We define karma as everything you say, do, or intend coming back to you in equal measure, mostly from past lives. What you do now will likely come back to you in a future life, not in your immediate future.

Everyone has endured a negative experience relating to career, relationships, family, friendships and, or other parts of their life. But that does not always reflect payback for having done something negative in the past.

For example, a relationship based on no promises ends. She wanted it to last forever, even though it was over almost at the beginning. She knew this, yet she wasn’t honest with herself. He believed they ended on good terms, since neither did anything wrong, it just naturally fell apart. If it’s over, it’s over, and mature adults acknowledge this and get on with their lives. Therefore, her expectations, not karma, caused her misery. Unfortunately, she claims to be heartbroken and tells others that he “hurt” her, even though he didn’t (which makes her incur negative karma).

Unfulfilled Desires Aren’t Always Bad Karma

Is this circumstance, is her deep disappointment the result of her negative actions in a past life? In our view, not necessarily. Her immaturity may be karmic, but her refusing to be an adult now and admit the reality of the connection to herself isn’t the result of her dumping someone in this life or a past life. Him not wanting to stay with her “forever” may be, however, but sooner or later, if she was honest with herself, she also would have realized it wasn’t meant to be long-term.

Trying to make a relationship work that is not meant to be, for example, is working against your destined path, so you could say it relates to your past lives, but it’s only sometimes a direct result of burning that same individual, or someone else, romantically in a past life.

Authentic Bad Relationship Karma

In another example, person A falls for person B. Person B pretends to fall in love and makes promises they have no intention of keeping (this is key), knowing all along the promises will be broken soon after. Then person B inexplicably dumps person A, leaving person A heart-broken. How do you know A had it coming? You don’t, unless you scrutinize their comprehensive astrological and numerological charts and, or they experience past life regression to find the root cause of their suffering from this experience.

In this case, considering that you discover person A had it coming through the above-mentioned methods, even though the one doing the dumping may possibly not incur negative karma for it (you read that right), the one who is heartbroken is balancing some negative karma because of treating person B and others in a similar way in a past life. Note, this doesn’t give anyone a free pass for bad behavior.

It May be Collective Timing, Not Karmic Payback

The core structure of your life, formed through past life actions, directly reflects your current key life circumstances and events. But let’s say you have a really tough time getting dates that you like, and the universe seems to be conspiring to push you into solitude. This does not automatically mean that you were a nasty lover in past lives, but that, for example, you are moving through some collective timing that is good for other things in your life right now, not your love life. It is not yet time for you to fall in love.

Lack of Self-Knowledge, Not Bad Karma

Not getting what you want doesn’t always reflect “bad karma,” particularly if you don’t yet know yourself very well and your ego-self based plan for your life is not aligned with your optimum/natural path in life, the one you are meant to travel.

Sometimes there is direct karma to balance in not getting what you want, and sometimes not. It’s unwise to always use the idea of karma as a scapegoat for life’s disappointments. Besides, there is no room for blame and self-pity in a spiritually aware person’s outlook, though even the most self-actualized individuals may temporarily regress, at times.

Copyright © Scott Petullo, Stephen Petullo

Author's Bio: 

Scott Petullo and Stephen Petullo help people make the most of their spirituality. The free Direct Your Destiny e-book can help you get on the right path with time-tested, invaluable spiritual tips, methods, and insights. Includes 13 Spiritual and New Age Myths and 11 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Psychic. http://www.holisticmakeover.com/