Karma

Two of the more telling Sanskrit translations for Karma are 'action' and 'effect', with a third less useful translation being 'fate'. Action and effect are very much in line with the Karmic notion of cause and effect, but I think we do ourselves a great disservice when we cast this as fate and view all of the causes as occurring in our previous lives, and, as a result, view all of the effects in our current life as predestined. It would be much more useful to understand Karma as a way of knowing what your life is going to look like in the future by examining your thoughts, behaviors and actions today. This is as opposed to examining your circumstances today, which are, by definition, a result of your thoughts, behaviors and actions from yesterday, and, therefore, not a predictor of your circumstances tomorrow. There are many ways to change your thoughts - meditation, introspection, motivation, education - but this is where it starts, and then behavior follows, and then informed action, and then circumstances change, not magically and not by some action in a previous life, but by our actions in this life.