“Karma is a Sanskrit word meaning “action.” It denotes an active force, the inference being that the outcome of future events can be influenced by our actions. To suppose that karma is some sort of independent energy which predestines the course of our whole life is simply incorrect.”

― Dalai Lama XIV, Ethics for the New Millennium

I live an abundant life. Abundance is a weird thing though. It has nothing to do with how much or how little we actually have. It is all in our perception of our situation. Granted, if you’re starving or living on the streets thoughts without action won’t keep you warm and your belly full. It’s hard to focus on the positive when you can’t seem to get a break. It’s insulting to expect someone to ignore reality just to keep a positive mental attitude. But holding on to things that lead to feeling abundant such as: compassion, hope, perseverance, tenacity, generosity and kindness, can lead to closed doors opening and an abundant life.

We get back what we put out into the world. Within limits. I feed my pigeons, they warble and coo and dance but there is no food reciprocity there. It would disturb me greatly if Biscuit somehow ordered pizza for me. I’m grateful that she hasn’t figured out the keyboard beyond stomping around on it and watching the pictures scroll. On the other hand, the outside flock has brought me shiny things over the years, but they never dance and coo at me. Experience tells me that if we put kindness out there, all the time, with no expectations, it is returned. When we expect a return, we’ve missed the point. We’re either kind just to be kind or we’re making deals with our imagination and expecting the world to comply.

“Try and test that,you’re bound to get served” – Sublime

What we choose to believe influences, even dictates, our actions. When we look for proof, there has to be some set of rules that are agreed upon. Failing that, there are no proofs strong enough to change belief. If we choose to believe that our partner loves us, by using whatever litmus tests we use, then that will remain our belief until we decide to believe otherwise. There is no way to prove that someone loves us, nor can we prove that we love someone else if the belief is not there. We fall in love and feel loved without questioning our beliefs, we decide who to trust based on a vibe without looking at their credentials, and we dismiss scientific research when it gets outside of our comfort zone while accepting other research because it fits within our current beliefs.

If we believe that the world is a cruel, hard place and that only the strongest survive, we will act on that belief. By acting on that belief, we will find comfort among those who share that belief. They, in turn, will act as expected and confirm the belief that the world is a savage place. If we also believe that all people lie to make themselves look better, then any conflicting information, personal stories or exemplary actions from others will be seen as posturing or self serving lies. This further insulates the belief system that the world is cruel and that anyone telling you otherwise is either lying, running a con, or hopelessly naive. The only way to change a belief is choosing to believe differently.

That choice can be as simple as saying ‘ I choose to not believe that anymore’. But simple is not the same as easy. There is usually a reason we have the beliefs we do, even if we don’t recognize it ourselves. That reason probably comes back to keeping ourselves safe. Believing whether we’re safe, or not, is our belief system at its most basic level. Do I believe that locking my doors at night will keep me safe? Yes and no. It’s more that I believe not locking the doors is less safe. I recognize that there is no real safety. I’m playing the odds here every day and I’m hedging my bets where I can. As far as I can tell, that is exactly what everyone else is doing too. But life is about more than being safe. Maslow built an entire pyramid about it. The little I learned about Maslow’s Heirarchy left out something. Even when we’re concerned about meeting our needs for safety, the other levels of the pyramid are active in our beliefs and influencing our choices.

If we choose to believe that our world is what we make it, we become the crafters of our reality. Just as the people who choose that cruelty and hardship are the baseline of existence, believing that we have a say in our world will influence our actions. Those actions will lead us to feeling most comfortable around those who share our beliefs and they will respond in kind. If we believe that we are loved, we feel loved. If we believe that we are despised, we will feel despised. If we believe that there is hope, there is hope. Even in the darkest moments of our lives, what we believe can give us reason to not give up. But if we believe we’re doomed, we doom ourselves.

It’s always a choice. A belief system is the culmination of our choices, which is why it can be a leap of faith to choose differently. There was an entire lifetime of experiences that either backed up that belief or were dismissed because they caused internal or external conflict. Everything we do, everyone we know, everywhere we go are rooted in our beliefs. Changing the beliefs can mean losing it all. We can’t know until we change what that outcome will look like. We can only choose for right now without any expectations of the universe’s compliance. Thoughts lead to beliefs and beliefs lead to actions. This is about more than ourselves.

We can help others. Those people who are hungry, we can feed them. The people who are cold on the streets, we can help them find safety. We can do the actions that reinforce their thoughts of hope and possibility. Our words will never be a bigger proof than our actions. We can’t define their abundance for them, but they can learn what abundance means in their lives, by their definition.