(Minghui.org) Looking back over my experiences participating in projects from 2004 to the present, I have realized that everything was part of the cultivation path Master arranged for me. I have also come to realize that getting rid of the attachment to self is very important and affects how projects develop.
I was passive as a college student, and, though many projects needed manpower, I didn’t believe that I could handle the work, and my attachment to relying on others was very strong. Another practitioner eventually guided me into my first Dafa project, and I came to understand the responsibilities that I needed to shoulder in the project as part of my mission. During this process, I had to constantly work to overcome “self,” get rid of my fear of learning new things, and build up my confidence. This first project I participated in laid the foundation for working on different projects in the future. I also witnessed the extraordinary power of Dafa. As long as you put your heart into your work, wisdom comes from the Fa and from Master.
I had to learn things from scratch and “on the job.” I did many things, from newspaper layout to interviews, social media, and YouTube channels. It seemed that all the work I had done in the past had paved the way for these things. My changing job roles appeared as something the project needed on the surface, but in essence my cultivation needed to enter a new stage, and my xinxing needed to improve or to make a breakthrough. I had to get rid of different attachments at different times, in different jobs, and while in contact with different people.
If no team members were obsessed with self and everyone could let go of their opinions and unconditionally cooperate, I saw that the project could develop rapidly. Unfortunately, I realized my deeply hidden attachment to self quite late.
Before I started participating in YouTube-related work, a Western practitioner gave me some systematic training on operating a YouTube channel. I learned many things about YouTube’s operations, so I was full of confidence and wanted to apply what I had learned to increase traffic and revenue when I started working for my first channel. I didn’t expect that my team members would question and resist my suggestions about everything, from thumbnail improvement to keyword settings.
When I first started, I had to repeatedly generate a thumbnail before it was accepted, but I did it without complaint and did my best to cooperate wholeheartedly. I later carefully went over 130 videos from six months on the channel, and then added keywords to each video. Another team member questioned my method and insisted on doing things her way. I couldn’t accept that no one would accept my suggestions, so after several fruitless conversations, I decided to quit.
Master said,
“Collaborate well in an open and dignified way. It doesn’t matter whose idea is the best. Even if someone’s idea isn’t good and hasn’t taken everything into consideration, you quietly make up for what’s missing! Do a thorough job! Only then would Gods see you as remarkable, and not to mention that you did it quietly! The key isn’t whose idea it is, but who has done well in their cultivation in the process—whoever cultivated himself would have improved.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2019 New York Fa Conference”)
And,
“When another god proposes an idea, they aren’t eager to reject it, and they aren’t eager to express their own ideas and they don’t believe that their own ideas are good. Instead, they look at what the end result of the other god’s proposed approach will be. What they have gone through in their existence is different—everyone goes through different things—and the truths that beings validate and enlighten to in the Fa are different, too, but the results might very well be the same. That’s why they look at the results, and if the result of a god’s idea can achieve the goal, if it can truly achieve it, then all of them will go along with it. That’s how gods think. Also, if there’s something lacking in it they will unconditionally and quietly do what they can to make things more ideal.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2002 Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Volume II)
After reading this passage of Fa, I realized that I had missed a good opportunity to improve. Being attached to self and wanting to validate self had made me unable to accept other people’s opinions. Master has taught me that the correct state of mind is to be tolerant and accepting and to quietly contribute to make things more ideal.
The television station assigned me to support a practitioner who was doing self-media and would create a new channel. I let go of myself to wholeheartedly cooperate with the team. The amazing thing is that, when my ego wasn’t involved, fellow practitioners could accept the suggestions I put forward, and they were willing to apply these methods to the channel’s development. We were profitable within a month.
Clinging to oneself will not only create gaps between fellow practitioners but also allow the old forces to take advantage of us and hinder the development of our projects. If all of us can follow Master’s teachings, cooperate without insisting on our own opinions, and understand the opinions of others, there is no problem that cannot be resolved, and our projects will develop rapidly.
I began to work for the television station last August and was mainly responsible for making thumbnails for several Mandarin and Cantonese programs and doing back-end data analysis. The station is a bigger platform and the requirements for each participant are higher, because each video requires the timely cooperation of the entire team to bring it to completion. Working at the TV station has allowed me to sense the power of working together as one body.
Each video starts with a script, then the anchor, graphics, sub-titles, editing, and promotion. It’s akin to a production line in that any delay during one step hinders the program’s broadcast. If the cooperation in one phase is lacking, the program’s views will be affected.
Not every member of the team understood my suggestions initially. However, we were working as one body to improve the viewership numbers, and fellow practitioners gave me a lot of support. The coordinator once said, “As long as it is to improve the project and to increase the TV viewership rate, we can test any suggestions. If one way doesn’t work, we can try another.” His remarks really encouraged me and gave me confidence.
Every team member is humble and eager to learn and adjusts their approach based on the analysis of the back-end data. The coordinator leads the team to improve many aspects of the video, like the thumbnail, the title, search engine optimization, original news footage, back-end settings, and interactions. Every aspect carries the righteous thoughts of the participating practitioners, and every practitioner is working hard toward our common goal of increasing viewership.
With the joint efforts of our team, many key indicators have improved, which means that more people are seeing our videos and can be saved through our channel.
Perhaps the journey ahead is still far and long and we will face more challenges. Each of us needs to break through our notions, let go of ourselves, strive to improve the quality of our TV videos, and earn higher revenue.
I am grateful to all of my fellow practitioners for their cooperation, and sincerely hope that we can save more sentient beings and live up to Master’s expectations for us!
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!