The Unedited Truth About Karma

1. Karma is about teachings and time

Karma is complex and there are so many misconceptions surrounding it. The mainstream culture has its interpretation that likes to romanticize life and believe there is a reason for everything. This is often because we can’t do the best of what we have been dealt—our personality, desires, environment, or education. The word karma has become a strength in which we trust. We can call upon it in circumstances that are beyond our control like other people’s bad behavior.

Karma’s principles stem from Buddhism and Hinduism, and following these beliefs, we are reincarnated as who we are in this lifetime to learn lessons that lead us towards the path of enlightenment in hopes our souls will achieve nirvana. Karma seeks to teach us what we must learn until our lesson has been learned. Our karma in this lifetime decides our fate in the next. This notion is all about time. Nevertheless, when you have been badly hurt by someone or something and you hear “Time heals all wounds,” it often doesn’t. Instead, we learn to cope with them differently and move forward. Consequences of someone’s actions can last a lifetime; the cracks will still appear even after decades. Accepting this and letting go of the condescending attitude towards yourself, toxic behaviors, and comments will help with our direction. We can stop being insecure and stop unhealthy habits like eating too much junk food and talking poorly about our bodies. If we have been struggling with something deeply personal like weight issues and constantly talk in a negative manner about our body, over time it sticks to us like glue and makes us feel unworthy. You are not condemned to treating your body this way for the rest of your life. You need to break up with this inner talk and let go of that part of yourself. If karma is there to teach us what we must learn, this is one of the teachings.

2. Karma is what is unseen and brings us hope

Oftentimes, we go back and forth about whether karma exists here in our life, as it’s hard to wrap our head around why some people get away with everything. However, while their lives may look wonderful, karma is what is unseen.

We may have seen karma play out for some people, but for some more deserving, it never seems to happen. The most logical explanation could be the energy and vibrations we give out. We attract how we feel; if you feel guilty of something you have done, you attract lower energy, whereas someone who feels justified in what they have done is attracting higher energy. If your mind is conditioned for anger, you react with anger. If someone else justifies their anger, they are giving it their karmic energy. It’s up to them to change to peace and calm. And as we have all experienced, some people only communicate to their level of self-awareness. If you react to their anger with calm and peace, that is your karmic energy.

Your higher self and spirit are in alignment with the different frequencies. It’s important not to allow other people to strip you from that. Oftentimes, we have to ask the Universe to realign us. We may be steering toward anger or chasing the wrong things. And some people come into our lives and betray us, including family members, partners, friends, or co-workers.

It’s hurtful and sad to be betrayed, and it makes us wonder why—have we done something to deserve such bad karma?

This can lead us to an understanding of ourselves; we may have not set boundaries with people who disrespect us, we may have high expectations of people who do not think of us in the same way, we might be too trusting, or we might unknowingly set ourselves up for being easily used by the way we respond.

When you start respecting and loving yourself, as well as setting higher standards and boundaries, you no longer allow people to walk all over you. It may feel like the energy around you is shifting and changing for the better. You also feel the positive change when you open up to your intuition and let trustworthy people into your heart again. It’s easy to disconnect from your intuition when you are faced with serious illness, come from a broken home, or something else that is beyond your control. This is not something you deserved because of “bad karma,” and neither is the pain we may be experiencing when it has a purpose: to move us forward and to spring us into action. The purpose of this kind of pain is not there to make us suffer but to guide us to be like a fearless bird on the branch who doesn’t fear the branch breaking because it knows the strength of its wings.

3. Karma is positive energy

The karma for people who have taken advantage of our kindness is not for us to contemplate. They have shown up and chosen a path with a different energy—the energy in which they do something that determines the result for them. We may not see the result in our lifetime of their chosen path. It may seem they have perfect lives with no worries, despite everything bad they have done. However, what we don’t see is that their ultimate destination is different—they have a lot more dirt to mull through when they are not aligned with the greatest purpose. Try and see people like this as storms who come to shape you. It is you who can move mountains, not them. Instead of wondering about their seemingly unfair karma, think of them as the changing of the season. We don’t shame winter when spring comes or storms when the sun comes up again.

Oftentimes we have started to use the word karma and the concept of “what you reap, you sow” as a healing tool, but sometimes healing has nothing to do with the people who hurt you. Instead of focusing on them and their karma, apologize to yourself for all the things you made yourself believe. Sometimes your thoughts can be like poisonous flowers—it’s better just to observe them. Believing them can be destructive. It takes a lot of awareness to turn our thoughts around and befriend the enemy inside. Don’t let your painful or sad thoughts, and how others are doing, intervene with your daily life. Set peace of mind as your highest goal and organize your life around it without worrying about others and their journey. We have the freedom to choose what happens to us in the end.