A Young Practitioner Strives to Improve

(Minghui.org) Greetings Master and fellow practitioners!

My name is Amy, and I’m 7-year-old second-grade student at Minghui School. I’d like to tell you about my cultivation experiences.

First, I’ll talk about my attachment to showing off. I loved bringing nice things my mom bought me to show them off. She told me this wasn’t right, but I didn’t listen because I enjoyed hearing others say how pretty my things were and seeing their envious looks. But now I understand that Master specifically talked about “The Mentality of Showing Off” in Zhuan Falun. Having a show-off mentality is wrong, and I need to let go of it. I’ve improved a bit. Not long ago, my dad bought me a beautiful transparent blue storage box with two drawers. I filled it with my favorite little things and really wanted to take it to school to show everyone, but my mom reminded me, “Are you trying to show off again?” I thought, “I can’t show off anymore, or I won’t be cultivating well.” I didn’t take the box to school. I controlled myself, and thinking about it makes me pretty happy.

But I still have some show-off mentality and I need to work harder to remove it. One time, on the way to school, my mom, my sister, and I were reciting “On Horses” written by Han Yu. I felt I had almost memorized it and thought I was pretty great, so I wanted to show off again. I said, “Mom, Mom, I want to recite it by myself!” But when I tried, I couldn’t. My sister laughed at me, saying, “I knew you couldn’t do it! Always showing off!” Thinking back, that was my show-off mentality, and it wasn’t good. Maybe because I wanted to show off so badly I couldn’t recite it. I need to get rid of this and stop wanting to show off.

I used to be very selfish, only thinking about myself, but now I’ve learned to think of others and practice forbearance. My mom recently bought my sister and I new lunchboxes. One had a leaf pattern on the lid, and the other had a squirrel pattern. We both loved them, but we both wanted the squirrel one. My mom said the squirrel lunch box was meant for me, because I’m the younger sister. But I saw my older sister really liked it too, so I let her have it. But then my sister saw how much I liked it and gave it back to me. My mom praised us for doing so well! She said that as long as we always put kindness first, we won’t always want to compete or take things from others. I feel I’ve made progress, and I’m very happy in my heart.

Sometimes, I get very upset. I wanted a mechanical pencil and asked my mom to buy it right away. But she said it was too far to make a special trip and we could buy it the next day when we went out. I could borrow my sister’s for now. I didn’t agree—I really wanted my own mechanical pencil. I was mad and upset all evening. My mom didn’t argue with me but reminded me, “You are a little practitioner. Getting angry isn’t right.” I slowly calmed down, and my anger went away. I knew I shouldn’t have gotten upset.

As soon as I woke up the next morning, I asked, “Mom, can we buy the mechanical pencil today?” She said, “Yes.” That afternoon, she took me to the supermarket, and I got the pencil. I was so happy. The next day at school, I brought it to use, but by the end of the day, I found the pencil’s cap was missing and it had been stepped on and broken. I was very sad. Seeing how upset I was, my mom bought me a new one. Strangely, on the third day, the cap went missing again. I asked, “Mom, can you buy me another one?” She said, “This happened twice in a row. Shouldn’t you think about what you did wrong? It’s time to look within. Don’t rush to buy a new one.”

What did I do wrong? I thought about it. Maybe the first pencil broke because I didn’t handle my relationships with my classmates well. During group activities, I only wanted to be with people I liked and didn’t consider others’ feelings. Plus, I got mad at my mom. The second pencil broke because I had a show-off mentality, thinking, “Look, I have a new pencil again!” Because my heart wasn’t right and I was showing off, the pencil broke again, reminding me not to show off next time.

I’m a young Falun Dafa practitioner and I want to improve. I need to study the Fa well, do the exercises, and look within when things happen. This way, I can become better.

Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!

(Selected Sharing Article Presented at the 2025 Canada Fa Conference)