Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy

Small Changes, Enormous Differences！

When I was little, I was very timid and shy. Every time when I rode in an elevator and saw other people there, I would hide behind my parents and start crying. It seemed to me that those people were very scary and dangerous. One day when my mom gave her friend a ride, I just stared at my mom’s friend after she got in the car and cried during the whole journey back and forth. That time, everyone was shocked by my reaction.

However, since I started practicing qigong in Tai Ji Men, I have changed a lot. Tai Ji Men is just like a big family; therefore, I often got the chance to practice greeting other Tai Ji Men dizi, and they would warmly respond to me. That has helped me gradually overcome my fear of interacting with others. Now, I often take the initiative to greet my neighbors whenever I see them, and they are all very surprised at my huge change.

When I was in fourth grade, I was chosen along with eight other students to represent our school to participate in an English play contest. At first, I was the narrator in our play, but I thought it was too boring. I wanted to play the role of a grasshopper because it was a very lively character. However, our teacher thought that I wasn’t a lively person and didn’t have a good sense of humor. I was very sad and disappointed; I even didn’t want to practice for the play anymore. Then, I recalled that Shifu taught me to be brave. I started to think, "If other people can do it, then I can do it, too." I decided to try out for the part of the grasshopper, and I finally got to play the role. Our team even won the contest!

Now I am in fifth grade. This year on the first day of school, the students were put in new classes. I was put in a class where I only saw new faces. However, because I had learned to be brave in Tai Ji Men, I started to chat with other students in my new class, and we gradually became good friends afterwards. I would also help my classmates with their homework and show my care to them. I even got selected as the class president and the "angel of respect." Since I have been doing well in my academics, I got selected as the teacher’s assistant in my English and dialect classes. I was also chosen as "student of the year."

However, recently there was a student in my class who always ignored me on purpose. He would share his snacks with everyone in the class except me. He even told everyone not to talk to me and said something bad about me behind my back. If someone was talking to me, he would pull that person away from me. One day, I felt so frustrated about my situation that I went in my room and started crying when I got home from school. I kept crying and crying, till my blanket became soaking wet. I even cried myself to sleep. However, after the outburst, I thought about Shifu’s words, "Try to put yourself in others’ shoes." I guessed that probably he couldn’t get much attention at home, so he wanted to steal others’ friends. Therefore, I decided not to have a grudge against him but to help him.

The next day, I decided to invite him to my place. At first, I was kind of nervous that he might reject me. However, I thought about Shifu’s words again: "Be brave!" I made up my mind to give it a try. I thought, "Even if I really get rejected, I won’t lose anything." In fact, I didn’t lose anything but gained something. He accepted my invitation. After that, he became nicer to me, and we have become close friends.

Just "giving it a try" has made me achieve success. Just "being brave" has changed my future. "Being brave" has allowed me to have more opportunities, have a better sense of humor, make new friends, and speak out in front of the teachers. I really like the way I am now.