First, let’s define karma. Karma is energy, intent, and action. It’s put into motion in the present and you feel the effects now of the karma you’ve created during many, many, many past lifetimes. Karma is a spiritual law that affects everyone, just as gravity is a physical law that affects everyone. It’s not something you can change immediately, just as you cannot alter the path of an approaching tsunami.
Instead, everyone has free will to react to karma. Plus, doing the “right thing” in all situations will prevent incurring additional negative karma. Some people claim to be able to alter or delete karma without having to directly balance it. We would like to believe it’s possible, but conclude after 24+ years of study in this area that it’s impossible, and we’ve never seen anyone actually accomplish this. We’re not talking about frivolous things, such as deciding to avoid a main highway during a rush hour snowstorm, thus skipping two hours of anguish. We’re referring to key life circumstances and events, such as relationship and money issues. We’ve asked people who make such claims exactly what the karma was that they altered or deleted and how they knew it was their karma to begin with, and we have yet to hear a reasonable, straightforward response.
It’s very important to note that just because you don’t get what you want in a particular situation, it doesn’t mean you have “bad” karma. Fate determines how your life unfolds. You then have free will to make the most of all situations.
How you perceive situations can make a big difference. For example, if one of your daughters didn’t get into a college that she applied for, you might say it’s “bad karma.” Instead, it could be viewed as something that wasn’t meant to be. Perhaps she was meant to follow a different career path.
Many kids encounter difficult circumstances like romantic interests treating them poorly, personal attacks from other students at school, or the countless other challenges that they have to work through. The traditional meaning of karma supports the idea that there are no victims, and though it’s true from a spiritual viewpoint, that may sound a little harsh to a young person. Alternatively, while providing emotional support and guidance, suggest they consider that the challenges they work through now will help make them stronger, if you’re not already doing this.
The best approach may be to allow your children to hold whatever beliefs about life they choose, yet also occasionally make helpful suggestions and offer guidance when appropriate.
Finally, try to encourage them to get in touch with their inner-selves through the practice of meditation (or artistic hobbies or cardiovascular exercise, to name a couple more ways). Becoming more aware of their inner guidance will help them be more aware of their optimum choices in all situations. Handwriting analysis is also a very useful tool to help identify hidden, subconscious fears and defenses. Self-knowledge does wonders for improving one’s life.
For the skeptics, even if karma and reincarnation didn’t exist (these concepts have yet to be proved invalid), encouraging kids to act as if they do helps them to understand the importance of taking responsibility for all their actions and doing the right thing in all situations.
Copyright © 2006 Scott Petullo, Stephen Petullo