Three Ways to Transform Your Karma

Or, Finding My Religion

I am looking out over the lagoon at a Buddhist conference center near Fort Lauderdale. I’ve spent the weekend hanging out with people like me, people who want to change the world for the better and believe in the possibility.

Here’s the view:

The theme of this conference is Transforming Karma into Mission. As far as I have been able to discern — and please note, these are my own takeaways and interpretations, not representative of anyone else’s — below are three good ways to transform your karma:

1) Chant
Daily chanting synchs you up with the life force and puts you into the flow of the universe. (See Tina Turner’s memoir, Happiness Becomes You, or the website buddhability.org if you want more info).

2) Choose
Mimi reminds me that Buddhist philosophy states, “From this day forward.” The past is the past; no guilt, no blame, no shame. Every day, you get to start over. Let go of yesterday, and choose well today.

3) Cherish
Contributing to and working for other people’s happiness is the best way to increase your own. Appreciating your life and finding gratitude for everything in it, including and especially the hard stuff, elevates your life state and changes bad karma into better. In…