Karma

Have you ever experienced being caught in a rut, a rut when we seem overwhelmed by bad luck? I am not referring to the occasional experience of bad luck; no, I am speaking about the type of bad luck that leads to questioning one's karma.

If you answer yes, it is my belief that you are in the midst of a crisis of existence. You are experiencing a moment in which god or the universe is trying to capture your attention for a lesson or lessons to learn.

Many of us try so hard to avoid listening to this voice. We try to quiet this voice by staying busy, venting our frustration at people close to us, by using artificial substances to block out reality. But often to no avail, the pain becomes more and more intense until we can no longer ignore it.

As they sang in the Color Purple ... "god is trying to tell you something."

Our initial - and very human - reaction is to think we are being punish; hence, instead of acutely listening to this voice, we try to negotiate the "inconvenience" away by praying ...

God, if you release me from this pain or burden, I promise I will become rightous and I will never _____________________ (fill in the blank) do that again.

My belief is that god doesn't want us to bargain nor simply beg for forgiveness (even though seeking forgiveness and forgiving others are part of the process); god
wants us to pay attention to certain Universal Truths. God wants to free us from the prison our ego and vanity have built.

Once we successfully achieve this state, we can begin take action to improve our Karma. As we begin to take effective action, we better understand that god used that moment to help us grow not to punish us.