smallest point. Many of them seem to be locked in a struggle for what they can get at the expense of everyone else. When I began working at my job, I had just begun practicing Falun Dafa and set forth to be very diligent about maintaining my principles and being a good person. Working in this harsh and competitive environment was very painful and almost unbearable. I felt terrible seeing the worst in people. My level of understanding at the time caused me to decide that I should forbear all difficult matters and work diligently without complaint. his is what I thought a good practitioner should do, so I steadfastly set upon this task and then immediately my tests began.　　　

　　At work, as I became more preoccupied with finding new ways to forbear my environment, more unreasonable tests came my way. I endured so many ridiculous things it makes me laugh now, such as the time I was completely soaked in a rainstorm on my way to work. I arrived late with an inch of water in each shoe. My boss reprimanded me for arriving late and then, without any consideration for my soaking wet condition, insisted that we begin work (although he did let me pour the water out of my shoes). I was forced to work with him all day in a room where he kept the air-conditioning on full blast because he felt too warm. Meanwhile I was shivering with cold and I didn't dry of until it was time to leave. My heart was really heavy at his selfish actions, but I continued to forbear.　　　

　　Another time, several individuals created a big problem after not taking responsibility for an important issue. his resulted in a huge and potentially expensive problem. Instead of reporting their mistake to the president, I quietly worked to ix the problem. It took three months of working late just to resolve it. In the end, I didn't receive any thanks; instead, the people I had helped told the president that I had made the mistake! I felt very angry but still didn't say anything and kept on forbearing.　　　

　　It just kept continuing in this way. When people told distasteful jokes in the office I would leave the group, eat lunch by myself, or not talk to them unless I had a good reason. At the time I felt I was acting as a good practitioner but actually I was avoiding my cultivation environment. he more I would forbear, the more problems I would have. I began to avoid people and conflicts more and more and then tried to forbear more and more. Things just became worse. People constantly made me uncomfortable and acted tense around me. I was forced to work unreasonable hours. Then I began getting blamed for others' mistakes even as I was doing good deeds and fixing all their problems. I couldn't enlighten to what was going on. All types of miscommunications occurred with other practitioners. Through all of this I couldn't look within myself very well. I would make an attempt to find my faults but I would always see myself as a good practitioner. Unknowingly, I felt I was better than all those people. I was always worrying about their effect on my practice and tried to avoid letting them disturb or influence me in any way. I complained so much about how difficult things were for me and how unfair it was that I was always blamed. Now I can see just how much it had to do with my selfishness and the thought that I was better than those around me.　　　

　　After enlightening to that realization I felt very humble and ashamed of myself. I made the decision that I would only acknowledge the good in everyone I worked with and not judge or criticize them. I sincerely appreciated their strengths and what I could learn from them. As soon as I held that thought, my boss hired someone to help me at work and my long hours were reduced. From taking this new attitude I noticed a kinder nature appearing in myself and I laughed more often. Suddenly my boss started joking more and smiling more. One day he even made a joke that when something went wrong everyone should just blame me for it. I really laughed at that because I could hear our Teacher using those words to point out an important issue—that a practitioner should always look inside for the cause of any conflict. Because of that I felt a lot kinder to those in my office and decided to appreciate my co-workers for helping me improve.　　　

　　The environment in my job drastically changed for the better after I told my co-workers that I was a Dafa practitioner and explained about the persecution in China. his was a very general discussion and I worried it was not enough. In the past, no one knew very much about me and I kept all my personal business strictly to myself. I held the idea that my co-workers were too impossible to be able to understand or respect Dafa. But again I was wrong　In the past, if I had some Dafa activity or reading group to attend and my job required me to stay late at the last minute, I felt very resentful. After telling people I was a practitioner, the amount of respect they had toward me greatly increased and everything became more harmonious. I think it was because I finally showed them my heart instead of hiding and protecting it. For the most part they stopped swearing in the office in front of me, but even when they did I was still kind to them and didn't treat them harshly. When my boss was unreasonable or petty I told him how much I learned from him and appreciated the challenges he had to face. All of these things I did from a heart of sincerity. Suddenly, not only did the atmosphere in the oice improve but people also began to share interesting things about themselves or show me their best sides.　　

　　This week I learned that a co-worker with a reputation for being confrontational who has always tried to undermine me took the time to do something for me that saved me much time and effort. What was amazing is that he did it without trying to take any credit or brag about doing it. hat was so unbelievable that I cried when I thought about his change of heart that allowed him to put down his usual way of acting and do something unconditionally out of kindness. Previously I had wanted to leave my job so I could find an easier one and have more time for cultivation. Now I realize that I already have the best cultivation environment of all.　　　

　　Over the past few months I have gained a new level of understanding of what cultivation is about. I have completely stopped worrying about the time and space for my personal cultivation and just want to take advantage of cultivation opportunities, meeting all conflicts with an unmoved heart. In fact this attitude has improved my cultivation and removed obstacles faster while my environment has become better and better.　　　

　　As I learned this past year, the next step after personal cultivation is to achieve a more mature view. he concepts that have helped me to improve the most have included putting others' interests first, looking for the opportunity to improve in every activity, and choosing to act based on what is right from the Fa-principles, not from what I think is right or prefer to do. In all matters I try to act with a heart of true compassion, and in doing so I assume that I personally can make a difference instead of waiting for others to take care of the job.　　　

　　In my understanding, all the worries about not having time, who is irritating you, and whether or not you can or can't do something are irrelevant. In becoming a more mature practitioner, I have opened my compassion, raised my level of wisdom, and learned that forbearance means maintaining the highest standard under all circumstances, not just enduring something painful. I feel that my understanding has become deeper. I just hope that I can do even better.