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Karma is a strange word. No matter how many times I go on TV, no matter how many times I talk about this issue, people are still convinced that karma is something they're working through with another person. No -- you're working through your own karma, which means your own experience.

Karma only means that you're experiencing for your own soul's development. You're not bound to anything else in this life. That doesn't mean that we don't love and give to others. If we don't, then we're having the wrong type of karmic experience.

Be rational. If you were meant to be alone, you would not have hands that reach, a mouth that kisses, eyes that see, and a body that fits into another's. You would not be able to speak, because there would be no reason for communication.

However, the only person that you have to rely on for soul experience is you. You can't do that without grace and love. You weren't meant to. Certainly, life is negative. Didn't Jesus show us that it was? But that doesn't mean we can't get through it with grace, love, and humor.

Getting Rid of Guilt, Hell Fire, and Damnation

So we must get rid of the guilt, hellfire, damnation, and all the other silliness that has kept people under control. True religion has got to grow and be a bastion for help, love, and giving. It's got to be a temple, a home for the aged, a place for children. It's got to be the way that Christianity was meant to be -- the way Jesus meant it to be -- without the threat of hellfire and damnation. We've got to end this rotation of lives.

Those of you who want to come back into life -- although I think you're crazy -- you can, of course. Most of the people I'm seeing don't want to come back. They want to finish, go to the Other Side, and have a great time.

My religion never carries any hellfire and brimstone, but it does impart a heavy load because it puts our own load back on us. People don't like that. They would rather blame their life on some nebulous god, or on "karma".

You are the one who is doing it to yourself. That's reassuring, because it means that the power is wholly within you. God did not send you down here; rather, you chose to come. You made a contract with God to come down and experience for Him.

The Confusion of Karma

The word karma has been bantered around and misused so much that I'm sure everyone has become confused. Too often it is misunderstood to be some tremendous backlash -- some kind of wrath from the "Great Beyond" or whatever.

This misconception has made people almost as repressed as those I call the "judgmentalists." It makes you "fear based" rather than spiritually based. Every emotion such as anger, vengeance, or hurt seems sure to carry with it a karmic barb, but that's not true.

Now, in the original texts, the concept of karma had nothing to do with judgment. There was no God sitting around judging. How could He be, when He is omnipotent, holding and loving you just as Mother God does?

When you first came down into life, you said, as all of us did, "I cannot test my soul in a perfect environment. I'm going "down the chute" to learn. I'm going away to boot camp; I'm going down to Earth."

Stop using "karma" as a hammer over your own head. I've heard people say, "I can't leave my husband even though he beats me and the kids, because it's my karma." Such a person may, in actuality, be karmically destined to grow through the experience of pushing that abusive person out of her life. God did not mean for anyone to come down here to suffer endlessly.

How To Finish Your Karmic Experience

People use karma as an excuse. You can't say that you live with someone awful because it's your karma. You don't have to put up with a rotten kid or mean in-laws or an unsatisfying job, marriage, health, or anything because of karma.

The one obligation that you do have, karmically, is to finish whatever you begin. Let me tell you how you must finish your own karma. Say, hypothetically, that you start a relationship -- either a romance or a friendship -- and you are the major instigator behind it. Then somewhere along the line you outgrow the relationship, or it outgrows you, or whatever. Your karmic obligation, unfortunately, says that you must be the one to go in, face the relationship, and end it. This principle is the same with jobs or anything else.

So many times when we get into bad situations or money problems, we sit and hope that someone will come along and help us, right? We think that if we just wait long enough or stall long enough, then something will happen. On occasion, for some people, a "white knight" does appear to give a hand. But most of the time, you are the one who has to face the music and finish out the situation.

You must say, "I can't spend any more money," or something similar. Then proceed from there. Otherwise, our lives become too tied up in long, drawn-out situations.

Who Is Causing You Pain?

