Jane hears a lot about karma these days. And she admits that there is a strong temptation to wish that karma would come around and bite Dick on the caboose. However, Jane also knows that she had best be concentrating on her own karma. There are many occasions in life where it is wise to tend to your own garden. Karma definitely falls into that category.
So what IS karma, anyway? If you translate right from the Sanskrit root, karma means "action". So anything we say or do or think is karma. But in the yoga tradition it's defined a bit differently. There are three parts to the definition. First, karma is the actions we are committing now, in the present. Second, karma is the effect that our past actions have in our current life. Third, karma is our destiny.
This is summed up by the following statement: actions have consequences. In the Bible, there's a phrase for that. "As you sow, so shall you reap." No matter how you put it, the meaning is the same. What goes around, comes around.
In the spirit of tending to your own garden, Jane offers a little saying that keeps the gardener focused on her karma rather than the behavior...good or bad...of others. "Sow a thought, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny."
Really, all we can do...all we have ever been able to do...is work on ourselves and our own karma. Starting from the inside out, this all begins with thought. If thoughts are a template used to model our lives, what sort of template do you want? And if actions follow thoughts...okay, this is logical...and actions become habits and habits build to form a character...well, what sort of character do you want? And then if character builds to destiny, how do you want that to go?
Jane knows how easy it is to think about what other people did and what that means in her life. Starting from childhood, there are many reasons to act a certain way, to be a certain person, to think certain thoughts. To make that...events that happened to you in childhood or at any other time in life...the framework for your thoughts, habits, character, destiny.
But seriously? This is one area of your life where you have far more control than you might realize. No matter what has gone on in your life or is still going on, you can turn inward and start creating. Yes, creating. From the inside out. It starts with a thought.
Actions have consequences. Actions begin with a concept, a need, a desire, an impulse, an urge, a justification. You can sow thoughts that will reap a glorious harvest in terms of your karma.
Or...not.
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