Karma –

It’s real,

It happens,

It’ll getcha.

The belief that ‘what goes around, comes around’,

That actions of the past will decide the future.

That those who do good will experience good,

And those that do not, will experience as much.

It can inspire us to live a truly good life,

And can be a source of comfort and peace,

Both for those who want goodness to thrive in the world,

And for those who have been hurt, and feel they have been wronged.

Believing that people who set out with the intention to hurt us,

Will experience their own come right back to them.

That there are repercussions for actions,

And that balance will always be restored.

But no matter how much we hurt,

Or believe someone may be deserving of a taste of their own medicine,

Karma is out of our hands,

And to progress, and to move forward with our own lives,

We need to realise that and leave it as such.

Because if we choose to believe in karma, and cause and effect –

It must come in its own time.

It may come today or tomorrow,

Way down the line, or only once we’re gone.

But being there to witness it is not the point.

Because to those who believe in the concept,

The realisation is immaterial.

To put our faith in karma,

We needn’t see the results,

All we need to know is that if something inherently wrong is done,

In one way or another,

It will be dealt with by a higher power.

It’s when we try to grasp it, or weaponise it,

Have it ‘dished out’ on a precise schedule,

Or believe we will only find peace once we have been vindicated by it –

That we need to start searching elsewhere for our closure.

Because waiting for that moment to happen before forging a new path in our lives,

Means we may never find a new path at all.

Insisting someone else get to a place of remorse,

Or waiting to see the wheel of karma turn back unto them,

Is time taken away from moving our own lives forward,

Energy taken from our rebuilding,

And brings with it a pain which now we are the ones inflicting on ourselves.

Like focusing on a pot so intently,

That we don’t realise that we’re inside of it, boiling ourselves alive.

Because those who have realised their mistakes,

Are already there.

And those who are adamant they have made no mistake,

And won’t be swayed to believe any different –

Will never be there.

And policing people we believe have done us wrong,

Watching and waiting for them to get theirs,

Only means we have become so invested in the life of someone else,

That we have forgotten to live our own.

Forever stuck in a past life.

Bogged down in a cycle of our own hurt and unhappiness,

Unwilling to move on, and unable to live on.

Festering in past pain,

As we allow others to continue hurting us –

Gripping onto the past too tightly.

Existing, caught in a place of hurt and of anger,

Long after they’ve wiped their hands clean of us.

And if we believe that they don’t deserve goodness,

That because of their past actions, they don’t deserve joy and fulfilment,

If seeing them happy is a dagger in our heart –

It only means that we’re the ones who are continuing to suffer.

Continuing the cycle of hurt from a moment long gone.

We can’t change the past,

We can’t control the future –

We are only here, now.

It’s done.

It’s time to move on.

Time to grant ourselves permission to live again.

In life, there will always be things we wish hadn’t happened,

Pain that we believe we didn’t deserve,

Hurt that may pass – but which scars.

But in a life of such brevity,

When it can all be taken away, forever, in the briefest of moments;

Being the person who holds onto anger,

Living and replaying the past,

Wanting others to hurt as we have,

Is a waste of both the energy and the time we have been afforded.

Because we do deserve happiness,

And we do deserve freedom from past pain. 

And that’s the part we control.

So – we need to let go.

Whether we forgive and forget,

Or move on and remember;

So long as we’re moving forward,

Focusing on the actions we can control instead;

Fostering kindness,

And being the good we want to see and feel in the world,

We have won,

And we can instead witness that come back to us,

In a whole range of different, beautiful ways.

Energy given, is energy returned,

And we choose whether we want that to be the good or bad kind.

Because our own peace is in our hands –

Let their cruelty stain only theirs.

Karma will never work for us.

And if we truly believe in it, then we should allow it to do its work,

In its own time.

And we can find our peace in knowing that it will be done,

Whether we are there to witness it or not.

Because whatever will be, will be,

So –

Let it be.