Hi, my name is Loretta. I’m from Belgium and live in the UK. I started to feel interested in
spirituality when I was 16 years old. My parents are both very spiritual and together we
searched for answers to many of life’s questions. We read lots of different spiritual books,
listened to various lectures, and although we found these to be very interesting, they didn’t
answer the deeper questions we had about life.
I was bullied a lot through my childhood and teenage years, so I felt there was little meaning
to life. I had very low self-esteem and a lot of anxiety. At night, I often cried because I felt
life was pointless, as in the end we all die and can’t take anyone or anything with us. This
thought made me feel very sad and scared. I often stared out of my window at night,
looking at the dark sky with bright stars and wondering what else there is out there. I asked
the universe, “Why do I have to live when in the end I just die and I lose everyone and
everything? It’s just so useless and scary.” I cried a lot because of this.
In 2006, I went to listen to a lecture with my parents in a bookstore. There was an older lady
attending it too. My mum felt strongly that she should talk to her for some reason. After the
lecture, she walked over and started a conversation with her. The lady told us she practices
Falun Dafa, an ancient Chinese meditation practice, and the exercises are taught for free
every Tuesday in a city nearby where we were living.
We felt a sense of deep excitement and couldn’t wait to go to the exercise site. When we
arrived home, I searched Falun Dafa on the internet and found there is a book that can be
read for free called “Zhuan Falun.” I started reading it straight away and told my parents
what was written in it. I still remember how excited and happy I felt! After we went to the
practice site, we bought copies of Zhuan Falun and started to read it. While attentively
reading every page of the book, I felt all my questions about life being answered! Just in this
one book! I often had tears in my eyes while reading. I felt a deep sense of true happiness
and joy that I hadn’t felt ever before. Reading Zhuan Falun made me realize that life is not
useless at all, but very important and something to treasure! Life is the most precious gift!
I learned about the principles of the universe: ‘Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance’
and how to live by these principles to become a better person. I learned to always be kind
and considerate towards other people as well as practice patience and tolerance. I learned
to see hardships as ways of improving myself as a person. I also learned to take material
things lightly, rather than letting them weigh heavily in my mind.
The meditation exercises help me to calm down and feel very peaceful. I feel very grateful
that I can be a practitioner of Falun Dafa because I know for sure that Falun Dafa is good.
It’s very painful to see practitioners of Falun Dafa, like me, being persecuted in China. The
Chinese Communist Party launched in July 1999 the cruelest persecution. Tens of
thousands of innocent Falun Dafa practitioners have been imprisoned, tortured, had their
organs harvested, and killed. I hope that this cruel persecution will end soon and we can live
in a world of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance!
Thank you so much for reading!
Lots of love,
Loretta
