Monday, July 27, 2009

The Boomerang and the Ripple Effect













People talk a lot about karma. And when they talk about karma, often they use the concept in a way that could be more complete.


Most times, when you hear the word karma, the person is talking about results that flow back to you from an action you’re taking, something you’re saying or even a thought you’re having. Certainly, there’s plenty of truth to this. If you consistently put out negative actions or messages to the universe, there is a very good chance that negative results will flow to you. If you consistently put out positive messages or actions, there’s an excellent chance positive results will return. Often they return to you instantly.


You can compare this observable fact to the idea that there’s a perfect accounting system at work in the universe, rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior. It’s as if you throw a giant boomerang, then it circles around, comes back and hits you with the exact type of energy you sent out, often multiplied in force.


It would be wonderful if this were always true. But the boomerang doesn’t always find its mark. The accounting system is somewhat flawed. I’m sure we can all think of people who have hurt others, either in our own lives or in history, who somehow escaped the payback they seem to have richly deserved.


So what’s another way to think about karma that might be more complete and more useful?


Karma is like the ripples on a lake, after you throw in a stone. The results of your actions ripple out in every direction, through time and space. Some of those ripples come back to you on the shore. But many of them radiate away from you, affecting people and events for a long time afterwards.


As a result, we have immense power, in our daily lives, to create positive ripples that radiate outwards, sparking even more positive ripples. We can be good karma machines.


A kind word, a moment of deep listening and empathy, some little generosity, all of these things are good karma. Indeed, they are Messages of Love. If we’re mindful, if we stop, get clear and Have a Moment, we see that opportunities to send these Messages arise all the time. It costs us nothing (or almost nothing), but it can make another person’s day. And the person who gets a Message of Love from us, might well turn around and send one to someone else.


Perhaps more powerfully, our good karma sets an example for others to follow. People (especially our children) witness our actions. Our generosity sends them a message that it is good to give, that we live in abundance, that there is plenty for everybody. Our willingness to listen tells them that people are important. Our good deeds show them that there is a wider world we must care for.


At first blush, these might seem like small things, but small things can and do become big things. Do these types of actions create good results for us? You bet they do. But they do even more – they help create the kind of world we want to live in.


The ripples of karma, good or bad, have a way of becoming gigantic waves.

40 comments:

Michelle said...

Oh so true and oh so gorgeously written. I needed to read this today.

Melissa said...

So many people think of karma as just something for themselves. One persons karma can affect a whole bunch of people.

This made me think as always Patrick. I also needed this today. I need to do positive things, not just for myself, but for my daugher. We both need to Have more moments as of late.

Melissa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shane Shirley said...

I will teach my girls to send out giant waves.

Diane said...

A really wonderful posting! Just earlier today, I was discussing karma with a young man. He told me about his "problems" in his life, can't get a job, a bad carwash, a really bad haircut, etc. I asked him what kind of negative energy he was carrying around that is bringing about these so-called bad events. Finally, he got real and confessed to some stuff and we came to the conclusion that his karma was at work, manifesting some things that were the result of his negativity in his life.
Very good topic!

Brian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brian said...

Patrick man I have known you a long time now. I used to drink and cheat. I lost my job and my wife. Now I keep things mellow and it;s all good in the hood.

I do something that I love and my ex is now my best friend.

Karma is not necessarily always on point but it is real.

Kathy Trejo said...

"We can be good karma machines." I loved that. :)

Thank you (((Hugs)))

Candice said...

Very thought provoking!

Great post.

Jocelyn said...

Ever so true. I'm glad the boomerang metaphor doesn't work, as my 6-year-old is waaaay into throwing one right now, and the oddball way it returns to him--either whacking in the bushes or nearly decaptating him--is not my ideal way of conceptualizing the universe.

Ronda Laveen said...

Yes, our actions are so much more than just in the moment.

Anonymous said...

wow. What a wonderful, though-provoking post. I definitely do agree about the ripples we send out in life, no matter what we do. Even when I was hurting myself, I wasn't the only one getting hurt. And when I started becoming happier and more peaceful, I wasn't the only one to benefit from it.

Anonymous said...

How interesting! I love it!

The Girl With The Mousy Hair said...

You know I am no saint, but I do believe in Karma and this did make me think about the ripple effect.

Liam said...

I wonder what I have done to myself?

Lynda said...

Profoundly beautiful, and soooooo true, keep up the great messages:)))) Blessings, love, & PEACE to ALL:)))

Sue said...

Oh i know what you mean by this I do! I do!

I am looking forward to seeing you all this weekend!

Michele said...

I love this theory of karma. Thanks for giving me food for thought.

Leni Qinan said...

