Dharma and Karma

Welcome to day 5: 365 days of Gratitude 2021

Thank you for stopping by! I hope your new beginning has kicked off positive.

Although I use a social media platform to deliver my daily dose of goodness, I prefer documenting it here. I have followers who are not on social media and this allows me to include them. Please feel free to weigh in, as I encourage discussion, suggestion and welcome your point of view.

I started my blog back in 2016, at that time it was a therapeutic tool. Since, it has evolved. It has become a way for me to communicate, check in, check myself, and document my feelings.

I use my blog to inspire, I enjoy sharing my hikes, food, and travel. Quite a few of you have travelled along with me, through my posts. Please feel free to poke around in my archives. Keep in mind, I am not a scholar, or a psychiatrist; my grammar is not always correct; and you will find typos. Welcome to my raw blog. Enjoy!

I talk a lot about the goodness I have extracted, and the strength I have gained during COVID. What I have not shared is my brush with darkness, during COVID.

Let me start by taking full accountability. I will not blame my actions on COVID, lockdown, or politics. Instead, I led myself down a rabbit hole.

I became extremely vocal about my political views, giving some the privilege to walk away. I allowed myself to get sucked into the dogma, and I allowed my fear of the future, to present as anger. Damn that fear.

I allowed the wolves in lamb clothing, to fuel the fire and Calamity Janes, to stir the pot. It was not long until my positive move, and beautiful changes began to present, and then revealed the ugly, disappointed, depressed, and jealous side of others. I was allowing myself to be gaslighted . Feeling guilty to share good news, in fear of hurting. No one should make you feel this way, no one should make you feel bad for their bad decisions, loss of control and disappointments. It is okay to share, but not to project.

Never allow yourself to do this or others to impose it upon you. You have a bigger task here. There should be no room for jealous or envious; remember, some appear happy and all put together, this is not always the case, actually never the case. We all have our issues and our “hot mess” moments. Trusting your instincts, has nothing to do with having “trust issues,” it has to do with the place you come from, the feeling in the pit of your tummy, and it does not mean you come from a “bad place”. It is a gift to have a keen sense of intuition. Embrace it!

So, I accepted my dark moment, rolled up my socks and I chose to give the constants in my life the attention they deserved. I stepped out of my fog, put the negative in the corner and I decided to cleanse.

I cleansed my mind, my soul and my social media pages. I took the energy I expended on scratching my head, and put it back into my soul. I made a commitment to myself, to be in control of the only thing I can be in control of, “Me.” I still have my views and opinions, I just share them in the spaces that make me feel comfortable. Usually with my husband and good friends.

We all have a spiritual side. However, sometimes we need some help tapping in. Before I left the East to move to Arizona, I began tapping into Ayurvedic health practice. It was something introduced to me by a friend. It is not very complicated and you do not have to dive in at 100% either. In fact, I subscribe to some of the rituals; the vitamins and the breathing exercises are life changing; only. If you are interested, I would recommend this read, The Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies, it is interesting and honestly a health and mind game changer. This change has given me energy and has allowed me to identify the goodness, even in the things that seem shitty.

This has become my outlet, it does not have to be yours. There are a plethora of remedies and spiritual guides out there. You can even do this through changing your diet. Anything that stimulates awareness within, do that.

When I was younger, I wanted to enhance my self control skills. I considered a few techniques, the one that worked best for me, a simple full day weekly fast. That fasting day was a gentle reminder that I am in control of myself. I am the co-creator of my Dharma, my life purpose.

We all are the co-creators of our destiny, regardless of what religion or beliefs we subscribe to, we play a very important part in carrying out a life lived well, generous, somewhat selfless and fulfilling.

I chose to touch on Karma vs Dharma. Karma is not a bad or good thing. Karma is a balance of life. I actually cringe when I hear the word being used in a negative way, however, I would at one time, use it the same. Now, knowing the difference, it has become a beautiful part of my journey, and I am paying close attention to it and my actions. I am paying attention to the hiccups and bumps.

While Dharma is your life purpose, Karma places the bumps in the road to your Dharma. Hence, if you have Karma you do not have Dharma. When you have Dharma you do not have Karma. Karma keeps you in alignment and whole, giving you a few bumps and hiccups when you go off the track. Gentle reminders. Dharma is your life purpose, it is your duty, it is your final story, it will be the way you are remembered.

There are many publications about this. Many that go into great depth and others that are short and sweet. I find it rather interesting, and it has made the word, “Karma,” sacred to me. It is a belief, so you do not have to subscribe to a religion to investigate the intention, and perhaps incorporate it in your daily routine.

Stay blessed, stay true, forgive yourself, admit when you are wrong and always have a heart that forgives.

“Most of the time you are rude, you are crude, and you are obnoxious in your communication, because when your intelligence joins with ego, you don’t care what the heavens have for you. You lose the sight of dharam for the sake of karam.”