We often hear people say, “what goes around, comes around”, and many believe this is the essence of Karma. But karma involves much more than that. Reading a short article about the true meaning of karma was enough to make me want to keep researching it.
What Karma Really Means
Karma is a fundamental belief within both Hinduism and Buddhism. The word itself, literally translated means “act” or “action” in Sanskrit. The basic concept of karma is that the actions we take ultimately impact our future.
When we act in good ways, it means good will come back to find us later in our lives. If we choose to act badly, that will ultimately catch up with us, too. But as mentioned above, there’s a lot more to it than that.
How Karma Works
First, let’s talk about how Karma works, according to different categories of believers. On the one hand, there are many who believe in karma as a mystical or spiritual thing. They think karma is created and controlled by some supreme being or force.
The Biological Basis for Karma
On the other hand, there are scientists who have discovered a neurobiological explanation for how karma works. It goes something like this:
- When we act, it creates memories.
- Memories create something akin to an echo, that informs our future actions.
- When we do something good, the memory of that act makes us more likely to do good things in the future.
- Similarly, when we perform a negative action, we are more likely to behave negatively in the future.
This is still an oversimplified explanation and I may have not gotten the science exactly right. But this general idea is enough for me to accept that there may be a scientific basis that supports the notion of karma, too.
More About the Nature of Karma
Many believe that our personal karma is shaped by the lessons that we need to learn to thrive and become more fulfilled people. Some even believe that these lessons may extend across life times. That is, that if we have not learned a lesson completely in one life time, we will be presented opportunities to learn it in the next. And so on.
Whether or not you believe in reincarnation, there’s interesting ideas embedded in this belief. Exploring them can help open up new thought patterns, and so let’s dig a little deeper and see where it leads us.
Karma and Life Lessons
So let’s say we accept this notion: that our karma is shaped by life lessons we need to learn. How do we go about knowing which things we need to focus on? Or put another way, how can we understand the areas where we would benefit from personal growth?
Limiting Beliefs
A tenet of karma that can be equally applicable to believer and non-believers alike is the notion that it is helpful for us to identify our own “limiting beliefs”.
These are the things we understand to be true that are not necessarily true. This faulty knowledge limits our vision for our future. For example, if I believe I’m a poor money manager, I’m less likely to invest with confidence. Similarly, if I believe I’m not worthy of love, I’m less like to do things that will enable me to find love. If I believe I will only be loved if I please people, I will behave as a people-pleaser. And so on.
What limiting beliefs do you have? It’s hard to accept that we all have these, but we do. Decide to be objective and even a little ruthless if you have to be. Identify one or two or three. Keep them in your mind for this next part.
Looking for Behavior Patterns and Faulty Reasoning
Now comes the hard part. We have to take time, invest energy and focus on our limiting beliefs to understand how they arose. Let’s say our limiting belief is that we are not worthy of good self-care. We must ask ourselves:
- When did it start?
- What reinforces it?
- Who helps it stick?
- What need is it enabling to go unmet?
- How can I change my current behavior related to the limiting belief?
These are all hard questions. But by examining them, we may begin to learn the lessons we are meant to master in this lifetime.
Why Understanding Limiting Beliefs Is Essential to Karma
Again, overly simplistic, no doubt. But this is a key part of what karma is really about. We must understand and accept that our own beliefs limit our thinking. As a result, they limit our lives, our accomplishments, our fulfillment and ultimately, our happiness.
We control our thoughts. We can overcome faulty reasoning.
But first, we have to accept that some of our beliefs are not valid and do not serve us. Then we need to act accordingly, and, as a result, change our lives.
There’s Much More
A blog post could never do justice to the amazing and beautiful concept of karma.
But hopefully it may provide enough of a glimmer to get some of us interested, intrigued, and thinking about karma in a different way. It’s such a powerful concept.
We can take actions that help us master lessons we are meant to learn, to enable us to live this life, this gift we have all been given to its very fullest.
The Laws of Karma
One of the articles I found provided a “reader’s digest” version of the laws of karma, and I thought it would be useful to share the highlights here, too.
1. “The Great Law” or The Law of Cause & Effect
This is the law that most closely aligns to “what goes around comes around”. Meaning, if you commit good acts, good acts will return to you. One example I thought was particularly important was about happiness. If you are happy, happiness will return to you. (We often forget that deciding to be happy, regardless of our circumstances, is a choice).
2. The Law of Creation
This one basically means, “It’s up to you”. More destiny vs. fate here. Life doesn’t happen to us. We are an active or inactive participant in how our lives play out. We are not victims of the Universe. Take steps to build the life you want and it will begin to materialize.
3. The Law of Humility
This one is tough, but so important. We each have to accept with all of our heart that we are limiting our own potential. Again, we are not victims. Identifying our limiting beliefs and recognizing that we have the power to change them is often the first step, but it means that we are recognizing that we are flawed. This is hard.
4. The Law of Growth
This one is pretty simple. We have to decide to recognize our flaws and our flawed thinking, and take action to change it. If we don’t do this, we can’t grow.
5. The Law of Responsibility
It is our job, our responsibility, our privilege, to be able to take action to continue to improve our lives. It’s not up to anyone else. Just us.
6. The Law of Connection
Everything in life is connected, so even very small actions have a way of influencing significant change in our lives. We often hear the expression “baby steps” in the area of personal development. The Law of Connection helps us understand that baby steps strung together and connected can lead us to significant growth.
7. The Law of Focus
This one is one of the first things I learned when I started to study positive psychology, and it has stuck with me for years. Simply put, we can’t have a positive thought while we are having negative ones. If we allow ourselves to dwell in negativity, we get stuck there. Our brains can’t handle both positive and negative emotions and thoughts at the same time. So choose to limit negative thinking, and focus on positive thoughts to improve your odds of growth.
8. The Law of Giving & Hospitality
We can’t just focus our positive energy and beliefs inward. We have to demonstrate in our actions that we are putting that positive energy out there and sharing that energy with those around us. It’s important to also demonstrate our tolerance of others, and other points of view.
9. The Law of Here & Now
This is such a good one. One that is often summed up in mindfulness practices. But if mindfulness doesn’t come easily to you, don’t despair. There are other ways to incorporate this law in your life. In short, stop living in the past, and stop worrying about the future. When you find yourself doing it, make a conscious decision to switch gears to enable your continued growth. We don’t grow through rumination.
10. The Law of Change
This one is pretty much common sense. Nothing changes until we master the lesson we’re meant to learn. Until we learn to dismiss a limiting belief, it will continue to constrain our growth.
11. The Law of Patience & Reward
We’ve got to put in the work. There are no short cuts. If we don’t see progress, it’s on us to work harder at it. Truly. We’re not victims of bad luck, or poor chances. Hard work is the key to continued growth.
12. The Law of Significance & Inspiration
This is another simple one. We get out of a process what we put into the process. If make a significant effort, we should see significant gains.
If you are interested in learning more about Karma, there is no shortage of great books and resources out there. I found reading about it empowering and motivating and I hope you do, too.
Thank you as always for reading.
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Joan Senio is the founder of KindCompassCoach. Her career includes 20+ years as a health care executive and 15 years (and counting) as a consultant. The common thread through Joan’s professional life has been a commitment to lead, mentor and coach current and future leaders, and women from all walks of life. KindCompassCoach provides information and advice grounded in Joan’s personal experience; however, all articles are backed by research and provide facts and advice from a wide variety of experts. Joan also serves as a thought-leader for KuelLife.com and is a regular contributor to PsychReg and Sixty and Me.
One Response
This is a really interesting post, thank you!