YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT

You can curse your karma, or you can look at what it's trying to teach you.

- BY PHILIP GOLDBERG

We tend to forget that karma brings good things as well as bad, since it's human nature to think more about potential perils than the possibility of running into an unexpected joy. But even in the throes of delight, satisfaction, and rapture our choices create new and meaningful karma. When you meet with success of some kind, or you're praised, thanked, or rewarded by others, how do you react? Do you gloat? Brag? Puff up your ego? Act as if it’s coming to you? Or do you bow (figuratively or literally) in gratitude? Do you express your appreciation with humility and grace? Do you set your sights on getting more of the same in the future, only bigger and better, or do you look for ways to give back? It’s worth reflecting on those questions and taking a good look at ourselves when we receive a happy package of karma.

Meanwhile, our bigger concern is what to do when we slip on a karmic banana peel. That's when we're likely to think, “This is unfair. I don't deserve this!” Which is of far less value than accepting what we've been given as precisely what we need at that moment in our life's journey. Seeing events in that light enables us to treat situations the way students are told to treat required courses, or as youngsters are advised to approach a challenging rite of passage—as a temporary bit of unpleasantness that stands between us and a desirable state of affairs. It creates a platform on which to move forward pragmatically, with all the grace, skill, intelligence, and determination we can muster.