KARMA AND HOW IT WORKS

You’ve probably heard a lot of people talk about karma like this: “I held the elevator door for my neighbor, good karma points for me!” or “He got a flat tire on the way to our meeting, I guess it’s karma for him stealing my idea.”

While your actions definitely have an impact on the quality of your life, karma and fate don’t really work like that. There’s a lot more subtlety to it. Karma is a lot more meaningful and complex than just “I did X which is why I’m being punished or rewarded with Y”. 

So what is karma?

"Karma" is a Sanskrit word that means "action", "word" or "deed". As we typically know it, karma refers to intentional thoughts, words, and actions, and the energy created by those thoughts, words, and actions. It’s getting back whatever you put forth, good or bad, into the universe. 

In physics, for every action, there must be an equal and opposite reaction. Karma is energy, which in and of itself is neutral and neither good or bad, people just attach those labels to it. But the energy created by an action has to be returned.

So it’s not as simple as “I lost my favorite sweater, it’s bad karma from me stealing my sister’s favorite shirt and ruining it”. It’s a lot more nuanced.

We have the freedom to decide what happens to us. Karma isn't this omnipresent force that punishes our wrong actions and rewards our good deeds with earthly pleasures:  it's the energy of intentional action in our lives.

Your daily choices determine what kind of new karma is being created and stored to be released as future events in your life. That means it’s important to be conscious of the choices you make.

Ask yourself: Do these choices and actions serve me and those who may be affected by them? Are my actions coming from my higher self or my ego?