Here's the rest of the karma story

What goes around comes around. You reap what you sow. Whatever you put out into the universe will come back to you tenfold.

Many versions exist of the same enduring wisdom — that life is what we make of it. But I prefer one of the earliest and broadest: Karma.

Karma derives from an old Sanskrit word meaning “action.” Beyond its philosophical element of ancient Buddhist and Hindu religions (affecting destiny and future lives), karma is more simply the sum of our actions.

Karma is the full effect of what we do, say, and think as we go through life. It’s not meant to be reward or punishment, so much as education — observing cause and effect to determine what leads to a better life. Karma can be a stern, and beautiful, teacher.

The reap-what-you-sow aspect is only the first of 12 “laws” of karma:

1. The Great Law

Also called the “law of cause and effect,” to receive happiness, peace, love, and friendship, one must also be happy, peaceful, loving, and a true friend.

2. The Law of Creation

Life doesn’t happen by itself; it requires participation. So don’t wait for it; make it. Want clues to your inner state? Look at what surrounds you. If you don’t like it, change it – inner and outer lives are inextricably linked.

3. The Law of Humility

What isn’t first accepted can’t be changed. Denial is unhelpful, and dishonest. Focusing only on “the enemy,” or negativity, makes a higher level of existence impossible.

4. The Law of Growth

“Wherever you go, there you are.” Accepting that it is I who must (and can) change — not other people, places or things — is the key to spiritual growth. The only thing I can control is me, so that is where I must begin.

5. The Law of Responsibility

Taking responsibility for whatever’s wrong, or at the very least, for doing something constructive about it. “We mirror what surrounds us, and what surrounds us mirrors us.”

6. The Law of Connection

The smallest or seemingly least important of things must be done, carefully and in consideration of all else, because everything in the universe is connected. It is not the first, middle, nor last step which is most important. All are needed to accomplish the task; past, present, and future are inseparable.

7. The Law of Focus

One can’t (properly) think of two things at once. A focus on spiritual values makes lower thoughts such as greed or anger impossible. So when we feel such things, we must refocus.

8. The Law of Giving and Hospitality

If I believe something is true, then one day I will be called upon to demonstrate it. Claim is put into practice under the Law of Giving.

9. The Law of Here and Now

Another way of saying this is “be fully present.” One can’t be in the here and now while looking backward, or fretting about the future. Old thoughts and dreams get in the way of new realizations.

10. The Law of Change

History repeats itself until we learn and apply its lessons to change paths.

11. The Law of Patience and Reward

Can’t get something with nothing; reward requires work, both patient and persistent. True joy comes from doing what one is supposed to be doing, and knowing rewards come in their own time.

12. The Law of Significance and Inspiration

Kind of a throwback to number one, we get back what we put in — in terms of energy, time, and value. Every individual contribution is also a contribution to the interconnected whole.

Karma’s 12 laws go beyond a formula for a positive, action-oriented lifestyle and thinking regiment. They’re also a tool for self-reflection, a starting point to address life problems which merge thought and action, mind and matter.

Man is the sum of both. Namaste.

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Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at [email protected].