It's so nice to read this beautiful post, full of positiveness and good vibes. I'm going to sleep relaxed and with a wonderful sense of well-being (overseas here, and far away, but virtually very close). ;)

j said...

I enjoyed reading this so much - it was so well written! It would be a great post to link up Friday on Positive Day. If you feel so inclined, please stop by and drop in the link.

Be blessed!

Sara @ Domestically Challenged said...

Great way to think of it. I like the example of the lake. As a mommy, I completely agree with what our children learn from it. Thanks for sharing such a cool thought

Sara @ Domestically Challenged said...

Great way to think of it. I like the example of the lake. As a mommy, I completely agree with what our children learn from it. Thanks for sharing such a cool thought

Kim Graae said...

You can see Karma as your higher I's memory, which reaches from incarnation to incarnation.
Have fun,
Kim

S said...

This is a very cool blog. Thanks for the karma talks!


I shall be back.

Unknown said...

Hmm if I had to choose! Hotter:) It only smells nasty at night ehehhe.

Carol {Everyday Delights} said...

Wonderful post and love the photo to go with it.

human being said...

so true!
i've always seen karma through this ripple image... you have illustrated it so beautifully and convincingly...

also good and bad are somehow realtive... sometimes we think what's happening to us is bad but at the end we find that the changes it has brought to us are so positive...

Krystyn @ Really, Are You Serious? said...

Karma....definitely good and bad:)

Mark said...

I think we get hung up on words such as Karma and what it is or isn't. True, every little thing we do has a ripple effect. There is not a single thought that we have that does not impact us and the rest of the universe in one way or the other.

Kathy B! said...

This is absolutely beautifully put. And I couldn't agree more. Little things, both positive and negative, take on energy and "snowball." I'd much prefer a tidal wave of positive energy be headed my way than a giant wave of negativity.

Rachel C Miller said...

I wanted to thank you for stopping by and leaving such a sweet comment. You really have a beautiful smile it resonates your personality.

Shelly Rayedeane said...

Thank you for the recent comment on my blog.

You don't know how much I needed that.

Sometimes it is difficult to focus on the good when others seek to diminish the good in someone which had been done.

Anonymous said...

I am glad I found this blog; good writing and thought provoking. Your gentle lessons in awareness and to be present to the magnificence that surround us are refreshing.

Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful post. I know many who think of Karma as the "Bank of Karma" as if when a deposit is made, one will be available for us to draw on, thereby negating a deliberate (read: negative or out of balance) action on our part.

Not so...we may never see, in this life, the effects of Karma.

Now if we would only stop worrying so much about everyone else's Karma and just put our energy into our own actions and responsibilities.

Julia said...

I think this is especially true with the kids watching our behavior. They will only learn kind behavior from us. Some kids have a tough time even when kindness is everywhere. Other it comes more easily.

I think we all need this karma reminder every day.

Queenie Jeannie said...

So true and so beautifully written!

tallulah said...

This is exactly what I needed to hear today. Your ripples have touched me.

Candie said...

Yes I believe in that too.Nicely written!

Kim Graae said...

I think a better picture is a streaming flood, where karma is the water we are swimming in.

Karma is not a punishing system, it's your memory of your past lives, which is used to help you to overcome your bad spots. As it's your memory from life to life, you can not run from it, it's part of you, until you have turned deficiences into the beneficient.

As it's not a punishing system, it only returns with the power necessary, that is, if you two thousand years ago killed a person, but have 'repented' in between, you are not put into a situation which make you understand it's wrong, but only told that the dept is paid by rescuing the person in a non spectacular way, as stopping the person before (s)he goes out before a bus.

There goes about 2000 years between the action and the response, to give persons possibility to understand and repent the wrongdoing, except if the wrongdoing is fully acknowledged in the life where it's done. If you lie and you are aware about it, you can handle the consequences in the same life, but if you don't, it pile up together with other unhandled karma.

What I mean by repenting is to understand and to live your understanding. In the case with the murder, when you understand it's wrong to takes the life of others, and equally well, that your excuse for the murder is just as wrong.

When you are born you have a certain amount of karma with you, not more than you could manage. You are born between people you have known in previous life's, in a context fully described by your shared karma, thats the River.

It can happen you come into a context where you feel totally out of sync, and that's when you are in a situation which is not part of your karma.

Until you come into your teens karma is build into your etherbody from your astral body, in a way which can be shown through you horoscope (astral=star). Through your life you build up new karma in your astral body, and what can't be handled in the current life will be saved for future incarnations.

Something on the spiritual bodies:
http://kimgraaemunch.wordpress.com/2009/01/17/what-are-the-feminine-and-masculine-sides-we-all-talk-about/

Kim Graae said...

Sorry, flood should be river, as flod is river in danish:)