All that we experience today 

is the result of our past karmas. 

We often accept good results because we feel that we have earned them. But what of our suffering, especially when it threatens to overwhelm us? It’s due to our past karmas. Thoughts of angrily blaming ourselves, of terrible sadness over another insensitive act, of self-loathing. All are suffering. All are painful.The pain we bear is the maturing—the fruition—of past karmas.

We can allow pain to consume us, lashing out in confusion and anger. But it just creates more causes that will lead to further painful results.

More importantly, debilitating emotions will derail us from the path.

But pain need not cause more pain.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed, we can try to be grateful, understanding that this is an opportunity to sweep away some negative karma. Everything arises from the mind. So use misfortune to serve us, to clear away some of our negative karma. Viewed this way, adversity can provide us with the opportunity to grow.

And progress. 

Problems arise due to our misunderstanding . . . (Click image for video)

Seeds of kindness, seeds of unkindness.

Which ones will I nurture today? 

Deep within our store consciousness lie all the seeds of all our thoughts, speech, and actions incurred since time without beginning.

That’s a lot of seed!

There are seeds of kindness and seeds of treachery. Seeds of suffering and seeds of happiness. Some have grown large and strong, while others remain small and weak. While we cannot alter the fact that we have planted these seeds and carried them with us through innumerable lifetimes, we can choose which seeds to nurture and which to leave untouched.

If we choose to water the seeds of delusion and ignorance, our suffering will increase.

We’ve done and experienced this in too many lifetimes. As a result, we’re still here in samsara. Every moment gives us a chance to make conscious, purposeful choices. So be done with the seeds of callousness and disloyalty. Instead, tend and care for those wonderful seeds of awakening and wisdom, and thus be closer to happiness and liberation.