What is Karma? The answer that comes to your mind is “fate”. If you do something to others when something bad will happen to you. If something is going wrong in your life, then you must have done something horrible in the past. But that is not how Buddhist sees Karma.
Buddhist Barbara O’Brien defines karma in her blog as: “action not fate.” It’s the energy we create with our thoughts, actions, and words. Also, your future is not carved on stones. You can change your future with your actions because your decisions make the path to your future destination.
Hence, Karma is not about punishments or rewards. Rather we can control our karma.
Pema Chodron, a Buddhist master, defines karma as a “direct reaction to your actions”. He says, that karma teaches you to open your heart and analyze yourself and your actions.
Why does Mainstream Society get Karma so Wrong?
Humans tend to find happiness on the outside. Just like we need someone else to blame our actions on, we want materialistic happiness. But if you open up to yourself, you’ll know that the present is everything you need to care for. Future will form with your actions.
Watering the Garden of your Mind: How to Use Karma as a Guiding Force?
All the emotions that you feel are seeds in the garden of your mind – seeds of joy, grief, anger. Now what kind of flower it grows into depends on who you water and nourish. Karma helps in focusing on the right seeds. The watering is our actions in daily life. How you react to difficult situations says a lot about your karma.
Calm and peace always produce better future than anger and violence. Practice mindfulness activities like yoga and meditation and thinking about yourself for 5 minutes to gain focus.
