How Does Karma Impact Your Life?

Karma, as used in Hinduism and Buddhism, is defined as the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences. It also refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect). Good intent and good deed contribute to good karma and future happiness, while bad intent and bad deed contribute to bad karma and future suffering. Or if you want to keep it simple, look at it like this, “What goes around, comes around.”

Now as a full disclosure, I am neither a Hindu or Buddhist. In fact I grew up Catholic and now I consider myself a non-denominational Christian. So to say I have a full understanding of what Karma really is would be a lie. In fact there are many differences on how Hinduism and Buddhism look at Karma. Some equate Karma to be something that impacts our present lives, while others believe it involves past and future lives as in reincarnations. But for my purposes I am looking at the very basic definition of Karma as; if you do good things, good things will come back to you.

Do I believe this to be true? Yes! When looking at Karma from that perspective how can you not believe it’s true? While doing some research for this post the negativity I saw when I did a Google search for “Karma and Christianity” bothered me. I found numerous Christian websites bashing the idea of Karma and talked about how it was evil. I don’t get the hate people?! Instead of looking for positive things about another viewpoint, people look to discredit and demonize something that may have value to others around them. Without going too much deeper into this, I just consider you to think about this: Proverbs 11:18 – “A wicked person earns deceptive wages, but the one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.”

So How Does Karma Impact Your Life?

I would say Karma can impact your life everyday. If you choose each day to be kind and feed other people’s emotional buckets, then not only will you feel better about yourself, but those people who you positively influenced, will bring those positive vibes right back to you another time. If you choose to be nasty and treat people with disrespect, eventually those people will not be there for you. Leaving you feeling empty and bad about yourself.

So my challenge to myself and to you. Think about this! How can you be a positive force each day in other people’s lives? How can you do goods things to others and be the change the world needs? Once you figure this out and start the positive vibes rolling, watch how you not only raise up other people, but how full your emotional bucket becomes as well!