How can I become truly self-reliant after receiving someone's help?

When someone is willing to give you a hand, value it and use that period to grow. If you cannot yet do the work well, learn skills and strengthen your abilities. A helpful person may one day leave. Whether you can stand on your own then depends on whether you used that help for learning.

How you relate to people matters too. When discussing prayers for helpful connections, I think of Guanyin Bodhisattva's gentleness and empathy. If you hope to receive help, be willing to consider the other person's perspective and communicate well. If you clash with people everywhere, others may find it hard to approach you. The ritual for inviting helpful people from the five directions that I introduced at the time was presided over by Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed Guanyin. It involved preparing five lamps, five sets of joss paper, and five cups of wine, followed by formally presenting and confirming the request. This was a description of a service offered then. Alongside prayer, we also need to work on how we interact with people.

An international news story once prompted me to consider that outside support may not remain forever. Applied to human relationships, it reminds us to gradually develop skills, abilities, and judgment while receiving care, so we can eventually take responsibility for our own affairs. The deities and Buddhas are like teachers: they provide direction and also hope we will learn to handle problems and gradually reduce dependence.

A fellow practitioner shared knowing the reasoning but pushing help away because of wounded pride, as though accepting advice meant losing. Later, setting pride aside a little and trying the suggestions of helpful people and seniors repeatedly allowed that person to move out of the old situation layer by layer. Someone can provide direction and tools, but we also need to be willing to receive them and act.

I too have experiences I only later regretted. Once, after an enjoyable meeting and divination session with a friend, the friend invited me to a meal. I was in a poor mood and did not go. Later I thought that spending more time together might have brought us closer, adding another friend and helpful connection. In earlier days, I also turned down invitations from elders this way. Cherishing connections therefore includes examining whether a passing state of mind is blocking opportunities to connect.