Karma is very different from what most people think it is.

The word itself, usually prefixed by the word “bad,” generates ideas of retribution or punishment for past misadventures. Somewhere in the heavens above, so people imagine, an accountant is supposed to be keeping track of your karmic balance.

I used to assume that karma was all about maintaining a balance, so therefore the universe contained some law that made it reflective in nature and therefore automatically self-balancing. However, I stand corrected by recent revelations from my senior guide and mentor.

Karma is an effect of creation. There is no inherent reflective capability in the universe. The apparent reflections, which people sometimes call their karma, come from the ongoing patterns of consciousness which they have created.

Each of us has a karmic pattern, which is like a tapestry filled with a variety of cross-linked energies. Each thread woven into your karmic pattern was placed there by your creation of a certain pattern of consciousness.

Each created pattern of consciousness within the tapestry of your karmic pattern exists because you have given it life. It will continue to exist and attract circumstances to itself as long as you feed its existence. That attraction is caused by the emotional component of the creation.

The Law of Creation is invoked when intention and feeling are set into motion. The feeling part of the thought pattern creates a field of attraction which, by its nature, attracts relevant circumstances to itself.

How to Change Your Karma —
People often ask if their karmic pattern can be changed. Yes, it can. It changes all the time. What has been created and empowered by an emotional charge will soon fade away when that emotional charge no longer feeds it.

In a more sudden fashion, a rise in consciousness can transform a karmic pattern. For example, if someone were intent on jealousy as a way of life and then they experienced a sudden awakening which transformed them to a higher level of thought, their life could change at that very moment.

They could decide to become loving and forgiving instead of continuing to feed the old jealousy pattern. That decision would be the end of the jealousy part of their karmic pattern. It would be taken out of existence by the transformation which made the person no longer interested in feeding that pattern of consciousness. The former creation would dissipate, its energy being released back to the universe, and it would stop generating karmic circumstances.

In Summary —
The Law of Karma states that thought patterns attract experiences to you which match the patterns. Your overall karmic pattern is a collection of each thought pattern you have created. It can change as you raise your level of consciousness through spiritual growth but the Law of Karma never ceases to operate. It is built into Creation and is always in full operation at all levels of Creation, attracting those patterns you have created through your intentions, feelings and actions.

Here’s the Especially Good News
The Law of Karma guarantees that when you give, you will receive. When you heal, you will receive healing. When you teach what you have learned to others, you will find that even greater insights dawn within you as a result.

If you decide with all your heart that this is the year you will succeed in fulfilling your soul purpose in this life, then that adds a thread to your karmic pattern which will affect your present and future. Like a magnet drawing resources and circumstances toward you, this thread will help you navigate through life in a way which can fulfill your wish in every possible way.

Owen K Waters is the author of The Shift: The Revolution in Human Consciousness. He writes a weekly newsletter atwww.SpiritualDynamics.net.