(Minghui.org) I ran into a practitioner one day, and the first thing she said was, “Why do you look so old?” She then imitated the way I walked, like a hunchback.

I was surprised that I looked old to others. But I didn’t dwell on it, and figured that it was probably because I was not cultivating well. I thought I would look fine as long as I straightened my back and exhibited a bit more energy.

Not long after, my husband also kept telling me to straighten my back whenever I was doing housework. I wasn’t hunching over, so why was he nagging me? I couldn’t figure out what was wrong.

When I visited my daughter, she reminded me of the same thing. I was puzzled.

I wanted to look younger as it would help with truth clarification. I apparently was not cultivating well, as the benefits of practicing Dafa were not reflected in my appearance.

I took my denture out to clean it one night, and my daughter said, “Mom, your face is so cute!” I replied, “I'm getting old.”

I immediately realized that saying that was wrong. Yet, when my daughter said, “Mom, you have gray hair on both sides of your head.” I thought to myself, “I must be getting old.”

Although I often said I was “getting old,” I did not realize that it was a human notion. Seeing that I could not understand the hint, Master had a practitioner point things out to me.

Birth, old age, illness, and death are principles of everyday society. As practitioners, we need to rise above these principles. Cultivation of mind and body has been around since ancient times. It was attainable for people to cultivate for hundreds of years.

We begin our cultivation in the human world. Many human notions have been deeply ingrained in our mind. Master said,

“If you do not change the human logic that you, as an ordinary human, have formed deep in your bones over thousands of years, you will be unable to break away from this superficial human shell and reach Consummation.” (“Cautionary Advice,” Essentials for Further Advancement)

Accepting and holding on to these notions affects our body. When I accept the notion of “I'm getting old,” it effects my dimensional field, thus making me look older.

Master said,

“Cultivating mind and body refers to cultivating one’s xinxing at the same time that one’s body is cultivated. In other words, benti is being transformed. In the process of transformation, human cells will be gradually replaced by the high-energy matter, and aging will slow down. One’s body will appear to gradually return to youth and experience gradual transformation until, in the end, it is completely replaced by the high-energy matter. By then, this person’s body will have already been converted to a body of another type of matter.” (Lecture Five, Zhuan Falun)

Knowing that I should firmly believe in Dafa and Master, I firmly eliminated the thought that I was getting old. I will no longer let it affect my dimensional field.

When I reached this understanding, my husband and daughter stopped telling me to straighten my back.