Integrity:

• being reliable and trustworthy with your word - doing what you say you are going to do
• being honest, telling the truth about yourself
• not doing anything you would not want announced publicly
• walking your talk - adhering to the moral principles and standards that you profess are important to you
• being accountable for your actions and taking responsibility for your feelings

Ray consulted with me because his ten-year marriage was running into severe difficulties. He was deeply in love with his wife and was terrified of losing her, yet the outlook was not bright with the way things had been going.

Although the word karma has firmly entered common speech, its importance and value is rarely understood. The Sanskrit word karma simply means “action,” but the word implies actions that have consequences. In itself that’s not a foreign concept—in fact, saying that actions have consequences expresses an everyday idea. But the Indian concept of karma is much more subtle and profound. The doctrine of karma includes the following implications:

• Every action leads to a result, however unpredictable.
• These results are calculated by a kind of cosmic computer that balances everything in Nature.
• The consequences of your actions are not randomly good or bad—they are organized in an evolutionary way to move your forward.
• “Good” karma actually means evolutionary karma. “Bad” karma is the opposite—it suspends or delays your forward motion or growth.
• Karma exists to preserve the memory of the past so that nothing is lost.
• No karma is random

If you put these ideas together, they form a doctrine that goes far beyond “everything happens for a reason.” The reason is evolution. This in fact is why the doctrine of karma originated, so reveal that despite the ups and downs of everyday life and the random reactions we have to everything that happens to us, there is a larger karmic pattern.

Many people suffer daily from anxiety, depression, stress, guilt, shame, anger and inadequacy. Taking loving actions can heal this.

Myrna, 38 and a successful physician, sought my help because she often felt inadequate. While she really valued herself as a doctor, she did not value herself in her important relationships with friends and family. In addition, she said she wanted to be in a loving relationship but she took no actions to meet available men.

In the course of our work together, it became apparent that Myrna rarely took loving action on her own behalf with her friends and family. For example, Jessica, one of Myrna's friends, would often get angry and blame Myrna when Myrna was not available for dinner with Jessica. Myrna would feel guilty and responsible for Jessica's feelings and meet her for dinner even when she was exhausted from work. Myrna would feel drained after these dinners and depressed for a few days after, never realizing it was because she had abandoned herself.

We all go through difficult times, when things don’t seem to work out.

It’s easy to lose hope and feel like you are facing bad karma or luck during these moments.

Your karma is the result of the sum total of your actions. For every cause there is an effect.

If you are going through tough times right now, remember that it is only a season, and no season lasts forever. Even your most difficult time will pass.

Trust.

Your challenges are gifts in disguise sent by the universe to strengthen your character. Your dreams chose you for a reason. And your dream will take you on a journey of having to become the person who is capable of fulfilling the vision.

It’s often when things are challenging that we grow the most. So trust that you wouldn’t be going through the difficult situation if you weren’t ready or capable of handling it.

In these times you can either feel like a victim or you can take the first step and take full responsibility for your situation.

Rather than asking “Why ME?”

Ask “WHY am I going through this experience and WHAT is my soul seeking to learn?”

Recognize that you are not a victim.

Your current situation is simply the product of the total combined actions, thoughts, feelings and intentions of your past. Everything you have lived up until now has contributed to where you are. So it’s no accident.