I want you to think today about who in your life is really causing you pain. Who is it? Why are you perpetuating this relationship? Is the person related to you? With children, you can't really get rid of them, especially if you're like me. But what I did, because I had a tremendous karmic tie with my youngest son, was to finally release him. It wasn't because we were causing each other pain, but we were so closely connected that everything that hurt him also hurt me, and vice versa. I finally had to say, "Please, please, in the name of God, you must start wending your way out of my life -- not just physically, but mentally, so that both of us can get peace from this."

Francine always told me this, which I think is absolutely marvelous: "To honor your father and your mother is fine, but only if they are honorable." Do you know how wondrous that is? Do you know what a load that takes off of you? If you had your parents living right down the street, would you choose them for friends? Many times you wouldn't. As we get older, we can choose. If we have a lousy mother, we become a better mother as a result. And so we're grateful to her, because through her we learned what not to do. So these negative things can become wondrous. No one knows whether they're a good mother or a good wife. The only proof is in the outcome of things. It depends on how satisfied you are with it, and how much you've given.

Wanting To Help Others

I want to mother everybody, take care of them, give them chicken soup or matzo balls. Many of us are like this. Francine said, "As the New Age dawns upon us, more of us will want to help other people." Listen to your own soul, and note how many times you think, How can I help more? How can I do more for others? Then do it.

It's beginning to spread now more than ever in the history of the world. There's a restlessness within the soul. We've seen the passing of another millennium, and all around us people tell of the karma they've created in themselves and in this very earth.

We're going to stop the negative karma of guilt, sin, and fear. We must put a stop to it. The whole idea of guilt has always been, "You must suffer and be miserable and unhappy." This is a "veil of tears," a "valley of death." It's no picnic, is it? If anybody says it is, then I worry very seriously about their sanity.

When things begin to seem too synchronistic, you say, "Wait a minute. I've done this before, haven't I? Isn't this new guy the same guy I divorced? Isn't this terrible job environment the same one I was in before? Didn't I move next door to the same kind of jerk?"

Resistance to Making Changes

I'm talking about mistakes. Then you've got to close it off. In spite of the resistance you feel, you can do it. You can move; you can leave; you can do whatever you need to survive. It's as stupid as saying, "I'm now in quicksand. What should I do?" Somebody says, "I'm going to throw you a rope." You say, "No way. I'm going to stand here, and go under happily saying, 'See, this is my karma."'

Don't you dare let anybody treat you as less than God, because you are God. You are a moving, breathing spark of God. Don't you dare allow yourself to be treated badly. Be good to yourself. Be kind. That's part of your karma.

Now, unfortunately, you have to expect that you will shock the person you've been carrying. That's your fault. You've done it -- you've babied them. We do this, don't we? Then all of a sudden, we say, "Well, I don't choose to do that anymore," and they get mad at us. Then, we must stay strong and finish it. We must complete the circle, and that's hard. Do you know why? Because we're afraid that we won't be loved, aren't we?

And so, what does it matter? The greatest thing that I've learned is that it doesn't matter whether you love me. It does matter that I love you. Once I got that through my thick skull, it was wondrous. I just walk around with the joy of loving you. I don't expect you to love me back. That's wonderful -- no more expectations of "payback." I've done that; haven't you? We start auditing in our mind, don't we? "I've done ten nice things for you today. Now I'm in the house cooking and cleaning and slaving. Do you say thank you? No." It doesn't matter. If I didn't want clean floors, then I wouldn't have wasted my time cleaning them. In the end, you do these things for yourself, no one else.

This article is excerpted from the book:

Soul's Perfection
by Sylvia Browne.

It is reprinted with permission of the publisher Hay House Inc., www.hayhouse.com

Click here for more info or to order this book.

About The Author

Millions of people have witnessed Sylvia Browne's incredible psychic powers on TV shows such as Montel Williams, Larry King Live, and Unsolved Mysteries; she has also been profiled in Cosmopolitan, People magazine, and other national media. Her on target psychic readings have helped police solve crimes. Sylvia is the author of Adventures of a Psychic, Life on the Other Side, and The Other Side and Back, among other works. Contact Sylvia Browne at: www.sylvia.org or Sylvia Browne Corporation, 35 Dillon Ave., Campbell, CA 95008. (408) 379-7070.

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