Karma

Karma – destiny or fate, following as effect from cause.

Karma – (in Hinduism and Buddhism) the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.

Do you know anyone who seems to have bad karma?  Every day brings another calamity, problem, or some sort of negative issue.  The problems never seem to end.  This is not to say there are people who have perfect lives.  Everyone has rough spots along the road of life, but it doesn’t include a daily calamity. 

Although I’ve had a few rough spots in my life, most of my life has been good.  I guess you could say I have good karma.  I have an acquaintance, who will go unnamed, who has one calamity after another?  I hate to help her because when I do, I always have so many problems trying to help.  It strange and ridiculous, but it is true.   She does focus on the negative things in life. Is that the reason?  I really don’t know. 

I do believe you draw to you the negative or positive depending upon your thoughts and decisions.  One of the toughest times in my life was when I was in the process of divorcing in my mid-twenties.  At the time, many asked me if I hated my soon to be ex-husband.  I always said no, and that answer surprised some.  If one bases their days on hate, I will say you will bring bad karma to yourself.   Not to say that there weren’t some thorny issues during and following my divorce, but in general, things went well.  I found a job almost immediately, was supported by family and close friends, played tennis, traveled, and really enjoyed my independence.  I remember at the time saying to myself, this is sink or swim and I am not sinking.

I believe in God and pray often.  Does that give me good karma?  Well, not really.  It does make me more thoughtful, kinder, and more positive and that leads to a positive life in general.  If you only focus on a few failures and don’t look at all your successes, you can lead yourself to bad karma moments and keep yourself there for a long time.  The choices we make in life can lead to bad karma, or good karma for that matter, but some of the good or bad moments in our life are our perspective on the situation. 

Karma is about perspective also.  I have always believed that some of the “bad” things that happened to me in my lifetime in the long run were a positive for me.   When I first went to work as a full commission broker in the early 80’s, I really didn’t like the job.   I loved the buzz of the stock market, investments, research, and putting together a good portfolio.   I didn’t like cold calling, being asked to push investments I really didn’t like or wouldn’t buy for myself, or hype.  I worked for a little over a year as a commissioned broker, but I dreaded going to work every day, so I finally moved on. During my tenure as a full commission broker, I had to study for and take a couple of tests for my Series 7, 63 (investment licenses), and insurance license in order to perform my job.  Although I hated the job and moved on to another field for a while, I eventually came back to the Financial Industry, used these licenses, and even obtained a few more.  When I came back to the brokerage world in a different capacity, I loved my career and did well.  So, what seemed to be perhaps bad karma to some, was good karma to me. 

On the other hand, if I would have focused on how much I hated my full commission job only, I might have never returned to investments and my career would have taken a different path.  Good or bad, I don’t know.  But as I pointed out before, I really enjoyed my career and look back on many fond memories over the almost 30 years I worked in the brokerage banking world.  

I believe you make your own karma long term.  You are what you think similar to you are what you eat.  As for me, I will continue to strive to think nutritious and healthy thoughts and focus on the positive.